Poor Jemele Hill was the victim, but let’s also note that she’s part of a growing list of privileged who go out of their way to get in our faces to prove their blackness and those attempts don’t always end well.

Our position on women sportscasters are sideline commentators are well known. It’s not sexism but because most have no experience playing the sports they cover and let’s be real: the only reason networks put them in front of cameras is for the T&A factor. That’s something that would be phrased carefully if we were to say as much on, for example, CNN.

Some people just aren’t as nuanced.

Despite what the politically correct would have you believe, the only real value young, skimpy-dressed, (when dressed) women have on local and network sports is their anatomies.

CNN’s Brooke Baldwin can act all shocked at Fox Sports Net’s Clay Travis and his clumsy introduction of female attributes in a cable news discussion, but the entertainment industry still lives by the “sex sells” credo. There is no other reason why it’s so in-your-face, especially during sports programming, punctuated by male enhancement commercials during breaks in the action. Given her faux outrage, Baldwin would be the last to admit that the young men seen during daytime viewing hours are cast to appeal to the bored housewife, home alone during the day.

If tomorrow there were only male announcers and former-player sideline reporters during the NFL broadcasts, I’d be willing to bet the viewer drop-off would be minimal.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: lots of women these days have no business being in sports locker rooms because they’re not qualified and it’s not because their skirt is too high or their blouse is too low. It’s because they don’t belong there because they haven’t earned the right to be there and they’re not qualified and because they got the job because of their looks and not their intellect or expertise.

Clinton Portis is NOT far from wrong on many counts. There ARE women who get into sports journalism at this point to be around naked athletes. And they are there to attract those “exclusive interviews” that men can’t get with their charm, nice perfume and long legs.
— Nestor Aparicio, 9/17/10

The women wouldn’t be missed because it’s about the game, period. We’ll take Hank Williams’ “All My Rowdy Friends” over Carrie Underwood’s “I’ve Been Waitin’ All Day for Sunday Night”. Then again, Hank was fired because he said something against ESPN’s preferred president. No hypocrisy here.

Nah, it’s easier to act all shocked about the word “boobs” while working for one of the most sexist industries in the United States.

You know it, we know it, and anyone who says otherwise is a liar or a wuss.

UPDATE

After her long stint at ESPN, Jemele Hill wound up at another sports industry leader… The Atlantic?

“The Atlantic made perfect sense to me because during this period, it’s critical to be aligned with people who understand this mission: Sports is a great entry point for exploring what’s happening in the wider society,” said Hill. “You can’t talk about sports without talking about race, class, gender and politics. I want to explore the complications and discomforts with a publication that has a long history of supporting this kind of work.”
— The Atlantic, 10/1/18

They offered her a paycheck.

Hill had an opportunity to explain her career moves and how hard it is for female journalists on another sports giant, The Wendy Williams Show….

Jemele Hill, like many others, has blown off the fact that sports is all about competition. It’s about box scores and stats. It’s also great entertainment where one ever really knows from the opening whistle or first pitch who will win the game, which is sports’ ultimate beauty.

It’s not an arena for those who wish to make “race, class, gender and politics” statements. Those who continue to pursue that agenda are correctly relegated to the ash heap of sports “journalism”.