Women in sports journalism

Marquette welcomed Christine Brennan, USA Today sports columnist and easily one of the most, if not the most, recognizable female sports journalists working today for the Axthelm Memorial Lecture at the Weasler Auditorium today. The talk coincided with Marquette's ongoing celebration of its centennial of admitting women.

Brennan's talk focused a large amount on baseball's so-called "steroid era" and how it was a failure of the players, the union director Don Fehr, and the media to not bring more attention to the situation when it was going on. The dilemma therein lies that fans don't like being cheated even if they like seeing players mash homers like it was going out of style.

She more than anyone else in this field has earned the right to say whatever she wants, as a pioneer for women in sports journalism. There were pointed critiques throughout. The BCS she said, was even more convoluded, and she preferred the "chaos" growing up when four or five teams laid claim to the national championship.

She also touched on the alarming and disgraceful scandal that befell ESPN's sideline reporter Erin Andrews. Andrews is the stunner/jaw-dropper that stops many a college student nationwide dead in their tracks - I'll admit being one of them whenever she comes on the television screen - but she's also a journalist and a damn good one.

Brennan was immediately on radio when her unfortunate situation happened and the first two words to describe it were "gross" and "disgusting." FOX News reportedly twisted it the other way to say she thought it was okay and that was even more of an insult.

As someone who's covered racing professionally for the last four years (this is 20 percent of your life when you're 20), I know the treatment Danica Patrick gets as a woman in a male-dominated sport. Deserved or not, she is held to a different standard than her male counterparts. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Patrick's but I still respect what she has done to make it in the IndyCar Series, and would hope she wouldn't embarrass herself if and when she switches to NASCAR.

Similarly, I think women in sports journalism deserve the same respect as their male counterparts, if not more so. My editor for the motorsports website I write for is a well-respected female that has been around the sport of auto racing for 30-plus years, dating to her days working corners. The Andrews incident was certainly a setback for women and I hope it does not detract from more women getting involved in it. Out for now, cheers.