You won't find many women on the front-line in the world of sports: no, that position is most often reserved for men. Most black women and women in general hold side-line reporter jobs and mediators to their male anchors. Very few possess the title of a “play-by-play announcer.” This is where the sportscaster is doing a live commentary of what’s happening during a game. Since sports broadcasting was created, it's always been a male-dominated role on all sports networks. In 2017, Tiffany Greene, one of the women in sports I interviewed for my project, was the first black woman to serve as a play-by play commentator for college football for a major network (ESPN, 2019). In the interview she talked about the long hours of preparation of both teams and the effort it took to allow herself not to be afraid to make a mistake. Today, black women are still fighting to make history to be the “first” as too few of them are given the opportunity to commentate a live sporting event. The expected role is on the sideline or a moderator between a male- dominated crew.
(Molly Querium is the moderator on "First Take," typically doesn't get in on the conversations)
(Jenny Taft moderates another ESPN favorite, Undisputed)
Even though women have been able to break into this male-dominated field, they are still breaking barriers. In 2016, Ann Meyers and Stephanie Ready became the first female duo to call an NBA game.
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