PATSNUTme said:
Disagree on Hazel- she good and she's hot.
You're half right. She is good looking. But in her line of work, we need good broadcasting. Her work at the 2004 Victory Parade/Rolling Rally (that live spot at Cambridge and New Chardon) was simply lousy. At that premiere for "Fever Pitch" at Fenway, all she did that was good was outdo Michelle Damon in the evening gown department. Her delivery is at times all wrong for what it is she is doing (she should, for example, lose the occasional southern accent when trying to make a point or trying to be humorous). The commercials she did for her weekly Red Sox show last year were poorly done. I will grant that she's not like Michelle Damon in that she has NO on-camera vocal talent, but she does come off like someone who is there for looks only and not for sportscasting acumen.
There's all sorts of women broadcasters out there who could do better in this role. Jayme Parker was fine while she was the host, there was no reason to remove her. Wendi Nix did well on FSNE, I haven't seen her on Channel 7. NESN used to have Kara Henderson, who is now with the NFL Network, and she was fantastic. NESN also had Sam Marchiano on occasion on Red Sox broadcasts, I think she's great.
ESPNNews has lots of female anchors. None of them could be categorized as "similar to Hazel Mae". They are all good broadcasters who do a nice job. A woman has the right to make herself as beautiful as she can in pursing this sort of career, but for me I care more about how well she speaks versus how good she looks.
Another good example to look at is Monday Night Football. Over the years, Lesley Visser, Michele Tafoya, Sam Ryan and Melissa Stark have performed well. Stark was criticized by some as "replacing Visser only because she's a pretty blonde", but Stark knew her stuff and IMHO did a terrific job (and that goes for the Olympics as well). But Lisa Guerrero was abominable, and she was there for only one reason.
It's not enough just to be beautiful. At some point good broadcasting skills have to come in to play.
Bob G