Erin Andrews Peephole Video Scandal Shows Pro Sports Culture is Nothing But Bad

Reader Comments
Back to blog

How is some dork snapping peep show shots of an ESPN reporter in a hotel room part of the sports culture? Does this author even know the facts? The larger issue is that the media, including U.S. News, loves these types of stories. They are great for ratings and become over hyped 24/7. The "media culture" doesn't care who gets hurt or smeared in the process. Ten years ago U.S. News would not have even mentioned a story like this.
And your comment about having women boycot athletic events to teach "the boys a lesson" is hilarious. I personally believe that men act better around women because they don't want to look like immature idiots. If you take women out of the crowds at a sporting event I guarantee the whole place erupts in to a chaotic & crass "boys club" unlike anything seen before.

Brady of AZ 4:35PM July 29, 2009

This is quite possibly the worst-informed take on any subject in the history of MANkind. (Yes, I'm using a male reference here for no other purpose but to irritate the author). What you have written did more to set professional women back than a dozen pervs with peephole cameras ever could. Erin Andrews is an attractive gal, and guys lust after attractive gals. This particular guy took it way, way too far.
There is ZERO relationship between women watching or supporting sports and what happened to Erin Andrews. What you basically said is that no woman should watch sports or work professionally in sports because that somehow encourages them to break the law and peek at women in hotel rooms. Wow. You do realize that the person who did this was not an athlete, but very possibly a co-worker, right? What connection does this story even have to athletes or sports? THINK!

TheTruth of MN 4:33PM July 29, 2009

It's hard to believe that this author gets paid to write stuff like this? Maybe even more surprising that US News would post it. She's advocating that women ban sporting events cuz some perv with a camera went to far? It just stuns me the level o stupidity that some people have.

Tommy of GA 4:11PM July 29, 2009

Shame on US News and World Report for paying her to write this garbage - there are intelligent people on the sidelines without jobs in this down economy who could do infinitely better.
The underlying message to this article is essentially "avoid US News and World Report articles until they get some quality control."

Roark of CA 2:59PM July 29, 2009

What happened to Erin Andrews is due to our overall culture, not just sports culture. You cannot place blame on professional and college sports for the perversion of one guy. The sick part is there is a market for this type of exploitation and complete invasion of privacy. This is a societal flaw. We are constantly using women as sex symbols. You see this in ads, commercials, the music industry, the fashion industry etc. I think team sports show many more positives then any of those industries. At least sports can teach kids and adults valuable life lessons like teamwork.

lisa of NV 2:11PM July 29, 2009

That Tyler Davenport fella seems like one smart chap...
Bonnie Erbe continues to seem partially retarded.

Not A Co-Worker of Tyler Davenport of MI 2:03PM July 29, 2009

so Erin Andrews get's a job and becomes succesful at it and we are to discourage it? why is the blame on this being shifted to her instead of the pervert that filmed this? Never mind the fact that there are probably other video's this weirdo has filmed, should those people be shamed as well? I think if there is something women should avoid it isn't sports, it's people who think as backwards as this nut job does.
Erin Andrews is a reporter, just as Bonnie Erbe here is. If this happend to Bonnie Erbe (god forbid) would we assume it's her fault for entering a male only profession? no. There is so much wrong with this article that I can't even discribe it all. Needless to say backwards ideals and beliefs like this are terrible. You don't like sports, fine, don't say other women should't like them and try to blame that for why bad things happen, sometimes bad things happen because of bad people.
Also, don't say pro sports are bad, have you ever been to or even read about any of the charity work that pro sports has done? The V foundation come to mind at all? Wiki it some time, that is, if you have entered the 21st century yet.

Tyler Davenport of MI 1:47PM July 29, 2009

HEY! The 50's called they want their attitude and hairstyle back.
I typically don't condone violence but I'd like to see you get a copy of the “The Female Psyche” get dropped on your nose from 15 feet... That is all.

ROD POWERS of MI 1:47PM July 29, 2009

Okay, firstly, Erin Andrews is a college sports reporter, so the blogger should do some research. EA doesn't make her way into the pro sports realm that much. So that premise is crap.
More importantly, it really should have occured to the author that the reason women "prop up pro sports" is because they enjoy watching them. They watch sports for the same reason they shop, have a glass of wine with friends, go running, whatever. Does the female gender, as a whole, voraciously live and die with their favorite teams like the male gender, as a whole, does? Probably not. But do women enjoy watching pro sports? Yes, they do, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Maybe it's because women appreciate spending time with their boys. Maybe it's a chance to wear certain colors out of season. Maybe (here's a wild idea) they ACTUALLY ENJOY IT. Whatever the reason, women are just as welcome to enjoy pro sports as men are. Watching sports is fun. And it's fun regardless of whether or not you possess a Y chromosome.
However, this article turns out not only to be stupid, but also ironic and condescendingly sexist because it insists women not enjoy pro sports...because they're women. Not because pro sports are bad. If it was because pro sports were bad, the article would insist that both men and women not watch pro sports. But it doesn't. It singles out one gender and not the other which is, by definition, sexist.
This smacks of a woman who just has an agenda and tried to work an incident around it. I call shenanigans.

Jon Crosbie of IA 12:00PM July 29, 2009

Since your article is absolutely foolish and thoughtlessly produced I will take your idiocy a step further. Since one worthless employee of USN wrote a crappy article I should stop reading the entire publication (online or otherwise) and furthermore not purchase ANYTHING from any of the advertisers that showed such horrible judgment as to associate themselves with a simple-minded person like Erbe and her ignorant employers USN. Because if one writer comes to the table with garbage obviously the entire culture of the company and anyone associated with it are also not worth my time or money.
Ask your company’s CFO if that makes sense, but you better ask yourself first because it is exactly what you are telling us.

Sports Fan of IL 10:07AM July 29, 2009