Fox Sports’ Charissa Thompson Opens Up On Gender And Race In Sports Media – Huffington Post

When you see the instance of Julie DiCaro receiving hate-filled speech for covering the Patrick Kane case, in a scenario like that, what are your thoughts as a woman in sports media?
I’ll say this: When I worked in “First Take,” when Jay Crawford was making the switch over to “SportsCenter” and I was filling in, I was working with “Numbers Never Lie” [now “His & Hers”] and Michael Smith. And I would go do “First Take” and I sat between Skip [Bayless] and Stephen A. [Smith]. It was a quick lesson for me that, if you’re going to have an opinion, you’ve got to stand by it. And I’m not Michelle Beadle and I’m not Katie Nolan. I don’t come out with these huge endorsements or retractions to headlines, and that’s not because I don’t have an opinion — I think I’m just a little bit more calculated. That’s not a negative thing, I’m just more cautious in things I choose to endorse or speak out against.

Obviously, a situation like Ray Rice, I’m going to have strong opinions, but I have to be more careful. When Michelle and Rachel Nichols got banned from going into the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, it became a huge thing. I don’t ever want to be the headline. And I don’t want to sound like I’m just Switzerland and I’m in the middle and I’m not going to have an opinion. I’m just not as vocal in some aspects of my life and that’s methodical, based on the path I want to go.

What advice would you have for teenage girls who want to get involved in sports media?
Make sure they’re doing it because they really love sports. It seems like it’s this glamorous thing, “Oh, you get to cover sports,” but you only should do it only if you really want to do sports, not just because you want to say that you’re a sports reporter. I have always wanted to do this and I know with that comes the responsibility.

If we’re being honest, my first marriage failed because I was doing this job and I was never home and I couldn’t allocate relationships with my boyfriend. There are a lot of things that you put on the back burner because of your profession, so for me, I would say to anybody who wants to do this: Do it because you love it, and realize you’ll have to make sacrifices along the way. But if you really want to, it’s the most rewarding, awesome job you could ever have. 

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

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