He's NOT an Erin Andrews fan

21,

I'll push back a little bit.

Hoffarth's approach is indeed crude and crappy. And he missed the point. But there is, I think, a point to Andrews' move: She's moving away from the ESPN cocoon that (along with her dad) masterfully cultivated, developed and then protected her appeal, which I'd compare to a quirky flower often on the brink of wilting. It was a feat of terrific management, really, that ESPN convinced Andrews for so long to work throwaway mid-week baseball games and Saturday morning football games when her notoriety already <i> dwarfed </i> that of her co-workers assigned to bigger events.

But Hoffarth's right about one thing: She was terrible on that early hour of ESPN Gameday. Chris McKendry - that's a show host. Andrews was a trainwreck. And I doubt she was going to get the sideline gig on ESPN's prime property, Monday Night Football.

Fox will give her more opportunities, but at a price: If she flops, Fox will just wring every bit of appeal out of her that they can, then just go hire somebody else. And by making her a studio, you're essentially banking on football fans wanting to see her, specifically. Not Andrews as eye candy 12 seconds before kickoff, but Andrews as host 23 minutes before kickoff. Giving scores. Moderating a discussion. On a network showing one Pac-12 game a day. Not SEC. Not Big Ten. Pac-12. You have to really want to watch Erin Andrews to want to watch a pregame show of Stanford-Arizona State.

Andrews is functionally up against, in one way or another, Chris Fowler, Tim Brando, Rece Davis and John Saunders. She isn't currently in any of their leagues as a host. She has two months to get closer. Should be interesting.

Then again, maybe I'm giving ESPN just the credit it would like to claim, and far more credit that it deserves. We'll see.

 

Alma, I agree with your overall analysis, but let's try to remember that Chris McKendry started at ESPN the year Erin Andrews graduated from high school. I love Chris McKendry, and I doubt Erin will ever be that polished and natural in that role, but not a fair comparison.

 

Welcome to the board, bighorseracingfan. You pack a lot of takes into small space. You seem to want to get as many brand names into as few lines as possible. You seem to have an aversion to breaking up things by paragraph. One wonders if you are related to Jim McKay. You probably make a living writing quick biographical paragraphs for Web sites. Or you are Jay McInerney

 

I can name younger people. McKendry just came to mind.

At any rate, the host role, it's easier to take an objective view. It's hard to be a good sideline reporter - and perhaps harder to be a bad one - because their role is a bit superfluous anyway. The few "very bad" ones I've seen probably can't walk and chew gum at the same time, much less do the job they're tasked to do. Andrews was perfectly fine as a sideline reporter, but then most of them are.

 

Solomon Wilcots was the best sideline reporter they've ever had.

ESPN needs to look at everything Sunday Night Football is doing, and ape it. It is clearly the elite presentation in all aspects.

 

I'll say this: College Football Gameday will be better off without her. She struggled in that role.

 

eh, i dunno, dude. i mean who fucking cares? i mean she's a sideline reporter ... WTF do you expect from a sideline reporter?

 

And he writes that Beadle's hire was "justifiable." Piece is insulting on many levels. There's criticism, and then there's sexist writing.

 

From a money standpoint and from her career advancement, where else could she go at ESPN anyway? I thought she hit her peak.

Perhaps she could make it as an anchor/host but, from the voice to the lack of confidence, it just wasn't there. Watching her on that hour of ESPN GameDay this past season was like watching a weekend sports anchor in Grand Junction try to make it through :30 of Rockies highlights without botching names and stuttering.

She is a very, very solid reporter but the anchoring diminished her.

I think there is a real paradox with Andrews and her approach. She wants it both ways: She adores the red-carpet attention and is willing to be over-exposed but she also played up the creepy stalker incident. I was surprised she didn't ride *that* out onto the network morning chat-fests.

 

Anchoring/hosting/studio is its own beast. Age has nothing to do with it. Dana Jacobson is a young natural in the studio. There's an authority you either have to be born with or learn to fake beautifully.

As for this Hoffarth ass, he writes like he hasn't had a decent blowjob in 20 years.

 

Fair enough. I think Andrews will get better in the studio with more experience, but you are probably right that she will never be as good as Jacobson/McKendry/etc.