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It's almost fall! This means it is time for broadcast outlets to amaze us with their teams and assignments!
Don't delay.
Let's start with CBS (right).
This seems, uh... not great. Each woman is listed third and Beth Mowins is sent to play-by-play.
Later on, we will be able to dispense entirely with women and replace them with broadcast teams that are exclusively men.
We weren't expecting this.
But, hey! But there are other outlets like FOX!
Let's see what they have planned for us this football season.
Ah huh. One white woman. There are no women of color. Twenty-two men. Clay Travis. This is how the NFL broadcasting teams looked when I was a child. In 35 years, we have not made any significant progress.
Wait, there's still ESPN college football coverage! The self-designated Worldwide leader will surely be leading the charge in diversity.
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So, right? But it is wrong.
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It is hard to imagine which person from their marketing departments looked at these graphics and gave it the thumbs up. Nearly all of the white men were involved. It looks fantastic. It looks great.
In casual conversation last year, two different women from ESPN pointed out that analysts are called reporters and reporters are called reporters. It seems like two people working in the same job should share the same title. However, this is not how sports media has worked in the past when it comes to non-white males.
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Although it is a problem in general, the issue of how men and women are labelled in this job is not as significant as women being restricted in their roles in football. Sideline reporting is not an easy job. Sideline reporting requires as much preparation as the guys in the booth. Even for experienced broadcasters, it is a difficult job. It's a rewarding job. Broadcasting is not the only job that women should be able access.
The men on Twitter shout: Stop trying to make something of nothing! Women aren't analysts because the never played the game.
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First, many girls have played football in their childhoods, even if it was just pick up with the boys. You can also see girls participating in organized football with boys teams. We grew up just like our brothers watching NFL and college football. It is simply ignorant to assume that we don't have any history with the game or stake in it.
Football is not brain surgery. It is not something that can be understood only after you have done it. Some of the most brilliant football minds I know are women who have studied the game and can discuss offenses and schemes with the best of them. If we are talking about play-by-play, someone must tell me about the legendary football careers of Al Michaels or Howard Cosell. Cosell's autobiography was called "I Never Played the Game"
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Women who say they want to participate in sports don't necessarily mean that they want to be moderators or social media reporters, or sideline reporters. We don't want to be restricted from those roles. Women want to be able to talk through play and see the Xs and os of the game. We want to discuss defenses, schemes and who is more efficient in the slot. We want to hear from people who are like us in the booth. We don't just want it for Womens History Month. Women make up almost half of the NFL audience, and they control 85 percent household spending. How come the NFL doesn't fall all over itself to please us?
We love watching women in games but we would love to see more of them in the booth. We would love to see them as analysts, sitting at the tables at halftime alongside all the men. You can't say that there aren't women who excel at this task as Phil Simms. Clay Travis. Clay Travis, I mean. Or any other retired players who look like they were awakened for halftime conversations.
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We should stop tweeting visuals until we have broadcast teams that reflect the fanbase, and not Ben Shapiro fan rallies.
