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.

[Elise]

#3 Her choice was affective in summarizing certain quotes.

In not summarizing quotes she properly picks the root of the responses to Beth as woman in sports commentary. In summaries then, the author gives us an abstract view with presenting and pinpointing the differences of logic in the negative criticism. We understand the different types of responses at their root instead of having to sort through a tweeter's emotional baggage ourselves.

Generally twitter comments are vassals of overpoured emotion without any base or reason. A time we are presented with a quote relays to the reader that misogynistic opinions actually brought up! It informes us of why it is important to talk about. This was the quote "Great.. another female voice i get to ignore in football."

Another time a quote was placed was to relay how she got into the position of announcing. Choosing to use this quote was beneficial because not only do we get the why and how she was hired, but the necessary of credentials for the job. A & B was needed for the job, she had both effortlessly, and this is why she was hired. Not out of tokenship. Here is the quote I am referencing. "Its not about somebody getting an opportunity because of gender. It’s about somebody getting an opportunity because of body of work.”- Mike Tirico

[Zachary Mayeux]

If someone can do somehing give them a chance to do it.
just because it isnt the norm doesn’t mean that is a bad think Beth Mowinsjust because football is a male dominated sport doesn’t mean that it that women cant be on the sidelines reporting on the game. In now in 2021 there are women reporters for many channels CBS,NBC&FOX. When they first started they were probably critzed but it doesn’t mean they arent doing a good job now
If they can do it give them the chance they might be the best ever at it

[Sydney]

Wallace's main point in this article is that Beth Mowins can announce plays-by-plays not because she is a women but because her work is good just like any man in the field can. Beth Mowins showed determination and was able to do something that I hope to someday do. I also liked this article because it shows how much hate someone can get for doing something they love. Wallace includes some of the hateful things that were said about Mowins on twitter. People who turned off the game or watched it in Spanish because they couldn't listen to a females's voice is ridiculous. The way Wallace describes how she was doing seems like she was doing a good job and it was like "a breath of fresh air" to hear a female's voice. What Beth Mowins did has paved the way for more female sports broadcasters in a male dominated career field. Reading this article it makes me want to break these gender roles society has put out. If a women is truly good at broadcasting a game it shouldn't matter to someone that a women is announcing a football game.

[Kayla]

Wallace’s title is more than just a woman commenting on a football game. Beth Mowins disrupted an environment where change isn’t very common. She plunged herself into a well male dominated world and was prepared to take the nastiness and backlash that would come with it. Wallace’s main point in supporting Mowins’ actions, shares the close-mindedness of our society. Women and men are both human and capable of understanding the way football works. The commentator’s gender should be the last thing thought of and cared about. Her brave and determined actions are paving the way for future women who want to commentate and follow in her footsteps. I found Wallace’s article persuasive because she provided much detail and interesting observations. She was able to move my thoughts and emotions.

[Hannah]

Wallace’s main point is to show us that we must never be afraid to pursue our dreams. In the article it shows us how everyone reacted to Beth Mowins being a football announcer. At first some people believed it was just a man with a high pitched voice but they were mistaken. As she became more well known people were extremely shocked to see it was a woman. Beth Mowins got hate and she received support. It is good to see other people agreeing that women can do anything a man can. In the end if we want more equality, stepping up and pursuing your desires even if they may be different from other females is what we need to do. We need to break societal norms of “women are not as strong” because it limits us. I share Wallace’s optimism because I always live by at least trying something even if you think it will be too hard.

[Samantha O’Brien]

Claire Wallace’s article shows what it is like working in a male dominated field as a woman. Wallace captures the difficulties in stepping out of the gender norm that society has created by showing the sexist and hateful commentary that Beth Mowins received after she performed her job as a play-by-play announcer on MNF. After reading Wallace’s article I was astonished hearing some of the things people said online about Mowin. This article opened my eyes to the hateful world we live in, and it still amazes me how people still make such sexist comments. I believe that we must step out of the gender norm that society has created just like Mowins did. Mowins inspires me and many others to stand up against sexism in a world full of hate.

[Kaden]

Claire Wallace talks about how commentating for football is a well-male-dominated area, and how hard and how difficult it is for women to be in the same field as them. But knowing it would be difficult to be "accepted" by the fans of football, Beth Mowins took that challenge. Mowins called the second game in 2017, it was the opening weekend Monday Night Football doubleheader. Mowins called it how it was and gave visual descriptions for the listeners. Mowins brought shock around the country and received many hateful and disgusting comments on Twitter for being a woman announcer. But there was another side to all of the hate, there were the people who were proud and applauding Mowins for her doings. This article has taught me that being a woman in a very well-dominated male field is a frustrating and hard task to do, but we have these women to aspire younger viewers to do the "impossible" things.

[Julia]

I think that the main point of Claire Wallace’s article was to show how difficult it is to work in a male dominated work force. The difficulties being women can get so much hate on something they love doing. The reason women do sports broadcasting is not because of their gender but it’s because they love doing it and they’re good at it. It’s sad to think that women get so much hate for just trying to live out their dreams. Wallace gives us example from tweets that others comment about women being in sports broadcast for “male-dominated sports.” People are hateful of others just for being a woman. This is so wrong and Beth Mowins does a good job of showing others that you are still able to live out your dreams and do what you love despite what others think. You shouldn’t have to stop doing things you want to do because of your gender, do it to show others what you know and that you’re good doing it.

[Francesca]

The main point of this article was that Beth Mowins should be broadcasting because of her skills, not because of her gender. For far too long, the broadcasting industry has been a male-dominated field. Women have faced numerous obstacles when trying to break into the industry and have often been downgraded to minor roles or positions behind the scenes. However, things are changing, and it's time for the industry to recognize that a woman's place is in the broadcast booth. It's important to note that women are just as qualified and capable as men when it comes to broadcasting. They have the same level of education and training and are just as skilled at interviewing, reporting, and analyzing information. In recent years, we have seen progress in the industry. Women like Erin Andrews, Robin Roberts, and Hannah Storm have broken barriers and are known names in the industry. However, there is still much work to be done. The industry must actively seek out and hire more women, provide them with opportunities for advancement, and ensure that they are paid fairly and given equal access to resources. When Beth Mowins was first broadcasting it was all over Twitter. Many tweets were about how they had to turn off their T.V. since they couldn’t take hearing a woman commentating on the game. Another one said she should be in the kitchen instead of the field. I agree with Julia’s post since it is very hard to work in an area that has been male-dominated since the start of the sport. Even if the woman is the best one there, it will still be frowned upon because of her gender. However, it should be based on their skills and talent instead of their gender.