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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.

Following today's report that Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya are out at Monday Night Football in 2008, I received the following statement from an ESPN spokesman:

"Michele and Suzy will still be assigned to our multiplatform Monday Night Football presentation, including the game, pre-game and post-game. Their precise roles are currently being determined."

I have also been told that both Tafoya and Kolber will still travel to the Monday Night game all 16 weeks of the 2008 NFL season. But clearly, if their "roles are currently being determined," that means that, as Pro Football Talk reported, there are some changes afoot, and that Tafoya and Kolber will presumably no longer fill the traditional roles of sideline reporters.

Most likely, they will instead have an increased presence on things like the pregame show, and interviewing players for SportsCenter and/or ESPNews after the games. If it means more time for Xs and Os analysis from Ron Jaworski, I'm in favor of it.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk is reporting that ESPN Monday Night Football sideline reporters Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya will not return to MNF in 2008.

Kolber has been ESPN's NFL sideline reporter for several years, dating back to before ESPN had Monday Night Football. She is the last holdover from ESPN's Sunday night team, which featured Kolber on the sidelines and Mike Patrick, Paul MaGuire and Joe Theismann in the booth.

Tafoya was the Monday Night Football sideline reporter when the franchise was on ABC. When MNF moved to ESPN two years ago, Tafoya moved with it.

It's not yet known whether Monday Night Football will find a new sideline reporter or reporters, or whether it will just get rid of them altogether, as CBS has done on its NFL telecasts. The latter may be the wisest move, as no one seems to miss them on CBS, and many viewers think sideline reporters just distract from the action on the field.

UPDATE: ESPN Says Suzy Kolber, Michele Tafoya's 'Roles Are Being Determined' for MNF in 2008 Sorry, No Photos