Wrong woman, wrong time

Lisa Guerrero was fired by ABC yesterday from the Monday Night Football sideline, according to the Internet Movie Database. That's good because Guerrero was awful.

Here's what ABC got for unceremoniously dumping the capable (and still attractive) Lesley Visser from MNF because it wanted to get someone younger (read: a hottie) on the sidelines: First, Melissa Stark comes aboard with Eric Dickerson as dual sideline reporters. Stark is good (not Visser-level, but still acceptable); Dickerson is horrendous. ABC sacks Dickerson. Next season -- just Missy Stark. But Stark and her S.O. become "in the family way" and she quits. So ABC hires Guerrero -- the weather updater from Fox's idiot's playground "The Best Damn Sports Show Period." Guerrero had no real experience, just a nice face (although five years older than Stark) and heckuva boob job. She's ridiculously bad by any standards -- bad questions, useless info and READING NOTES ON CAMERA (no-no #1 in the TV world).

Now, ABC has hired Michele Tafoya. Tafoya's been all over and worked with everyone -- CBS, TNT, ESPN, etc. She's primarily been a Twin Cities-based sports anchor and reporter who has done other gigs for networks, etc. What Tafoya is: sharp, capable, lucid and a decent replacement for Visser; what she isn't = a young hottie (she's your everyday pleasant-looking woman). Lesson here: ABC went from the pioneer of the sideline reporter (and one of the few decent ones) to her potential heir to a pretty twit to an old pro. In other words, competency now counts again at ABC.

Serves ABC right. But now who'll take the real leap and go with Shelley Smith on the network sidelines? Smith is pretty, knowledgeable, and has hard-news capability (perhaps too much for just sideline reporting) but she's not a small little woman (like Bonnie Bernstein or Andrea Kremer). I'm hoping she's overqualified for the sideline dope job and that's why she doesn't get one.

Two corrections/clarifications: Stark was with ABC on MNF for three years and she is married (I fudged that one b/c I didn't want to guess).