There's a thin line between admiration and objectification.
That line was crossed a long time ago. It just took a disgusting invasion of privacy to make the sports world realize how far past the line we have come.
Thursday, a video recorded through a peephole showing UF alum and ESPN reporter Erin Andrews naked in her hotel room was posted on the Internet. By Friday afternoon, the popular sports blogs had all picked up on and written about the video. As things tend to do online, the video went viral and spread rapidly even after it was removed from the original location.
Andrews' attorney, Marshall B. Grossman of Bingham McCutchen LLP, issued the following statement Friday:
"While alone in the privacy of her hotel room, Erin Andrews was surreptitiously videotaped without her knowledge or consent. She was the victim of a crime and is taking action to protect herself and help ensure that others are not similarly violated in the future. Although the perpetrator or perpetrators of this criminal act have not yet been identified, when they are identified she intends to bring both civil and criminal charges against them and against anyone who has published the material. We request respect of Erin's privacy at this time, while she and her representatives are working with the authorities."
ESPN released a similar statement Saturday, saying that Andrews had been "grievously wronged" by "this abhorrent act."
While everyone in their right mind realizes the perversion and horrible invasion of privacy involved in recording the video, it's not an isolated incident.
For sports blogs and news outlets alike, Andrews equals instant page views. No matter how mundane the topic, she brings in readers to the site.
That's even true for us at the Alligator. A March 21, 2008, story about a speech Andrews gave at UF is still among the most-viewed stories on our site. As much as I'd like to think that's because readers were interested in the story, we all know that's not true. It's because of the corresponding photo of Andrews.
The popular sports blogs are largely being targeted as the villains in this case for promoting and encouraging this unreasonable fan adoration. While I don't think blogs are nearly the scourge on society many traditional journalists make them out to be, I agree in this case.
To defend their actions, many of the blogs have argued that their coverage of Andrews was tongue-in-cheek, and that they only provided coverage of America's "Sideline Princess" in an ironic manner that their readers would appreciate.
While I can't claim to know the motives of each blog's editor, I do know that every joke of this kind begins with some element of truth. Andrews brought page views, and even if blogs were continually posting stories as a joke, they still reaped the benefits and fed into the somewhat creepy love fans have for her.
The reasoning behind it doesn't matter in this case, because they gave the readers what they wanted to see: more Erin Andrews.
But the problem came, as we saw this weekend, when they saw all of Erin Andrews.
The joke, such as it was, has gone too far. It's not funny anymore. It's offensive.
By this point, the bloggers seem to be honestly remorseful for what Andrews is going through, but they have also realized that they created something they can't undo.
When stories about the video started to appear online, comments online ranged from enthused to outraged. Perhaps the most disgusting reaction, however, comes from those who joke that Andrews should not be upset about the video because she is physically flawless, as if the only problem with this incident is that Andrews was filmed while nude.
But that's not the real problem. It's just the culmination of months of fan worship and an online culture that promotes this type of obsessive behavior.
