I don’t know if there is a politically correct way to answer it. What if suddenly there became a trend of guys becoming nannies? Even if they were good at it, the general public will have trouble embracing it because men aren’t generally considered the nurturers of the two sexes. So is that sexist? Women are still entering a male-dominated field.

Personally, I like women sports reporters — whether they are drop-dead gorgeous or not. Smart women are attractive to me. So I disagree with you about looking past the pretty face. But if there is a pretty face, are we supposed to look the other way?

I’m really not sure if we’ll ever see a lot of female play-by-play announcers for men’s sports — instead of only sideline reporters. Not because I don’t want it to happen, but because radio and television have favored distinct, deeper voices throughout the course of sports history… not all men have that voice either. And until women start to sound like Howard Cosell, Jack Buck, and Vin Scully, I think there is going to be an unlevel playing field. But having said that, look at Linda Cohn at ESPN. I think she’s been a great anchor over the years, a lot better than a lot of the guys over there, in my opinion. There are female sports reporters at high levels of men’s professional sports. It can only get better with time… to what degree, who knows? I think you have to keep in mind that you have a lot more open doors now than women before you.

When I was a broadcaster, you wouldn’t believe some of the trivial things players and coaches would complain about, either games or broadcasts. I think one of the most memorable and entertaining times in my life was broadcasting Frontier League Baseball just because of all the goofy stuff that would happen. I remember a couple guys who were notoriously late, and the players would get pissed off while waiting on the bus. Finally, some guys on the team told the bus driver to leave them at the hotel during a road trip near St. Louis. So the bus driver says, “There’s an old Indian sayin’… f**k ‘em!” And you could see the two guys running behind the bus… it was great.

That summer just totally endorsed every idiotic moment in Bull Durham and Major League. And it just makes for great stories — like Cabrera’s antics.

I’m glad you decided to write this.

While I was a bit taken aback that so many people were genuinely offended, there are obviously guys out there who carry ideas offensively beyond the tongue-in-cheek column that I wrote. A valid criticism would be the column endorses that line of thinking, but you and I can’t shield them from having a ridiculous constitution of thinking, if it already exists.

And yes, things have changed dramatically, which I guess is why I didn’t think my column would be taken that seriously. Things have changed so that my mom could coach a guys soccer team (and win); changed so Pat Summitt is put in the same sentence with elite men’s basketball coaches;changed so the U.S. women’s soccer team has more notoriety worldwide than the men; changed so there are now famous female sports reporters.

I think you are right — without question — that it is still more difficult for females to make a career in the sports business. And perhaps, that is what I underestimated when I wrote the piece. And while I mentioned that there are excellent female sports reporters out there and very knowledgeable female fans as well, I understand that some people got a different message from it because of the tone, specifically in some of my silly follow-up comments.

I accept the riveting.