In touch with my feminine side

Jealousy breeds hate, anger. So does ignorance.

Monday I was listening to Bill Simmons’ podcast, “The B.S. Report” in the car. ESPN’s Erin Andrews was his guest and at one point she started talking about the difficulties about being a female sports reporter, one of which being that some males simply don’t want accept sports information from a woman, Ron Burgandy style.

Put down your newspaper, take the tape out of your VCR, finish paying your bills via checks and get with the program. It’s 2009.

Guess what? Women feed our sports info hunger, and they’re damn good at it, too. Ever watch Jackie MacMullen on “Around the Horn” or read Amalie Benjamin in The Boston Globe? Andrews may be the best in the business. They know their shit.

Face it guys, Andrews is smarter than you, more articulate than you, more professional than you, much better looking than you and she knows more about sports than you. People see her blond hair and assume she’s a ditz. Well, we all know what happens when you assume.

I know the counterargument: “I want to hear it from someone that’s been there, someone that played.” That’s reasonable, but there’s a place for ex-players, like pre-game shows and in-game color men, like how NESN’s Jim Rice complements Tom Caron and Jerry Remy (get well soon, RemDawg) complements Don Orsillo in the booth. And the Heidi Watneys and the Andrews’ dig for stories and give us the dirt.

More and more women are entering the sports world, which – no matter what you say – is a good thing. They bring a new perspective to the games dominated my testosterone for decades. They’re not going to tell you how to hit a 95 mph fastball or wrap up LaDanian Tomlinson, but that’s not their job. Rick Reilly, Bill Simmons and Mike Greenberg don’t either, and you still read, watch and listen to them. The three of them together couldn’t bench press the bar. It’s called media, becoming the bridge from teams to fans. It’s a skill, and some women do it damn well.

Go upload Simmons’ talk with Andrews and tell me I’m wrong.

Wait, you don’t know how? And you’re still pissed that she’s on ESPN? You’ve got bigger things to worry about, pal.