Andrea Kremer, who works as the sideline reporter during NBC Sunday Night Football games, isn't happy with the way ESPN treated Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya, whose roles on Monday Night Football will apparently be downsized in 2008. Kremer tells USA Today:"They were doing the role that ESPN asked them to do - more feature-ish stuff - and they were fired for it? If you don't like them in that role, change their role. Don't humiliate them like that. The way (ESPN) handled it was terrible, just disrespectful. ... They treated two professionals in a completely non-professional way." ...
Kremer suggests she's "offended" by ESPN's move because "it sets back women." Referring to herself, Kolber, Tafoya and Fox sideline reporter Pam Oliver, she says "no one accused the four of us for being on television for our looks or figures. ... This isn't five years ago, with eye candy on the sidelines. We established ourselves as reporters, professionals. Now, you've completely minimized that. These women don't have to prove themselves anymore."
It's still not clear what role Kolber and Tafoya will play on Monday Night Football, and ESPN says they'll still be an important part of the broadcast, but it is almost certain that they'll have less time on the air during the games, which means they've been demoted. And that means while they won't say so, they must feel the same way Kremer does.
