Guerrero Gets Dressed Down

Now that Jim Rome has said he will no longer be doing “The Last Word” beyond this year, the question is: What will Fox Sports Net come up with to fill the void?

Here’s a hint: The cable network recently hired Lisa Dergan, a former Playboy Playmate of the Year, as a local reporter for the “Southern California Sports Report” and Foxsports.com this week started a Web site that features a picture of national reporter Lisa Guerrero, posing braless and with her blouse unbuttoned.

When one first clicks on Guerrero’s Web site, the first thing that comes up is Guerrero posing as a reporter, interviewing Chan Ho Park. Then that picture fades away and up comes the sexier one.

So what is Guerrero, a sports reporter or a sex symbol?

Maybe if Fox Sports Net can’t beat ESPN journalistically, it can try to outsex its competitor.

And if you think certain people find Tom Arnold and “The Best Damn Sports Show Period” offensive, wait until Fox Sports Net puts together its stable of bikini models to do the sports news.

Serious female sports journalists certainly won’t be happy about it.

One such person is Christine Brennan, a figure skating reporter for ABC and ESPN and a sports columnist for USA Today since 1996 and for the Washington Post for 12 years before that.

Brennan was incensed after hearing about Guerrero’s Web site photo.

“This is a shame, here in 2002, that women are embarrassing themselves in this manner,” Brennan said from Salt Lake City. “This is very disconcerting.

“Some women still believe they have to do this. Why not stand up to the bosses and say no? It’s demeaning.

“It plays to the oldest stereotype, that women can’t be appealing with their brain, only with their body. We don’t have to do that anymore.

“It saddens me that women will still succumb to this. How does an athlete take you seriously after you pose like that? How do the viewers?

“I blame her. She should be a role model. Instead, she is a disservice to herself and future generations of women coming up who want to be serious sports journalists.

“You’d hope by 2002 we’d have come a long way, but maybe we haven’t.”

Said Guerrero: “Does posing for a provocative picture diminish my ability to call a basketball highlight? Not in my opinion, but I’ll let the viewers decide.”

The feeling here is that Guerrero does a good job on the updates, regardless of what she’s wearing.

The problem is, can she be taken seriously?

Guerrero will no doubt have more to say about all this when she joins Times sports columnist T.J. Simers on Fox Sports Net Sunday night at 10.

Awkward Conflict

As for Brennan, she found herself in an awkward situation at the Winter Olympics.

She’s there to cover figure skating for her newspaper and television employers. And the biggest news involved the Canadian pair of David Pelletier and Jamie Sale, whose agent is Craig Fenech. He is also Brennan’s broadcast agent, which raises questions of conflict of interest.

Brennan said she has been forthcoming, telling her bosses about it and also informing her readers by putting what she called a disclaimer into her USA Today column on Monday.

Brennan said she and the Canadian skaters are only three of about 80 clients represented by Fenech’s company, the Sparta Group.

“Greg is the hub of the wheel and the rest of us are 80 separate spokes,” she said.

Bob Steele, director of the ethics program at the Poynter Institute of St. Petersburg, Fla., said while Brennan is a respected journalist and there was a disclaimer--which he said should be called a disclosure--there are still issues here.

“Just because you tell people about the problem doesn’t eliminate it,” he said.

He said one solution would be for Brennan to stay away from reporting on the skaters. A less drastic solution, he said, would be a rigorous checks and balances among Brennan and her bosses to make sure the reporting and writing is proper and that Brennan maintains a high standard of journalistic independence.

Fitting Assignment

Speaking of women in sports broadcasting, Ann Meyers was excellent as the commentator on the USC-Arizona men’s game for ABC last Saturday. She made good points and added to the overall enjoyment of an exciting game.

It’s a positive that Meyers’ bosses see nothing wrong with assigning her to a men’s game. Not that it’s anything new for Meyers. At one time, she was the radio commentator for UCLA men’s basketball. She announced Thursday night’s Pacific-Cal State Fullerton men’s game for Fox Sports Net, and she’ll work the West Coast Conference men’s tournament final in San Diego March 4 for ESPN.

Who would you rather listen to on a men’s game, Meyers or Dick Vitale?

Shaq and Chick

After Chick Hearn’s hip surgery Tuesday, Shaquille O’Neal was interviewed on Fox Sports Net’s Laker pregame show and came up with a good idea. “Maybe a limo company in town needs to give Chick a free service so that he doesn’t have to drive,” he said.

The service station where Hearn fell and broke his hip Sunday is located at Ventura and Balboa boulevards in Encino. Chick and wife Marge were on their way to dinner.

The Hearns requested that Chick be taken to Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys rather than a closer hospital. They know Valley Presbyterian well. And the people there know the Hearns.

In the hospital chapel is a statue of St. Jude, donated by the Hearns in the memory of their children, Samantha and Gary. Valley Presbyterian is where Samantha died of viral pneumonia at age 41 in 1990.

KXTA (1150) broke the story Monday about Hearn’s mishap the night before. Hearn was supposed to do a promotional shoot for sister station KIIS-FM (102.7) Monday morning, and Marge called the station to say her husband couldn’t make it because of the injury.

Short Waves

CBS is expected to announce next week that Dan Marino and Boomer Esiason will be joining “The NFL Today.” Marino is expected to also return to HBO’s “Inside the NFL.” ... John Madden’s representatives met with Fox Sports chairman David Hill and President Ed Goren this week to discuss a possible contract extension. Madden’s contract with Fox expires after one more season and there has been talk about Madden going to ABC’s “Monday Night Football” if he doesn’t re-sign with Fox. Twice before, Madden has been rumored to be heading to “Monday Night Football.” ... TV Guide reports in next week’s edition that ABC and ESPN have been putting out feelers about Bob Costas and he appears interested. Costas’ contract is reportedly up in June.

ABC’s Al Michaels is among sports celebrities being honored Saturday night at the Sports Legends Awards dinner at the Century Plaza. The affair benefits the Paralysis Project of America. ... Recommended viewing: “Sidelines: L.A. Hoops,” a series that provides a behind-the-scenes look at the Clippers, is being carried by ESPN Sunday nights at 7.

In Closing

“Star Crossed,” on ESPN Sunday night at 5, examines the downfall of Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden. It’s a good topic but a bad show. ESPN tries to get fancy and tell the story as a Shakespearean tragedy. It’s only a guess, but there probably aren’t too many ESPN viewers who are into Shakepeare. Nice try, ESPN, but the overproduced show doesn’t work.

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