First and goal: Claire Wallace on a woman’s place in football broadcasting

Something must be wrong with my TV. The video of my football game is perfectly clear, but the announcer’s voice is too high-pitched. Oh. Wait. The announcer is a. . . . WOMAN?! Avid football fan and fantasy writer Claire Wallace responds to the historic milestone with shock and delight in this September 2017 Huffington Post article.

Read it here: Wallace, “A woman’s place is in the broadcast booth”

 

1. As Wallace’s title proclaims, she is applauding and celebrating the almost unbelievable event of a woman sportscaster doing the play-by-play calls for a nationally televised Monday night NFL game. She’s doing more than just that, though. What is Wallace’s main point? Summarize her argument. Is it persuasive? Why or why not?
2. Aside from identifying herself as an Eagles fan, Wallace’s bio offers no football or media credentials at all. How does she establish her authority on the subject? Point to specific passages from the essay to support your response. How credible is she? Why do you think so?
3. Wallace uses numerous Twitter posts as her They Say. Some of the tweets are simply summarized, while others are quoted directly. Why might Wallace have made those specific choices about which tweets to quote, which to summarize? Were her choices effective? Why or why not? You may want to read (or re-read) Chapters 2 and 3 of your text to help you think about your response.
4. Wallace concludes on an optimistic note, suggesting that football may not have to “live down to its reputation as a sport that hates women” and that perhaps the Chargers-Broncos game “was the beginning of something great, both for women and for football.” Do you share Wallace’s optimism? Why or why not? Write an essay in which you speculate on the near future of women as football announcers, sci-fi protagonists, or any other public role that has traditionally been closed to them. Use Wallace as your They Say, and draw on your own experience and/or social media posts as your evidence.

Comments

[austin cline]

I am glad to see people who agree with me on the topic that women can do things that men do. Just because you are a female doesn't mean they don't know about sports. I am glad people like Beth announcing games because if you really had a love for women you wouldn't care if they do things like that. I don't care if you are a male or female as long as you can get the job done and get it done right that's all that matters. I hope more people come to their senses and realize that women can do the same things men do.

[Amber]

1. Wallace’s main point is that not only is a woman able to do sportscast, but she can do it not because of her gender, but her competence, just like any other man. It is persuasive to me because she provided several details that show how good Mowins is in the fourth and fifth whole paragraph. Aside from her advantages, the writer also contrasted her with some men she called “idiot”, and showed that women can actually be better than men. In short, although whether a sportscaster is good and reliable or not remains a subjective matter, Wallace provided the readers with her own observation and thoughts to support her point. It is persuasive to me.

2. In the first whole paragraph, Wallace uses a line in brackets to establish her authority. She says, “Given the truly disgusting amount of football we watch collectively, that’s saying something.” It tells readers implicitly that she has watched so much football that she can be seen as some kind of expert, or at least someone to trust on the subject. She is credible for me because I never watch football, and someone who watches a lot definitely has accumulated enough knowledge and experience for me to rely on. But for others, who may have the same great passion for football, or even a professional, she might not seem as trustworthy, because all she provided was her “experience.”

[Sean-Paul Turner]

I think it would be a breathe of fresh air. to hear someone announcers talk about the game and sport with intelligence and excitement. I personally would watch sports more often if it was being announced by female reporters. I think it would pave the way for more female roles in the media portraying a masculine sport or activity. It empowers women to break out of the gender roles and do something that isn't part of the norm. I believe if women were to announce sports, it would be an incredible experience for both the audience and the female announcer!

[Brandon Johnson]

I know that football is a male dominated sport and most of the announcers are former players, but most of them are terrible at announcing. They might know the game a little bit better but they aren't coaching. Play by play sports announcers are there to describe to you what is happening on the field as if you were listing to it on the radio. Every once in awhile give stats about players, coaches, or teams that is relevant to things happening in the game.If Beth does a better job than former players why not have her on. Its defiantly refreshing to have change and why are these ferrous men getting angry, would they rather look at Joe Buck for 3 hours on a Monday night.

[Joseph Smith]

The main point that Wallace makes is that Beth Mowins is entirely capable of doing the play-by-play of a football broadcast. She is also able to perform better than some of her peers. Her ability to do this has nothing to do with the fact that she is a woman, but is entirely reliant on her knowledge of the sport and how well she can communicate what is occurring out on the field to the viewers. I think that the article is very persuasive, especially when Wallace begins to compare Mowens to some of her less talented and professional colleagues. She manages to list things that were required of Mowins and Mownins was able to do all of those listed things.

[Jacob Snyder]

I liked this article because it points out how people can be so judgemental over the smallest things. The female football play by play announcer Beth got alot of nasty comments on social media after and during the game she was announcing. People saying they changed the channel or turned off the game because a woman was doing the play by play. I could understand that if Beth did a bad job but from what I read in the article it sound like she did a pretty good job; which just goes to show how ignorant people can be. I feel like who cares if a man or women does the announcing as long as that person does well doing it, but for some that don't matter. The only thing they see or hear is that its a woman so they don't like it. Ignorant!

[Duane Adams]

I think it was good that Beth Mowin as a woman to do the play-by-play for a national televised football game. Play-by-play should not just be done by a male. If woman is qualified to do the same job as male, why not let her do the job?

[Robin Crittenen]

After Reading the blog on A women in the broadcasting both.I'm very pleased the know that there are people who think that women are capable of doing any thing a man can.Just because its a women having to get the job done doesn't mean it not being done correctly. Football and basket are man sports but their are women like myself who has come to love sports.Why not let me share about something I love and keep near and dear to my heart. I'm thankful for the game of football today.