Andrews
What does Erin Andrews hate? Camera phones. Big turnoff.
They’re everywhere, and because of that, she’s everywhere on the Internet.
“There are pictures of me that I have seen on the Internet, and I didn’t know who took them or how they got there,” said Andrews, who will work Thursday night’s Arizona-Oregon game for ESPN as a sideline reporter.
“There’s this one picture where I’m walking with a hairbrush and hair spray. All I was doing was going to the restroom to get ready to perform a live shot. It’s scary that ends up on the Internet.
“I can’t really keep up with it, and I don’t know if I really want to anymore. Some of it is funny. Friends will forward it to me and I will laugh at it, but some of it gets kind of personal.”
Andrews is something of a phenomenon among the sports bloggers community, obviously for her good looks. As Deadspin.com wrote recently, “General rule of thumb, sports bloggingwise: A picture of Erin Andrews, and/or a story about her, is a recipe for page view goodness.”
That is not to discount her ability. Sideline reporters can be inane, useless, uncomfortable doing interviews – or all three. None applies to Andrews.
“It’s very exciting. I’m living out what I wanted to do,” said Andrews, who graduated from the University of Florida in 2000 with a degree in telecommunications.
She was on the dance team for basketball games.
Back then, when the “ESPN GameDay” crew went to Gainesville, she was there camping out to meet Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and the crew.
“Kirk, I consider him like a brother, and Chris is a very good friend who gave me great advice when I was a student at Florida. Brent Musburger, Doug Flutie, Craig James. . . . I consider them my good friends,” she said.
“It’s really cool. I’m still very much a kid.”
Most of the Thursday night college football stops are in the East or South, with ESPN making repeat appearances in several spots.
“You look at schools like Virginia Tech or West Virginia or Louisville, and the fans there just make it,” Andrews said of the atmosphere. “The students know how to make it a big deal.”
She issued one challenge to UA students: “Don’t leave at halftime.”
Of course, some might head home to post photos on the Internet.