Michele Tafoya doesn't need me to stick up for her. Earlier this week, Tafoya was named the new sideline reporter for Monday Night Football, replacing Lisa Guerrero, a former Los Angeles Rams cheerleader, model and soap opera actress who anchored sports updates at Fox Sports Net before a single season on MNF.
Press reports and Web postings described Tafoya as "capable" and "solid." One went so far to say that ABC had replaced its lingerie model with a "librarian." One headline read, "Hot chick is out, bland chick is in."
In all my years of watching sports on television, I have never once tuned in because the announcers were attractive men. When you think about the rest of the MNF crew, Al Michaels and John Madden, they're not exactly eye candy. The same could be said of ESPN's new college basketball analyst, Rick Majerus.
To tell you the truth, I'm not overly interested what they look like. I want lively, intelligent commentary. But I don't watch because they're on, I watch because I'm interested in the game.
Unfortunately, the game has become overshadowed by the hype surrounding the game. It's no longer Monday Night Football . It's Monday Night Party. Forget the games, cue Britney Spears for the opening musical video.
This phenomenon probably explains Guerrero's hiring on MNF. It was a train wreck from the season opener when she asked Washington Redskins quarterback Patrick Ramsey what it was like playing against his former teammate Laveranues Coles. Oops! Turns out they were current teammates.
She never really recovered from her opening night fiasco. If she wanted to be taken seriously, she didn't help herself with the low-cut blouses and appearing in a lingerie photo spread in a men's magazine that was released early in the season.
So you'd think that sports fans would welcome the addition of Tafoya to the MNF family. She's a Cal-Berkeley graduate with a degree in broadcast journalism. She also has a master's in business administration from the University of Southern California.
Tafoya, 39, was ESPN's on-site reporter at "Monday Night Football" games. She's handled WBNA play-by-play, was studio host for NCAA men's and women's basketball, and currently she is a sideline reporter for ABC's NBA coverage. She also worked on NFL coverage for CBS in 1994 and on NBC in the 2000 Olympics from Australia.
Very impressive credentials but not the fodder of sports radio talk shows and sports columns about her. Nope, much of the attention was about her appearance and the fact that she's not a model, although most people would consider her attractive.
In a conference call to announce Tafoya's hiring, one reporter asked a question that implied ABC might be switching from trying to attract the young, male audience.
Tafoya, who was reportedly amused by the comment, shot back, "I'm kind of hurt you'd think I couldn't bring in the young, male viewers."
Guerrero apparently had a following with that demographic. USA Today's online edition asked readers how they felt about ABC's decision to replace Guerrero with Tafoya, and nearly 40 percent said the network should have kept Guerrero. About 10 percent said Tafoya's hiring was a good move.
About 13 percent of the 10,788 people who had responded to the online poll as of Thursday evening championed ESPN's Suzy Kolber. She would have been an excellent pick, too. Unfortunately, her most memorable interview to date was of Joe Namath, who hit on Kolber instead of answering her questions. Maybe his years of wearing pantyhose cut off circulation to his brain.
Tafoya appears to have no illusions about her new job. The job of MNF sideline reporter has been a revolving door since 1999. Some pundits say the position should be eliminated because sideline reports are rarely meaningful or insightful. It's the stuff of halftime coaching adjustments and torn anterior cruciate ligaments.
Tafoya, hired on the recommendation of Al Michaels, says she wants to "bring the viewer close to the sideline" and "enhance the broadcast in a way that can't be done from the booth."
But she has no illusions about the fickle television audience. "I got criticism in the past, and I'll get it in the future. It comes with the territory."
She can count on it.
Marjorie Cortez is a Deseret Morning News editorial writer. E-mail her at marjorie@desnews.com.