Your favorite NFL sideline reporter

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PT
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I find most of them annoying, with Michelle Tafoya being the least objectionable and Tony Siragusa being the most laughable.
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Pam Oliver’s 20th season on the sidelines for FOX will be her last
Posted by Mike Florio on July 14, 2014

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The upcoming season will be Pam Oliver’s 20th as a sideline reporter at FOX. It also will be her last as a sideline reporter at FOX.

As explained by Richard Deitsch of SI.com, Oliver will leave the sidelines after the 2014 campaign. For her farewell tour, she’ll bid adieu to the No. 1 Joe Buck/Troy Aikman broadcast team, sliding to the No. 2 outfit. Erin Andrews will be promoted to the top spot.

Oliver told Deitsch she got the news in April.

“To go from the lead crew to no crew was a little shocking,” Oliver explained. “I said I wanted to do a 20th year [on the sidelines]. I expressed to them that I was not done and had something to offer. Again, I think it was predetermined coming in. Not at that meeting, but two years ago it was determined that no matter what I did or did not do, a change would be made for this year.”

But Oliver, 53, has nevertheless signed a long-term deal to remain with FOX in a variety of roles. Per Deitsch, Oliver will work on long-form features, specials, and major interviews. She’ll also do some work as a producer.

“Clearly it’s an expanded role that meets the needs of all the big events that FOX and FOX Sports 1 covers as well as the NFL on Fox,” FOX Sports president Eric Shanks told Deitsch. “I can’t think of a more respected person in the entire industry than Pam Oliver, and when you find out that Pam is going to be doing the interview, I don’t think you would say that anyone else would do the interview better. Her being a part of the FOX family now and in the future is really important to us. The move is hugely positive to where FOX Sports is going and building its journalistic chops and credibility 365 days and not just 17 days a year.”

As Deitsch points out, if FOX feels so strongly about Oliver’s journalistic chops, why won’t she still be chopping some in-game journalism wood from the sidelines of NFL games?

The answer could be the simplest and most obvious one. Some (not all, but some) networks view sideline reporting as a blend of in-game journalism and in-game eye candy, with a loose sliding scale balancing the two. Right or wrong, Oliver understands that.

“I live in the real world and I know that television tends to get younger and where women are concerned,” Oliver told Deitsch. “Just turn on your TV. It’s everywhere. And I’m not saying these younger girls don’t deserve a chance. I know I’ve had my turn.”

The real world also has real laws against age and gender discrimination, and it seems to be only a matter of time before a network gets a turn at defending against a lawsuit raising one or both of those claims.

Debating the value of sideline reporters
BY RICHARD DEITSCH

130922214627-erin-andrews-nfl-sideline-reporter-single-image-cut.jpg

Photo: CSM /Landov - Sideline reporters like Erin Andrews have become a big part of NFL telecasts, but are they being used correctly?

For an NPR column she wrote earlier this month, Andrea Kremer, the NFL Network's chief correspondent for player health and safety, reflected on some advice Al Michaels gave her in 2006 when she was hired by NBC's Sunday Night Football as a sideline reporter.

"You are somewhere we are not," Michaels told her. "Be our eyes and ears."

When sideline reporters perform that task with prescience and smarts, they provide an essential resource for sports viewers. The opposite paradigm is asking vapid questions and delivering sis boom bah platitudes for coaches (e.g. "Great job. Now go celebrate with your team, Coach!") and players. (Bad sideline reporting is also gender-neutral.)

I've thought a lot about sideline reporters this week because it's one of the questions I asked of our sports media panel below. While the quality of sideline reporting talent is wildly uneven (CBS has gone as far as eliminating the position during the NFL regular season), I support, as a philosophy, the more reporters on the field, the better.

"If I was a network president I would assign a reporter to every game because the 'high profile-ness' of a game has nothing to do with what happens during the game," Kremer said, in an email Sunday. "The fifth best game on a network can still have a catastrophic injury or a blackout or a weather delay."

Kremer continued.

"What do you want the role to be --- eye candy, a former player with a field level vantage point, or a real reporter who knows how to get information, especially when it's not easily forthcoming? Perhaps most importantly, what value does the individual game producer put on the role, reflecting the network philosophy on this position. On many broadcasts, 'sideline reporter' is an oxymoron because the bosses really don't want reporting. In addition, the reporter must understand how to be integrated into the broadcast.

When you have Al Michaels, the greatest play-by-play man, in my mind, who has the unique ability to seamlessly weave stories into his broadcast, why would you leave him to go to the field for something 'feature-y?' I think that Sunday Night Football uses a strong sideline reporter [Michelle Tafoya] with no apologies and she flows in the broadcast. In addition, remember that the best sideline reporters, like [Fox's] Pam Oliver, are constantly communicating info to the booth even if she doesn't get on."

The roster:

Jessica Danielle, sports writer and blogger at playerperspective.com

Reeta Hubbard, Founder/creator of TheNFLChick.com

John Koblin, Deadspin writer

Steve Lepore, SB Nation, NHL and media writer

Robert Littal, BlackSportsOnline.com founder

John Ourand, Sports Business Daily media writer

Jimmy Traina, writer and creator of SI.com's Hot Clicks

Matt Yoder, Awful Announcing, managing editor

A. If you were running a sports network, would you employ sideline reporters? Why or why not?

Danielle: Absolutely. Although I don't expect much from sideline reporters, during the Seahawks-Niners game on Sept. 15, [NBC's] Michelle Tafoya showed the value of having a skilled reporter provide context for the game, in addition to injury and general broadcast updates. I'd probably also look to have sideline reporters handle more of the pre-recorded interviews currently conducted by guys like Bob Costas.

Hubbard: Absolutely! As a woman whose dream is to be a respected voice of the NFL, I've always viewed sideline reporting as one of the introductory platforms to have a voice in sports broadcasting. Taking that away would take away one less opportunity for women, even in a small role. Another thing I believe that keeps sideline reporting relevant is fantasy football. Folks want to know the skinny on their starting players and sideline reporting gives folks the updates they are looking for. Fantasy football is way too popular to be ignored.

Koblin: Yes, but only when absolutely necessary, i.e. the exact opposite of how Fox used Erin Andrews two weeks ago where we got report after report about absolutely nothing. In fact, I'd just hire an insanely good reporter. The less telegenic the better! I'd hire someone who's tenaciously good at getting scoops. If there's a player coming off the field all woozy, I'd want a sideline reporter in everyone's face asking questions. If there's a Super Bowl blackout, I want that reporter chasing down every suit in the stadium to find out what's happening.

Lepore: Yeah. They wouldn't be required to appear every week or do the awkward "I spoke to coach a few minutes ago" hit, but the Super Bowl blackout showed us that you need somebody working down there who can relay special information to the viewers.

Littal: I think they are useless. It isn't anything personal against them, but at this point sideline reporters are more for comic relief than getting anything useful. It is more about how uncomfortable their interviews are than actual relevant information.

Ourand: Absolutely. A good sideline reporter enhances any telecast. The best ones report — get good information and conduct intelligent interviews.

Traina: I'd employ a person to report on news -- injury updates, insight into what's taking place on a team's sidelines/bench and weather issues. During the lightning delay in the Ravens-Broncos season opener, Michelle Tafoya showed you someone in this role who can bring you information. However, the one thing I'd ban sideline reporters from doing is interviewing coaches before a game, before halftime and after halftime. These exchanges are completely useless. "Coach, what do you have to do differently in the second half?" "Not turn the ball over." "Thanks, Coach. Joe, back to you." Riveting stuff.

Yoder: Yes. We're only talking something like two percent of the entire game broadcast. Injury updates from the sidelines alone are worth that kind of limited airtime in this age of fantasy football and the importance of individual players to fans.
 

DCH

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I don't care about any of them, they all just kind of blend into the inane. Although Tony Siragusa might be the most inane of all of them.
 

RamFan503

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I don't care about any of them, they all just kind of blend into the inane. Although Tony Siragusa might be the most inane of all of them.
Yeah - HE can keep his clothes on.
 

LACHAMP46

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I remember a couple years ago, on opening day, I saw Pam Oliver on the sidelines, and I thought she was going through some mental distress...She looked very unkempt, but appeared to pull herself together later in the year/season...maybe it was 2009...
 

DaveFan'51

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Michelle Beisner does it for me! I liked her coming to Ram Park!!
michelle-beisner_display_image.jpg
 

LetsGoRams

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Erin Andrews is nice looking, but she gets on my nerves. Just something irritating about her. It's like I'm always waiting for her to screw up or say something stupid. Yea, Beisner is great and I think does a great job... Tafoya and Siragusa are good at what they do. Two that obviously aren't hired for being 'eye candy' - and doing a good job of passing on info from the field.
 

Angry Ram

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I don't see the point in them. My favorite though is Alex Flanagan. She seems down to earth, doesn't have an annoying voice, and she's hot too.
 

RamBall

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My favorite sideline gal? Suzy Kolber.

Signed, Joe Namath

Suzy Kolber has been my favorite for a long time. She is the perfect woman, hot as hell and a sports fanatic, they dont get any better than that
 

PowayRamFan

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Suzy Kolber has been my favorite for a long time. She is the perfect woman, hot as hell and a sports fanatic, they dont get any better than that
She is kind of the benchmark, I guess. Stockton, huh? I worked a few summers at a marina on the end of eight-mile road back in the day. Ever heard of Herman and Helen's? Good times....
 

thirteen28

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Wow, I cannot believe Pam Oliver is 53 ... she could pass for much, much younger.
 

Faceplant

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Suzy fucking Kolber is the most annoying shitbag media person on the planet. Hate everything about her.....from the Philly accent, to the helmet like hair...to her and Merrill Douchbag Hoge's disdain for the Rams. Fuck em....
 

RamBall

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She is kind of the benchmark, I guess. Stockton, huh? I worked a few summers at a marina on the end of eight-mile road back in the day. Ever heard of Herman and Helen's? Good times....

Used to gas up the jet skis out there every weekend back in the early 90s. It was there or tiki lagoon, but herman and helens had more eye candy.
 

Boffo97

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Renee Young of the WWE might be on this list sometime in the future. ESPN has already tried to steal her. Looks hot and is knowledgeable and excited about the product.

Renee-Young.png
 

PowayRamFan

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Used to gas up the jet skis out there every weekend back in the early 90s. It was there or tiki lagoon, but herman and helens had more eye candy.
Lost isle? Oh shit I have stories about my misguided youth that revolve around that little oasis....
 

Dodgersrf

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It's a pretty useless job, really. Same questions every half time and post game. Unless there's an injury to report, they should just get away from it.
I do like Tony. He seems to know, there is really nothing important to say and has fun with it.
Pam does look great for 53.