I do not mind change. When Monday Night Football went from ABC to ESPN this fall it did not concern me too much. I knew there would be different announcers and probably a slightly different style with camera angles and such, but I did not think they change the scoreboard.

Rating wise, ESPN has topped the charts week after week. (http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003319221) And even though Disney dumped John Madden and replaced him with Tony Kornheiser, Mike Tirico and Joe Theisman, they are doing a good job. That scoreboard however, annoys me like no other.

It looked like ESPN tried to go retro and have a scoreboard like the early days; however, it seems to just be floating on the screen. It is obnoxiously placed in the bottom center of the screen and while it does not really cover up a play, its placement blocks a full view of the field. Maybe I am just used to the style NBC uses on Sunday and know where to look if a flag is thrown or what down it is, but with ESPN’s style it pokes out when there is a flag and I can never remember where to look to see how many yards till a first down.

Along with the new scoreboard, while looking at other sports blogs too see what other people thought I found this one: http://sports.outsidethebeltway.com/2006/08/monday-night-football-on-espn-sucks/. The blogger, James Joyner says that the announcers are doing a good job, but calls the sideline reporters, Suzie Colber and Michelle Tafoya, insipid. “We’re here to watch the game, not listen to cutiepie sideline girls interview B-list celebrities,” Joyner said.

Being a female sports reporter, I’m offended by this comment. Female reporters are constantly trying over come this stereotype. Although I don’t really listen to what the sideline reporters talk about (male or female) it seems like their main job is to give updates on injured players and get comments from players while the game is going on. Unfortunately, this sometimes becomes annoying whether the reporter is a male or female. Being a female reporter doing this sort of reporting though, means they get criticized more because it’s surprising that a female might now a thing or two about football. It’s kind of sad that in the 21^st century women are still being called “cutiepie sideline girls” and annoying for a job that is just as annoying when a male does it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.