Sex and Sports

I want to talk about sex.
No, not that kind of sex; this is, after all, a family blog (of a single sportswriter trying to find his way in media …. but you get the idea).
I want to talk about sex, as in gender, and (more specifically) gender in sports media and broadcasting.
As I was watching the ESPN2 broadcast of a college basketball game between BYU and Gonzaga last night, I (like every other viewer, both Zag and Cougar alike) listened to the broadcast stylings of Beth Mowins and Kara Lawson. As far as I can tell, this was the first nationally televised men's college basketball broadcast with two women in the announcers' "booth" (which is actually just a pair of seats next to the court).

Screen capture from Deadspin.com

The progressive angle of ESPN's move aside, Mowins and Lawson did a great job. The duo bounced off each other well, and I didn't notice any awkward pauses or interrupting one another during the broadcast. Mowins is a pro's pro, one of ESPN's top play-by-play sports callers regardless of gender; Lawson, meanwhile, is an esteemed analyst, WNBA player and earns the distinction of the first female color analyst to call an NBA game.
Mowins became the second female play-by-play caller to work a college football game in 2005, following Pam Ward's entry into ESPN's play-by-play world in 2000. The duo is plenty qualified to call a regular-season West Coast Conference basketball game.
But apparently, not everybody thinks so.
Deadspin published a story (with a fairly offensive headline) showing the rampant hate for ESPN's use of two women broadcasters on a men's game. How could ESPN think WOMAN could talk about MEN'S sports? seemed to be the common refrain, and responses such as I guess I'll watch this game with the 'mute' on were prevalent.
I saw some of these same responses in my own Twitter feed. You can read Deadspin's list of sexist retorts here, and a few of my personal experiences below:

@RealDSean that, and the fact that it'll be a blow out, pretty much makes it automatically unwatchable
— Jimmie Chesh Sports (@CheshSports) January 26, 2014

@CheshSports @RealDSean and a 10 pm eastern start? Sign me up with time with my pillow. #byu
— Nick Newman (@nicknewman801) January 26, 2014

@RealDSean Progressivism isn't making for a good product.
— Ryan Teeples (@SportsGuyUtah) January 26, 2014 

As you can see, the tweets that showed up in my timeline were much more timid than many of those Deadspin published. Still, the sentimentality is the same. Sexism in sports media has come a long way in the past two decades, when the thought of women in the media was almost laughed at. But as this weeks's episode illustrates, we still have quite the journey left in front of us.
Just as I wouldn't want anyone to judge a male broadcaster is "better" because of his gender, neither would I want anyone to deem a female broadcaster inferior to her male counterparts. ESPN alone (not to mention the hundreds of standout, dedicated journalists at Fox, NBC, CBS, etc) boasts an army of talented broadcasters, both male and female. Eliminating any of them from the upper echelon of sports broadcasting simply for their gender characteristics is wrong, and not where we want to be as a society.
Journalism is for everyone: black and white, young and old, male and female. There is room enough for anyone with talent and the hard work to be successful.
Let's not put limits on what any of us can accomplish from the booth.