SALT LAKE CITY — Last Saturday, the SEC Network broadcast a Southeastern Conference men’s basketball game between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Missouri Tigers. It was a game between two middling programs with the Tigers prevailing.
“It is hard being a woman in sports in general and I think that when other people involved in sports have to objectify and sexualize our sport it just makes it even more difficult.” — Utah junior Sydney Soloski
Little of the discussion following the game had much to do with basketball, however. Instead the conversation centered on comments made in-game by SEC Network analyst Barry Booker.
Booker made multiple sexist comments during a promotion for a Feb. 14 gymnastics meet between Alabama and Arkansas, part of the SEC Network’s “Friday Night Heights” franchise that will see a record number of meets televised this season.
After lead announcer Richard Cross promoted the meet as a potential Valentine’s Day event — “a good Valentine’s Day date night idea if you’re in one of those places,” he said — Booker proceeded to say “Go hang out with the ladies … I mean, I wanna go see some scantily clad girls!”
Cross, for his part, immediately declared, “No, no!” and then proceeded to tout the family-friendly nature of college gymnastics. He then emphasized that it was Booker who made the inappropriate statement. Booker responded to that by saying, “I’ll stay home and watch — actually, I’ll be on the road. I’ll be somewhere in my hotel room watching ‘Friday Night Heights.’”
The social outcry was almost immediate and Booker’s comments were publicly denounced by SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and others shortly thereafter.
“The comments related to the sport of women’s gymnastics made by basketball analyst Barry Booker during yesterday’s telecast of the Arkansas at Missouri men’s basketball game are inappropriate and do not meet the expectations we have for the SEC Network,” Sankey said in a statement on Sunday. “The SEC’s women’s gymnastics student-athletes deserve our support for many reasons, including their dedication and achievement. We are in communication with the SEC Network and ESPN personnel, and I am confident this issue will be handled appropriately.”
Booker reportedly apologized for his comments later in Saturday’s broadcast, but the impact of his statements will linger, particularly for those athletes targeted.
Tuesday afternoon, multiple Utah gymnasts — the Red Rocks’ team captains — took time to express their disappointment in and frustration with Booker’s comments.
“It is hard being a woman in sports in general and I think that when other people involved in sports have to objectify and sexualize our sport it just makes it even more difficult,” junior Sydney Soloski said. “It is the nature of our sport, we don’t have a choice in what we wear. I get a bad taste in my mouth that people feel that way about our sport.
“It is a very family-friendly event. I mean the majority of our crowd is families and young kids and I think that speaks more to the volume of the sport than what people think about what we might be wearing and how they feel about that.”
Senior Missy Reinstadtler was likewise upset, calling the comments “disgusting” and lamenting that such talk occurs no matter “what women do or wear.” She expressed hope that Booker would be disciplined beyond the condemnation of his comments.
“In terms of him being an active part of the SEC at this point I’m hoping that changes,” she said.
For elite collegiate athletes who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of gymnastics, the episode was infuriating.
“Obviously it made me a little mad,” senior Kim Tessen said. “We are not out here on the competition floor in leotards to perform for men or anything like that. It is so much more and that discounts what we are doing. Gymnastics is not easy. That discounts how hard we really work.”
Red Rocks on the air
No. 3 Utah (7-0, 4-0 Pac-12)
vs. No. 21 Oregon State (8-3, 3-0)
Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City
Saturday, 1 p.m. MST
TV: Pac-12 Networks
Radio: ESPN700