For a number of reasons, I don’t defend David Pollack’s inartful comments about who should serve on the playoff selection committee – my guess is that even Pollack won’t now – but I will say that Erin Andrews’ umbrage over them is just as stupid.
While reciting headlines for the day in college football, Andrews improvised: “Besides my real one, my second headline is going to be ‘I’m a female, thanks for having me in college football.’”
I’m not slagging Ms. Andrews’ work ethic or popularity here. She’s earned what she’s got. But she’s also got to be kidding us if she thinks this wasn’t a big part of what got her career started:
Again, whatever works. But don’t try to sell me on the stunning resume she brought to the start of her sports journalism gig:
Andrews attended Bloomingdale High School in Valrico, Florida, where she was a member of the cheerleading team, student government, and the National Honor Society.[5] Following her graduation from high school in 1996, Andrews attended the University of Florida, graduating in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Telecommunications.[2] While in college she was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority,[7] and the Florida Gators Dazzlers dance team from 1997 to 2000.[2]
So, yeah, to answer your sarcasm, you’re welcome. And I’d appreciate it if ESPN would quit trying to sound holier than thou when it creates both sides of an argument.
****************************************************************************
UPDATE: Pat Dye on Condi Rice: “That goes back to politics. Which one she likes the best. Which one’s the smoothest talker. The game is played on the field.”
Get The Picture 
Say, nice boobs.
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Maybe, but the second she starts talking I’m annoyed as hell. Looks only go so far.
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Agreed. I’m glad she’s not on TV anymore.
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Oh, but she is. She now has her own show on Fox.
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Tell her to put a sock in it
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Oh Dear God, Erin, lighten up. Nobody has excluded you from anything, nor has anyone failed to take you seriously because you’re blonde and hot. Not every goddam thing has to be a Grrrrl Power! moment.
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I have failed to take her seriously because she’s blonde and hot and that’s the only reason she got her job. And she’s not any good at what she does. You took her seriously despite this?
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She has a lot more “talent” than Holly Rowe, lol.
I never cared for her after she slammed the UGA baseball team for playing without heart directly beside our dugout. It was mean-spirited and inaccurate.
P.S. who are Holly Rowe’s parents? I’m guessing one or both are on the Disney Board.
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Yawn. Yawn… Yawn.
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To Pollack’s credit, I think he was just trying to not dance around what he’s saying, so he basically ‘fessed up’. I don’t think he thinks it’s because women aren’t qualified because they’re women, it’s that they aren’t qualified because they haven’t played and aren’t allowed to. It’s hard to make that stick, but I know plenty of women that know enough about football to serve on that committee… I think David was trying to find a way to make an argument against people that don’t know football and got tripped up by it, big time. I’m biased because I like the guy, but I also don’t think he’s stupid enough to actually believe women should be disqualified because of their gender alone.
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Honestly, the “haven’t played” excuse is one of the things I object to in Pollack’s argument. I can think of plenty of folks who would bring better insight to the committee than some supposedly chosen even though they’ve never played a down of college football.
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It’s more to the point to ask Condie, “How much college ball did you watch during all your globe-trotting for George W.
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That’s never been a question posed to voters in any poll, has it?
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To clarify my rambling you were responding to Senator, I disagree with Pollack’s ‘haven’t played’ as a disqualifier as well.
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Amen. Herbstreit has played a down or two, and he hosted the pity party for Michigan’s inclusion in the title game (he was wrong), lobbied for our exclusion (he was right) and forgot the second argument when it came to lobbying for Bama’s inclusion a few years later.
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You can’t accuse her of anosognosia that you might assign to some leather helmet guys, whereas, she is a full on candidate for the Dunning-Kruger effect.
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Good grief, Cojo, you been in the DSM manual for that one? What in tarnation does that malady confer on its targets? Like to see the Dawgs drop a dose on Missourah.
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Worth noting that Pollack’s original point- that the committee should be just filled with former players and people “close to the sport” or what have you- strikes me as shortsighted. As if putting on the pads makes you an expert. I offer early Saturday afternoons with Andre Ware as continual living proof.
“I gotta say, Buffalo really has a chance here, Dave.” No they do not, Andre.
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This is the price we pay for being able to watch a whole damn bunch of college football in Section HD pretty much (via replay) anytime we want.
On the one hand we are subjected to buffoonery, but on the other we can watch Misery chunking them damn slants and get the upchucks…right now I got no damn room in my mind for Erin Andrews, besides Sam Ponder is soooooooooooo much hotter.
I’m off to the store for some tinfoil to make hats.
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Just remember the newts tails and bat wings, SJ3.
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Got em covered Lone….I buy in bulk before the season starts. There may be something to this tinfoil…
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Oh yeahhh!…Boil, boil; toil and trouble. Mess ’em up my man Scorp!
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Erin Andrews is one of those women who wears a top that shows her boobs off and then loudly fake complains about men not looking at her face. Deep down she knows what she is.
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Ms. Andrews can serve on my committee anytime.
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Sit on your committee, right?
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“Why don’t you leave this to the boys, sweet cakes?”
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Senator, I think many folks would enjoy your pointing out what her second headline was – a Maryland upset of FSU. Sort of like taking offense at being called a bad driver and then immediately rear ending the car in front of you.
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Ha! More like driving over the damn cliff.
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Does she ever get credit for what she does in the job, or is it always diminished by how she got started? And btw I don’t watch her on TV but you don’t mention that she does a lousy job, and this many years into it wouldn’t that be the root of her displeasure with Pollack?
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Andrews’ career at present isn’t the issue. (Besides, I gave her credit in my post.) Remember, this flap arose over Condi Rice. What stage would you say Rice’s college football pundit career is at today?
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Well, seeing as how she attended a college that doesn’t even have a football team and is famous for its ice hockey cred…
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Why would Pollack NOT defend his stance that anyone on the committee should have either played or coached the game? Whether someone agrees with it or not is irrelevant. The point is, that is NOT a sexist statement. However, if you disagree with it because you think women, specifically, should be on the committee, that, in fact, IS sexist. Are we clear?
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Is Pollack objecting to the ADs who’ve never played or coached serving? If so, then I’ll give him credit for intellectual consistency. If not, then your argument is meritless.
The huge irony here is that these people aren’t being selected for their keen football insight. They’re being picked to insure that the status quo of the money flow remains the status quo. So from that aspect, a woman would serve just as well as a man would. Are we clear?
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In his statement, which I just went and rewatched, I think he leaves the door open to AD’s and similar… he does contradict himself in his statement, but he seems (to me) to end up at a place where he wants people who are surrounded by and paying attention to football. I think he gave a rushed answer and just tried to be honest, but really didn’t think through what he was saying. It’s really hard to say what he really thinks.
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I think that ADs would be on his list of people in the mix that eat, sleep, breathe football.
Regarding the second paragraph, apparently you still arent clear. THAT is exactly what DP has a problem with!
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You realize there are women ADs, right?
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I came up with California, NC State and Rutgers (with a couple directional Michigan schools thrown in). So they are out there in minuscule numbers.
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Sure and if there is a female AD that eats, sleeps and breathes football, I think that would be ok with DP, judging from what he said.
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That’s a nice theory.
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ESPN, another northeast out of date, out of touch, liberal media, totally driven by political correctness [another term for bias]. Noticed Erin Andrews on TV maybe 2xs this season, do not recall time or game, but what I do recall is she looks old and over travelled. She needs to take a beauty rest for the sake of her gender, play some lingierie football, and drop her bias against UF rivals. But other than eye candy why did ESPN hire her? Oh we forgot. So she could show her bias and pick the Terps over the ‘Noles. Guess that settles the reason for hire, football expertise vs eye candy.
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Nobody makes the kind of money ESPN makes by being out of touch, Will.
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Not so fast my friend!
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Yethhh Shnenator…whathhh he saithhhhssss!
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Dammith Lee, thath wath my quote!
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We’re looking live…at young college coeds, Herbie.
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“what I do recall is she looks old and over travelled”–Verne Lundquist and Brent Musberger are offended. Sheesh, Will. You were serious about that?
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What in God’s holy name are you blathering about? I’m pretty sure the “out of touch” label applies more to the conservative base than liberals. What makes you think that a *sports* network has any political affiliation at all? Are you a troll account or something?
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You left this part off of your comment……
“Mm-mm-mm-ba-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-ah!”
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BEEEEEENGAAAAAAZEEEEEE!! LOL!
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What makes you think a sports network (which is part of ABC Disney) can’t have a political bias?! And I’m pretty sure “out of touch” is in the eye of the beholder.
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Fine, sure, it’s the liberal media out to get you again. You people are nuts.
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You know she doesn’t work for ESPN anymore, right?
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Based on the purported request of an anonymous unindicted co-conspirator, a primo data-r-us outfit is now mining David’s data even more than usual.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/08/19/national-security-darling-why-condoleezza-rice-david-petraeus-and-george-tenet-back-palantir/
David is expected to soon flee to Canada via New Hampshire. It is a universal hope that he will take Jesse with him
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Palmer or Pinkman?
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Palmer
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Does anybody remember when Erin worked with the Braves for one season?
It was back when TBS was showing Big 12 football games. They had this nifty ad campaign during games where the image of a tumbling cheerleader would run across the bottom of the screen, Then she’d pick up a sign that read “Big 12 on TBS” or some such thing.
The kicker was that Skip Carey (PBUH) would frequently deadpan “And there goes Erin…”
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Everything Skip ever uttered was deadpan. It was so obvious from some of his standard remarks that his #1 goal was to get the game over so he could get into his cups. God, I miss him. If we could just get to hear him respond to one more rain-delay caller ask him about the infield fly rule!
And isn’t it tragic irony that Ernie and Skip sired the two biggest wimpy nerds in sports broadcasting today?
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She is a booger eating gator with big boobs…….and a nice smile. I worry more about Condi because she’s a Bama and Stanford fan!
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Erin Andrews works for Fox. That might be why no one has seen her on the WWL.
As far as her professional career, she’s not half the point person that Rece Davis or Chris Fowler are. I think she’s about as good as Tom Luginbill is at running a show. That is not a compliment. The difference is that Tom can offer something in terms of analysis if he has someone else to set him up (which Dari Nowkhah does well). Erin may be able to do the same, but I don’t remember Erin adding anything I considered insightful.
She has her job (and the big paycheck that comes with it from Fox — just from a quick google search: Erin makes $800k, Fowler makes $500K. Don’t know the veracity, but that’s what I found.) because of what she looks like. There are plenty of men and women who earn their living that way (actors, musicians, models, trophy wives), and there is nothing wrong with that. But, to assume “I have a job covering college football” means “I am a foremost expert on college football” is silly.
Pollack probably shouldn’t have said what he said the way he said it. But, of all people, for Erin Andrews to take offense… that’s rich (like she is… because of what she looks like and not what she knows or can do particularly well).
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“I think she’s about as good as Tom Luginbill is at running a show. That is not a compliment. The difference is that Tom can offer something in terms of analysis if he has someone else to set him up (which Dari Nowkhah does well).”
Another difference between Erin and Luginbill is that she didn’t play quarterback for Tech. Erin could have done so but didn’t when told that position was not Emmy-worthy
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Well said, Trey.
I would like to see a WWL staffed entirely with Davis and Fowler level quality and style .
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“UPDATE:” Man Enough – “I love Condoleezza Rice and she’s probably a good statesman and all of that but how in the hell does she know what it’s like out there when you can’t get your breath…”
She’s a bona fide high-level brutalizer when it comes to people not getting their breath
“In recent years, it wasn’t merely low-level brutalizers and their immediate superiors who sanctioned and approved torture techniques, but senior White House officials, including National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney. From George W. Bush’s own memoir, we know that the previous president gave an enthusiastic order (“Damn right!”) to subject other human beings to water torture, just as we know that President Obama has made certain no one in the government involved in ordering or facilitating such acts would ever answer for any of them.”
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/waterboarding-americans-and-redefinition-torture-history
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I hope Joe Nameth is also on the panel, and he sits next to Erin in the meetings.
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Suzy Kolber likes this
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If its about looks, how did Clay Travis get his gig?
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He claims he married a cheerleader
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Speaking of the media, Finebaum now has Flordia winning the East. I can’t believe Finebaum doubts us!
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You’d do just as we’ll taking tips from the fortune teller under the big tent. Though this will be the conventional wisdom, no doubt, what with the gross winnowing of the Dawgs’ roster.
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Florida could lose their next 3 games easily. I’m not passing judgment on them until after this weekend. They’ve already lost to Miami on the road and haven’t played anyone else. Arkansas in the swamp is their best win to date.
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Finebaum is the reason I have no use for the pesonality driven media.
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Isn’t Condi Rice the National Security Advisor that was promoted to Secretary of State after the 9/11 attacks? I thought she wanted to be a baseball commissioner.
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Sure, but she is tight with Cheney and knows where his heart is hidden. She may also have gotten that “no-catch” decision at the end of the Wash-Stanford game upheld by her mere presence at that affair. But maybe I have too much time on my hands?
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I’m worried Condi will get the NCAA bogged down in another foreign war.
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Ho-Ho … +1
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Even Baghdad Bob thinks that’s funny
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If this is a personality-driven media, then why has Georgia played in four of the top eight top-rated TV games of 2013? Is it Coach Richt? Is it Murray? Is it Russ?
1. Alabama-Texas A&M: 8.5 average rating, 13.59M viewers;
2. Notre Dame-Michigan: 5.3 average rating, 8.65M viewers;
3. Georgia-Clemson: 4.8 average rating, 8.14M viewers;
4. LSU-Georgia: 4.6 average rating, 7.39M viewers;
5. Ohio State-Northwestern: 4.6 average rating, 7.36M viewers;
6. South Carolina-Georgia: 4.3 average rating, 7.05M viewers;
7. Wisconsin-Ohio State: 4.0 average rating, 6.75M viewers; and
8. Georgia-Tennessee: 3.6 average rating, 6.30M viewers.
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I do not think that phrase means what you think it means.
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It’s not Russ, that’s for sure.
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I missed all the fun
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We can dispense with the notion that broadcasting jobs have anything to do with meritocracy. You connect with an audience, you’re on the air, even if you’ve burnt 1,000 bridges (Olbermann). Why you connect with an audience says a heck of a lot more about the audience than it does the broadcaster. I still get a kick out of talk radio guys who tell their audiences how smart and discerning they are in between spots for Verbal Advantage and male performance vitamins.
Erin saw a parade and jumped out in front. Par for the course in that field.
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Check plus
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If journalistic skill = beauty, then Candy Crowley and Christiane Amanpour would have long since been Miss Americas and/or Playboy centerfolds. As it is, I pay a Hell of a lot more attention to them than to certain bombshell news broadcasters who shall remain nameless.
In fairness, this ain’t just a girl thing. Do you think Howard Cosell’s toupee topped mug would have a chance on ESPN today, or the former big 3? Lou gets a pass because…. Hell, I dunno why. And, yeah, I know CBS has Verne, but that avuncular charm makes up for the pudgy, 4 eyed thing. And (now veering wildly off topic) am I the only one who respects Verne for this much at least: again gave props to Larry Munson by not only bringing up, but replaying the “hobnail boot” call?
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Wait now Slaw….I think Christiane Amanpour is pretty damn foxy….and as a journalist she is almost in Andrews’ class (as the teacher).
Ok about the Munson replay, but it made me miss him more…
I hate that I agree with Pat Dye, but he’s right, you know?
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“as the teacher”–that’s pretty funny, Scorp.
While channel surfing Sat night, caught a CFB recap on another channel (fox sports I think) referring to Tennessee again getting its faced crushed by a hobnail boot.
Some a y’all got more natties, some got more SEC titles. Only we had Larry. I’ll take that!
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I always liked Erin myself, sort of miss her on the ESPN games.
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Dammit! I really hate it that this flap made me have to agree with Pat Dye!!! I feel so…..dirty.
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