Let me preface this with: I harbor no ill-will toward Baltimore sports like some Nationals fans do. I am completely neutral on the topic, and actually rather disinterested. I don’t nor have I ever paid attention to any flavor of Baltimore sporty goodness, be it baseball, football or poker aside from the occasional corporate-sponsored trip to an Orioles game. I also think there’s nothing wrong with being a female sports-journalist as long as you do a good job and are genuine and believable (duh – obviously!). In fact, I tend to admire women who competently venture into male-dominated fields. So I was a bit surprised by my negative gut-reaction to a blurb in the Examiner today.
Word is Baltimore sports radio personalities Amber Theoharis and Anita Marks could be involved in MASN’s baseball pre- and post-game shows. It is possible the network will do one show that covers both the Orioles and Nationals. Like ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight,” the show’s host would interact with announcing teams from game sites and conduct interviews.
My first thought was “Amber who?” and “Oh there’s that Anita Marks making her presence felt again, but why should she get the Nationals gig?” I knew absolutely nothing about Anita Marks prior to this past season of MASN. Never heard of her. If you have MASN at this point, however, there’s no way you haven’t heard of her. She seems to be some sort of celebrity in the Baltimore sports world (Playboy posing aside) and commercials for her Anita Marks Show are more pervasive than the Red Roof Inn ads. I tried watching her radio show (yeah, watching a radio show is nearly as exciting as watching paint dry). Just couldn’t really get into it. I didn’t see the big attraction, but maybe that’s just me. My gut just totally rejected the thought of her taking over something I consider nearly sacred – the much sought after *real* pre/post game show for the Nationals.
I think the sports desk idea is wonderful. I found the post-game shows severely lacking last season and would love to see something better – and hosted by women would be pretty cool. Of course, pre-game shows were non-existent last season. We didn’t even get to see the National Anthem performed on television! So I decided maybe I was just having one of those primal female territorial issues and I should learn more about these two before allowing my gut reaction to color my objectivity.
First, I went looking for info on Amber whats-her-name. Hmm… grew up in the area (MD), graduated, and has been doing sports-journalism for a while. Currently works for Baltimore’s FOX 45 (bio). I softened – she sounds pretty cool! Then I read Jim Williams prediction that she’ll be a star from October and liked her even more. She definitely sounds down to earth and like someone I could be friends with!
Theoharis is a solid journalist with a magnetic personality and a gift for being able to ask the right question at the right time. She has been rewarded for her hard work by being the first woman sportscaster in Baltimore to earn an Emmy Award.
[...]
“I really love my job, and I hope that comes across to the fans,” she said. “Doing ‘Ravens Xtra’ gives me a chance to ask the players, coaches and experts all the questions that I feel the fans would ask if they were in my shoes. I see myself as the liaison between the fans and the people I interview. Being part of this new show is a real pleasure for me, and working with Rob Burnett is super. I know the fans wanted a postgame show, and we are all committed to giving them the best one possible.”
Perfect! She mostly did football, but that’s ok. She and Jim Williams have that Emmy-winner commonality. No wonder he likes her!
Ok, so Amber turned out sounding pretty a-okay, so maybe I should give Anita Marks a closer look, eh? Well, her own website doesn’t seem to work for me. What else is out there (aside from pictures all the guys can drool over)? The only thing I have in common with her is Florida – she’s from Miami and went to USF in Tampa. She was a big-time football player and her main agenda still is to promote women’s football. Not one single itty bitty mention of baseball appears anywhere on her profile. (Oh, we both like LOST, sushi, and fine wines – there ya go!). Here’s a Q&A article from a couple years ago. While I agree with her on players being aware they are role models and having specific players you’re a fan of, I’m still not feeling like she’s someone I want to see every day representing and dishing over my Nats. I fear having someone up there who does not follow the team or players closely, missing the kind of information that fans would be interested in because she’s out of touch with that realm and up there just because she’s a Baltimore known personality who has her own agenda (that has nothing to do with baseball). We heard enough bumbling lacking-information answers from the email Q&As during games and rain delays. I hope the quality of a sports desk type show is far above that. From what I’ve read, Amber does seem to fit that profile. But Anita Marks? Not so much.
Ok, maybe I’m just jealous? I think my (ahem) vibrant hair, exuberant personality, and passion would do just fine!
