[Update: Look, the spelling bee just got a whole lot sexier!]
Playboy.com is running an online poll to determine America’s sexiest female sportscaster. The candidates are: Erin Andrews (ESPN), Colleen Dominguez (ESPN), Alex Flanagan (NFL Network), Shana Hiatt (NBC), Jamie Little (ESPN), Hazel Mae (NESN), Rachel Nichols (ESPN), Lisa Salters (ESPN), Lindsay Soto (FSN), Sage Steele (ESPN), Krista Voda (SPEED Channel) and Jeanne Zelasko (FOX).
It’s presumed Erin Andrews is going to run away with this. Duh.
But the biggest problem I find with the poll is that they’ve excluded all the candidates from their first Sexy Sportscaster poll, conducted way back in 2000. So Angie Ariati, Jill Arrington, Jillian Barberie, Bonnie Bernstein, Lisa Guerrero, Inga Hammond, Pam Oliver, Summer Sanders, Melissa Stark and Hannah Storm are all ineligible, which is sad, because they’d probably beat out most of the current candidates. The winner back in 2000 was Jill Arrington. (Melissa Stark was my personal favorite.)
Yeah, these sexy sportscaster polls are kind of played out, since there’s something similar on nearly every sports blog out there. Not to mention the issue of objectifying women who are skilled professionals capable of standing on their journalistic merits alone, I suppose. But they’re still kind of fun. I’m moving to Canada, a country full of sexy sportscasters.
Update: As expected, Andrews wins with nearly 40 percent of the vote. We salute you, Erin, Supreme Queen of the Supersexy Sportscasters.
Photo: © ESPN Inc. Credit: Rich Arden
With Lindsay Soto around, Carolyn Hughes must have been Derek Lowe’s second choice, right?
Ok, dead-on with the Melissa Stark nod. I remember when that poll was up (resisting a “that’s what she said” remark) back in ’00 and I felt Melissa was robbed.
As far as this year’s candidates, Erin Andrews is obviously the frontrunner. But from the Lindsay Soto photo, she seems like she should be a contender. I’ll admit, I don’t watch FSN much at all, so I’ve never seen her sportscasts … but based solely on that photo alone, which, hey, I’m forced to since that’s all they provide and don’t give us any other accomplishments to base this off of, I wouldn’t be upset if she performed an upset.
And Rachel Nichols and her collection of hats and other head-attire would have to round out the top three.
There’s my two cents.
Oh, Canadaaaaaaa ….