If Erin Andrews weren't hot, nobody would care about her.

Posted by Baum.

Maggie Hendricks of Yahoo! Sports published a blog yesterday, lamenting the end of freedom for abnormally hot female reporters everywhere. She brings up some of the bigger travesties that female sideline reporters have had to endure, such as getting hit on by a hall of fame quarterback or by a young multi-millionare who owns his own MMA league. Oh the atrocities that have befallen society. What endurance it must take for a woman to get all dressed up and go interview the most attractive athletes in the world at the biggest sporting events in the world (and getting paid quite handsomely for it).

Yes, the heckling/oogling/trespassing/

gossiping is unfortunate. But is anyone naive enough to think that Erin Andrews--or Suzy Kolber, etc--got their jobs based solely on journalistic ability (even Maggie Hendricks)?? It is a vicious double standard that can be detrimental to women, but also very detrimental to capable and qualified men. Erin Andrews' looks clearly had to have some sort of impact on her rise through an industry that is nearly entirely male-driven, but she is going to be sensitive to the fact that people find her attractive.

Clearly filming someone changing is inappropriate and uncalled for. But is it really that surprising? Can you expect to be a sex symbol not have people try to look at you naked? And let's make no qualms about it, Erin Andrews is a sex symbol. She is on screen in front of millions of male viewers every time she goes to work and the reason is because those millions of men enjoy looking at her (and probably imagining her naked). If she can't handle the pressure and exposure she can step down, just like professional athletes.

As for what on-screen female reporters wear. The scrutiny is coming from females most of the time. It is preposterous to imply that the nitpicking of what female reporters wear is in some way sexist. Most guys watching a game do not care what the hot sideline reporters are wearing (especially if it is nothing, clearly).

Maybe a cut back on the amount of screen time or jobs for attractive female sidelines reporters will happen. And if it did, it would probably be a good thing. No more distraction for players and coaches (yes, that is why they are there and attractive, so they can distract the players to get an inside scoop). No more useless immediate half-time or post-game sweaty interviews that have never yielded anything remotely resembling a good quote (save KG screaming that he was "CERTIFIABLE!" after the Celtics won the NBA Championship, but what does that mean anyways?). And most importantly no slow-news-day-midsummer useless drama because somebody saw somebody elses but. Once football starts no one watching Indiana vs. Penn State at noon in Happy Valley will give a rat's ass that somebody saw Erin Andrews blurry and naked through a peephole. All they will be thinking about is that they want to see her clear and naked on TV.