Why Women Journalists In Sports Are Not Respected

Erin Andrews might be a good looking woman but that does not make her a great sideline reporter or sports journalist. The primary reason she got her job at ESPN was because of her looks. The major reason women like her, Ashley Russell of Yahoo Sports, Heidi Watney of NESN, and Clarissa Thompson of Fox Sports got their jobs is because they are blonde and considered to be "hotties."

These blondes are sexy, attractive, and very easy on the eyes. It doesn't matter that they might not know a lot about sports. They don't have to. Their job is to dress nice and look hot on camera.

It is never hard for a sexy young woman to find a job even in this tough economy. ESPN and other sports networks are always looking for the next Erin Andrews. Andrews might be hot but she might not even be the hottest woman on ESPN as Molly Qerim has a lot of male fans as well.

Why should fans respect these women as journalists? Are they great at their jobs? Do they have great knowledge of sports and provide in-depth analysis? We all know the answer to that. Let's face it, a lot of people can do their jobs and do it well. Unfortunately I don't look anything like any of these babes.

I know many young women who aim to be the next Erin Andrews. One woman even told me that Andrews was her idol and is hoping to get a job just like hers in the future.

One female that fans do respect and like is Doris Burke of ESPN. She covers a lot of different sports for ESPN and she does an excellent job. She doesn't try to wear scantily clad outfits, short skirts, or high heels but she is highly effective in doing her job.

It is too bad that Burke is an anomoly and that most women in sports are not as good as her.

One of the worst in-game reporters is Amy Gutierrez who covers the San Francisco Giants on their broadcasts. Giants' fans can't stand her and she is often ridiculed on Giants message boards. Gutierrez doesn't seem to have much knowledge of baseball and she asks the players stupid questions. She once did not know she was live yet and started to count down from five before she started to speak, and she recently gave a hug to a player after a great outing.

99% of the female sideline reporters are hired because they are eye candy and nothing else. You don't have to know anything about sports but if you were in a beauty pageant, you just might get hired.

From the days of Phyllis George in the 1970s to Erin Andrews in 2009, not much has changed when it comes to female reporters and sports.

Andrews is now supposedly very angry because some so-called pervert filmed her without her permission when she was alone and naked in a hotel room. How do we know that she did not leak the video herself? How do we know that this "pervert" is a man and not a woman?

I have read numerous articles online by writers and bloggers on the peephole incident and everyone assumes that the person behind the videos is a man. It probably is a man but you also have to look into the possibility that the "pervert" is a woman as well.

Some people even have suggested that Andrews leaked the videos herself in order to boost her popularity. A lot of people in America now know who Erin Andrews is thanks to all the media coverage of the videos.

I saw all six or seven videos last week and I didn't think much of them at all. She doesnt' do anything interesting at all and is just walking around the hotel room naked. She has a typical figure that you would expect from a tall and slender woman. There was nothing special about the videos at all.

I can see how someone might be excited about checking the videos if they never seen a naked woman in their life but it was probably a big disappointment to even the biggest fans of Andrews.

Of course, the videos were a terrible invasion to her privacy and she might truly be traumatized at this moment. She has her fans but she also has her detractors who think she kisses up to the athletes and coaches she interviews.

Andrews is a public figure and one of the most popular employees on ESPN. She should know that all her actions are scrutinized but she does not deserve to be captured naked in videos without her consent and knowledge.

Unfortunately for her, she has and now every fan does not have to imagine what she looks like under her revealing outfits.

As for the future of women covering sports on TV, I don't see any changes in the near future. The head honchos at networks such as ESPN probably would hire Tila Tequila over a more qualified person and that is a scary thought.

When it comes to females like Andrews, Russell, Thompson, and Watney, it's all about sexual appeal and let's not pretend it isn't.