The Erin Andrews Era

So basically, posting a picture of Erin Andrews on your sports blog equals instant hits....so they say. But, I'm going to try to reach past the cheap thrill of posting the same picture of Erin Andrews that you will find on just about every other sports blog out there...

Why has Erin Andrews' popularity skyrocketed so much? Sure, she's a very attractive 29 year-old former Florida Gators dance team member that covers sports, but there are a lot of attractive women on TV in their 20s. What I really think is interesting is her level of competition on TV. It is almost Tiger Woods-ish. Sure, I think Tiger could very well be the greatest golfer of all time, but there is really no one out there to challenge his greatness, unless you're a big fan of a perennial loser with man boobs.

I made a point to mention her age because take a good long look at a lot of the other sideline reporter types out there. They are all more or less crusty manly looking women in their late 30s to mid 40s. They have been on TV for years, and surprisingly have never budged. Don't believe me? Suzy Kolber: 43. Pam Oliver: 47. Linda Cohn: 48. Bonnie Bernstein: 37. Lisa Guerrero: 44. Jillian Barbarie: 41. Michele Tafoya: 43. Hell, even relative newcomer Rachel Nichols is 34.

It seems like any potential competition to Andrews' dominance has been stomped out as well. Let's look at these 4 more in depth:


Melissa Stark: Probably the original Erin Andrews. She joined ESPN at age 27 in 2001 but left in 2004 after she was apparently "spooning it out" to Trey Wingo, which upset Chris Berman. No one exactly knows what spooning it out means, but I'm guessing it had something to do with Boomer not getting any, which just isn't allowed. She's been off TV since 2006.


Jill Arrington: Was voted as Playboy's sexiest sportscaster in 2001 but has been "retired" since 2004. Even if she were to make a shocking comback, she's going on 36 years old and now probably out of Erin's league.


Ivon Gaete: She got a lot of buzz back in 2006 when she made her debut. I don't know a whole lot about her but she got the enviable task of covering the Little League World Series. Personally, she seems more of an Arena Football type to me in the realm of crappy assignments. I guess she didn't do a good job, because she hasn't been heard from since. Either that, or Erin Andrews' has some sinister plot to eliminate all competition....


Stacy Dales: This 28 year-old is the only national reporter I could find that is actually younger than Erin Andrews. She is actually an on-again off-again WNBA player that just retired again a few weeks ago. The only problem is, well, she's just not all that attractive.

So even though Erin Andrews is turning the big 3-0 in 2 weeks, her title seems pretty safe for now. All of the women I mentioned that are getting up there in age are all talented reporters, so maybe the networks are doing the right thing by keeping them employed for their talent....or maybe they just don't want to get sued. Either way, there aren't too many spots for the younger crowd to fill.