Susan Shan On Sports 24/7

Remember when PTI’s Tony Kornheiser called out Hannah Storm in February for her “horrifying, horrifying outfit”?

Actually, Kornheiser’s exact words were:

“She’s got on red go-go boots and a Catholic school plaid skirt way too short for somebody in her 40s or maybe early 50s by now. And she’s got on her typically very, very tight shirt so she looks like she’s got sausage casing wrapped around her upper body.”

“She’s what I would call a Holden Caulfield fantasy.”

Holden Caulfield is the protagonist in J.D. Salinger’s masterpiece The Catcher in the Rye. Caulfield gets expelled from Pencey, his prep school, and then hires a prostitute while staying in a New York hotel.

Needless to say, being called a Holden Caulfield fantasy is not a compliment.

ESPN subsequently slapped Kornheiser with a two-week suspension for his comments and forced him to publicly apologize.

One would think that after the humiliation Hannah sustained by being embarrassed on national television, she would tone down her outfits and dress more conservatively.

Clearly that is not so. The 47-year-old (48 on June 13) continues to flaunt her cougar wiles with scandalous outfits on The Worldwide Leader’s network.

Note the first picture above. A skin-tight blue minidress that displays 85% leg. Hannah was doing a post-game interview with Ron Artest after the Lakers defeated the Celtics in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

While I applaud older women who keep themselves in shape and enjoy showing off their hard work, namely Demi Moore, Lisa Rinna, and Courteney Cox Arquette, Hannah Storm is not in that category.

Sorry, Hannah, you are not a Hollywood actress. You are, in fact, a sportscaster. Your job is to interview athletes and report on sports news in a male-dominated field where women are already disrespected for their “inferior” knowledge of sports and “inability” to grasp athletic concepts.

For a “trailblazing and award-winning sportscaster and newscaster” (taken from ESPN’s bio) who has been ingrained in the field for the last 25 years, you have nothing to prove. Why do you continue to put yourself under scrutiny?

There are plenty of successful women in sports reporting who are respected for their excellent work and professionalism. Doris Burke and Jackie MacMullan are intelligent, highly competent women who know their subject matter very well and offer expert analysis.

The biggest name in sports reporting today is Erin Andrews. When is the last time Erin appeared on camera for ESPN wearing anything resembling Hannah’s outfit? Note: I said for ESPN, not ABC’s DWTS.

The problem with wearing barely-there dresses is that we cease to pay attention to what one is saying and begin paying attention to what one is exposing.

Point being, Hannah Storm isn’t some hot 26-year-old state school graduate who became famous for wearing a cowboy hat and having breast implants (ahem, Jenn Sterger). Sterger, by the way, got handed a column in Sports Illustrated, then got hired to be the “Gameday Host” for the New York Jets, and now co-hosts The Daily Line on Versus.

Storm is a Notre Dame graduate and a great sportscaster who has proven her worth many times over. Sure, we love our Lisa Dergans and Lisa Guerreros. However, listening to (and watching) an attractive female who actually has something insightful to say and breaks stereotypical barriers while doing it is not only refreshing, but also groundbreaking.

Hannah Storm doesn’t need to compete with fake boobs and girls in their early 20s. She has a quarter-century of experience and credibility behind her. And yes, even at 47, she’s still attractive.

But please, before all of that respect trickles away, put on some clothes, Hannah. No one admires a half-clothed sports reporter for her brain.