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Bonnie Bernstein Fan Club: Oxygen Network Interview
"Bonnie talks about her love of sports growing up, succeeding in a male dominated profession, and how to pose those tough questions"
Bonnie Bernstein interview with Candice Bergen
"Candice Checks It Out" (Oxygen Network)
Bergen: What an early age when you decided this is what you wanted to do. You were eight when your parents took you to a Mets game...tell me how that happened?
Bernstein: I went to Shea Stadium to watch a Mets game, and was just kinda walking around by myself, and I find a security guard, and I said "Excuse me, sir...what's that?"...and he said, "Oh, that's the press box"...I said, "What's a press box?"...so he brought me into the press box, and I sat in a chair for whoever it was that day that was covering the game for Sports Illustrated...and I watched the Mets take infield, and that's the day I decided I wanted to write (about) sports when I grew up.
Bergen: You must have been very plucky as a kid, too...because, even though the business has changed quite a lot, it really is an extreme of a woman in a man's world...were you encouraged?
Bernstein: I don't know that I was necessarily encouraged. I realized early on that I was going to have to be persistent, and always keep in my mind that this was my goal and nobody else's, and I couldn't allow anybody to be a deterrent. I majored in journalism in college, and I distinctly remember there was a professor who said, "I don't think you have what it takes...you might want to consider changing your major".
{Bonnie shrugs her shoulders} Now, when somebody who you look up to say's that to you, it kind of makes you think twice...but I was so tunnelvisioned, I just completely passed it over.
Bergen: When you did get their, how were you received by "the guy's"?
Bernstein: Well, my first full time sports job was at a local affiliate...the NBC affiliate in Reno, Nevado. I got a great response from the community, because I think everyone who's ever commented on my on-air work has said they've always seen the passion...and I think if you ever see the passion, people respond...because they are just as passionate, too.
Bergen: Are men ready to get their sports news from women?
Bernstein: There are some men who grew up not knowing what it was like to have a woman telling them about sports. They think there's no business for that. That's fine; but if you sit there and you watch me and you listen to me and I give you credible information, and you still don't think I should be telling you about sports...I can't do anything about it, and, quite frankly, I'm not going to waste my time worrying about it.
(Interview cutaway to video of Jim Nantz)
Nantz: I have a lot of respect for what Bonnie does on sportscasts. She is covering all of these events for CBS, because she knows what she's talking about.
(Back to interview)
Bergen: Were there any specifically negative experiences that you went through when you first got into sportscasting?
Bernstein: There was one time I sat down with a coach for a football game. It was just a one on one (interview). Afterwards, he said, "I don't know too many pretty babies who know how to ask intelligent sports questions...". {Throws her arms up} What do you say to that..?...first time for everything; thanks, have a good day..?. You know it's there. They may think it, but most don't have the guts to say it.
Bergen: Could you have gotten the job if you weren't gorgeous?
Bernstein: {Staring amusingly upwards} Uh...I would like to think so.
Bergen: But don't you have to be both now?
Bernstein: Now you pretty much have to be {slight pause} "nice on the eyes", to make it on the air.
Bergen: What percentage of your crew are women...your producers, your camera (people)?
Bernstein: Very few. It's still very much a boy's network. While there are more women on the on-air side, overall, we're still very much in the minority.
(Interview cutaway to video of Leslie Visser)
Visser: There are women who know and love sports, and they end up on television...and then there are women who just want to be on television, and they end up in sports.
(Back to interview)
Bergen: Someone else said that there are two kinds of women who are sportscasters...
Bernstein: {Smiles, nodding} Leslie Visser. I agree with that. She and I have these discussions. We have always, since we could walk, since we could talk, we've always wanted to cover sports in some way, shape or form.
Bergen: What's it like in the locker rooms...because in a way, you can understand guy's feeling invaded?
Bernstein: People have to understand; I'm not in there to look around. This is not something that interests me. I go in there because I'm on (a) deadline. I can't wait for you to take a shower, get dressed, and come out and speak to me at a leisurely pace. {Snaps fingers} I've got a deadline.
(Interview cutaway to video of Bonnie working off-air)
(Back to interview)
Bernstein: Sometimes I talk to fast because I'm so excited. I have so much information I want to get out there; I'm talking about this great game...{Pause} I'm talking too fast right now, but that's the way I get. I love it.
Bergen: Is it hard to ask the tough questions when a coach is losing and on the brink of losing his job?
Bernstein: It's not easy, but it's my job. If you can ask somebody a difficult question, in such a way, with the facial expression and the eye contact, where they realize, "I have to ask you this, because people want to know..."...I think more times than not, they'll understand and they'll respect you for it.
Bergen: What if your too aggressive as a woman starting out?
Bernstein: There is a way to be aggressive in a nice way that doesn't really {slight pause}...piss people off {laughter}.
Bergen: How lucky do you feel to love what you do?
Bernstein: So lucky. I have the coolest job ever. Every time I sit down and talk to a player or a coach, for as much as I think I knew, I learn something every week that I cover a game. And I know that's never going to change. So I can't foresee ever really wanting to do anything else.
Bergen: What advice do you give for women who want to get into sportscasting?
Bernstein: Don't let anybody tell you, "you can't".
©1999-03 Bonniephile Productions
