Maura Sheridan entered the booth and reached for the headset before the University of Vermont men’s soccer game on Sept. 7.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” a man in the booth said. “We’re just waiting on the play-by-play broadcaster.”

“That’s me,” Sheridan said, putting on the headset.

Sheridan, a 2018 graduate of Syracuse University, started calling games for the Catamounts at the beginning of the fall season. Three weeks into the season, people in the booth still don’t recognize her. And that’s not uncommon.

A 2016 statistica.com study showed the gender distribution of journalists among different news topics in the United States. On top of the chart was sports, in which 89 percent are men and 11 percent are women.

Women are fighting the numbers. In 2015, Jessica Mendoza became the first woman to call a Sunday Night Baseball game. ESPN’s Doris Burke was the first full-time woman NBA analyst. Last fall, Beth Mowins became the first woman to call a Monday Night Football game in 30 years.

“You have to see it to be it,” said Keri Potts, ESPN PR senior director and an SU Class of 1999 graduate. “If girls only see growing up, a sideline reporter role, and they want to be in sports, that’s what they gun for.”

The first example for younger broadcasters was set in 1979. Ann Meyers Drysdale tried out for the Indiana Pacers. The first woman ever to try out for an NBA team was also the first one cut. She stayed with the Pacers, though, and set a standard by becoming the first woman to call an NBA game.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time, and people have given me opportunities,” Meyers Drysdale said.

Meyers Drysdale, an NBA Hall of Famer, continued to report on the WNBA, the women’s basketball NCAA tournament, volleyball, softball, baseball and the Olympics.

Nearly 40 years later, Syracuse sophomore Jenna Fink watched Michele Tafoya on the sidelines during Sunday Night Football and considered sideline reporting. Seeing Mowins call NFL games gave Fink another route to look into.

“I was like, play-by-play is kind of an option now, I’ve seen (Mowins),” Fink said. “So I was like maybe it is a possibility.”

Sheridan had a similar experience when she met Mowins at her WAER Hall of Fame induction. Previously Sheridan had considered play-by-play but was scared because she hadn’t seen the success of other women. Meeting Mowins made her dream seem more attainable.

While at SU, Sheridan called games for both WAER and the ACC Network. Potts, who is in charge of public relations for the ACC Network, said she believes getting college students experience through the medium is important.

Syracuse is the first school to reap the benefits of the ACC Network, which plans to officially drop in fall 2019. The full network hasn’t gone live yet, but a digital section of the network, specifically for Syracuse, has been in place since 2017 and features on-campus production studios.

While Sheridan worked on the sidelines for the ACC Network, she received “awkward” comments. People said she looked nice. They said to smile more.

“People would be like ‘Oh, you don’t look like you want to be behind the camera. You should be hosting shows,’” Sheridan said. “They want to put you in a specific role, and when you get out of their idea of where a woman should be in the sports world, they’re not trying to be sexist, but it baffles their minds.”

It happens to distinguished broadcasters, too. On Sept. 10, Mowins called the Lions-Jets Monday Night Football season opener. Her voice projected into about 10.34 million homes. Twitter had thoughts about it.

“I would rather jump head first into a wood chipper than ever listen to a game commentated by Beth Mowins,” one tweet read. “I’m sure her vast playing experience got her that job…”

“Look I’m not saying some women don’t know football,” another tweet read.  “I know a lot that do. Some know football as much or more than some men I know. But having a woman do play-by-play announcing for Monday Night Football is asinine. Borderline unwatchable.”

“Oh, no, is it women’s tennis? Is it HGTV?” asked one user. “No, it’s NFL football. The sports bar and grill is screaming: get that woman off the air. Looking for the radio broadcast of Monday Night Football.”

Others complained Mowins’ voice was annoying or high-pitched. Some suggested they’d watch the Spanish broadcast despite not being able to understand it.

“What they’re really saying is: I’m not used to hearing a female call a game,” Potts said. “And I’m uncomfortable.”

Nonetheless, Mowins will call countless more games. Mendoza and Burke will too, while younger broadcasters like Sheridan and Fink watch on.

It won’t be easy. But it’s progress.

“You put parameters on yourself,” Meyers Drysdale said. “You don’t let other people put parameters on you.”

Published on September 12, 2018 at 11:23 pm

Contact Kaci: klwasile@syr.edu