The Pink Elephant in the Room of Sportscasting

I'm going to get straight to the point on this one. No witty story, no obscure references, no introduction that requires me to take up five paragraphs before getting to the thesis of this blog, none of that will occur today. There are two things about sportscasting that continually irk me; former athletes and hot women. These two groups of people seemingly have nothing in common at first glance, well except that athletes usually date hot women...but that's not the point. The point is, these two groups have some of the greatest impact on your careers as an up and coming sportscasters because they are the ones that will mostly likely steal your jobs from you. That's right, study away at your top notch journalism schools and claw your way to the most coveted internships, but at the end of the day, if it comes down to you and a recently retired athlete or some good looking hussie who thinks that sportscasting is her ticket to breaking into the entertainment industry, you are going to be the odd man out. (Quick note of clarification, I am not saying that all female sportscasters are unqualified, I'm just saying it's an industry where looks count and some women manage to slip through the cracks and make it on air when they quite clearly have little knowledge of sports. It's almost like the opposite of former athletes turned sportscasters who tend to have all the knowledge in the world, but little knowledge of how to act on air.)

This fact is something that has infuriated me for years and over the past two and a half years that I have studied broadcast journalism, I've realized that it's something that is never spoken about. No one wants to admit that all this work and money poured into a sportscasting career could be in vain. You may be the next sports anchor in Eufaula, Oklahoma (that's a real place, I looked it up), but if Derek Jeter retires tomorrow and decides he wants to be a sportscaster, I guarantee ESPN or the YES Network hires him as an analyst the very next day.


The man himself, Jerry Remy. Photo from Flickr.com

Now, this isn't to say that all sportscasters who were former athletes themselves are incompetent. In my humble (and biased) opinion, Jerry Remy, color commentator for the Red Sox on NESN is the greatest sportscaster ever. He may have been an average ball player for the Sox, but his New England accent and upbeat personality has made him a superstar in Boston. And then there is John Madden who may not always make sense, but he's vivacious and always interesting to listen to, which makes him popular. Plus, he has a whole set of video games named after him, Madden 64 was an essential part of my childhood, I thank you for that John Madden.


Paul O'Neil lurking in the corner. Photo from Flickr.com

But, on the other hand, there are sportscasters who make me cringe. Paul O'Neil, analyst for the Yes Network? Give me a break, he was barely likable as a player. Jill Arrington? Great she looks like a real life Barbie doll and is the daughter of Rick Arrington, that doesn't make her a good sportscaster.

Yes, Arrington's hot, doesn't make her talented just genetically gifted. Photo from Flickr.com

And then there is Pam Oliver. I can't even think about something as equally painful that I would rather do than have to listen to Pam Oliver attempt to form a coherent sentence on the sidelines for a FOX Network football game. Remember that Giants-Steelers game where she FORGOT WHAT SHE WAS SAYING and threw it back to the the boys in the box? Isn't the first rule of journalism to always provide a filler no matter what? Seriously Pam, you couldn't have improvised something, anything, for the one minute they let you out of your cage and allow you to speak? Disgraceful.

(I couldn't get the video to upload of Oliver's slip up, but copy and paste this link into your browser to check it out. It's too good to miss).
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1470526920144258267&ei=qvyrSf6GOo2grwLb17TdDA&q=pam+oliver&hl=en

My hope for this blog is that it hasn't discouraged you from becoming a sportscaster, but rather it has open your eyes to the hard facts of breaking into the business that people largely ignore. But, at the end of the day, my optimistic self has to believe that those who are well trained in journalism will nab those dream sportscasting jobs eventually. Can Troy Aikman edit his own footage for a story? Does Paul O'Neil know how to write a post game summary for an online sports site? Does Paul even know how to write? There are certain skills that well trained journalists have that former athletes or hot babes who know little about sports do not have so I suggest learning all you can about sportscasting, both on air and behind the scenes, to mold yourself into the kind of journalist networks cannot turn down.