Courtesy of Sophia Minnaert
After being selected second in the 2014 NBA Draft, Jabari Parker threw out the 1st pitch at Miller Park and chatted with Sophia Minnaert.
In Playing the Field, we profile women who are making an impact in the world of sports, either in competition or behind the scenes. For this installment, we spoke with Fox Sports Wisconsin sideline reporter Sophia Minnaert.
Sideline reporters are rarely exalted. They’re frequently derided as frivolous, unnecessary and superfluous to the game they’re reporting on. It’s is a position that comes with a lot of exposure and little appreciation.
But Fox Sports Wisconsin’s Sophia Minnaert, a sideline reporter for both Brewers and Bucks broadcasts, says that while viewers tend to take sideline reporting for granted, they’re most likely to notice it when it’s being done poorly.
“For example, at the Super Bowl when the power went out, CBS got a lot of flak for not covering that properly because they didn't have the right people in place,” Minnaert said. “They didn't have reporters that were there asking questions. They just had their guys on set filling time for half an hour.”
When sideline reporting is at its best, she said, is when the reporters are able to give quick, timely insight into on-field or on-court happenings that would otherwise go un-covered and therefore un-remarked upon.
Though Minnaert shares her reporter and sideline duties with two men, Telly Hughes and Craig Coshun, generally sideline reporters are stereotyped to be women. Pretty, often blonde, likely clueless women—or so the stereotype goes.
