Why the Ray Rice situation is an opportunity for women in the sports industry to speak up.
Katie Nolan is host of her own YouTube sports and pop culture show through Fox Sports.
But the recent Ray Rice situation has left her in an uncomfortable position: how to reconcile her values with her love of football.
Katie Nolan / Via youtube.com
A boycott of the NFL is impractical and would remove the critical thinkers from the conversation, she says.
Nolan cites her uncertainty with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who needed to see a video to realize domestic violence is unacceptable. Then she digs in a little more.
Katie Nolan / Via youtube.com
“A boycott means walking away,” she says. “I would rather fight back.”
She notes a time she had a chance to ask the commissioner a question about the NFL taking a stronger stance against violence, but instead kept quiet out of worry she would offend him as a guest of her employer.
Via youtube.com
She states:
Women in sports television are allowed to read headlines, patrol sidelines, and generally facilitate conversation for their male colleagues. Sometimes, they even let us monitor the internet from a couch.
And while the Stephen A. Smiths, Mike Francesas, Dan Patricks, and Keith Olbermanns of the world get to weigh in on the issues of the day, we just smile and throw to commercial.