Attention men: It’s time to open your minds and shut your mouths

N ews item I: Last Wednesday, Charlotte Observer reporter Jourdan Rodrigue asked Carolina quarterback Cam Newton about wide receiver Devin Funchess' route running. Newton laughed and said, "It's funny to hear a female talk about routes. It's funny."

News item II: Not long after, Newton apologized, saying, "What I did was extremely unacceptable. I'm a father to two beautiful daughters and I try to instill in them that they can be anything that they want to be." Right. They can be anything they want to be.

Except if they want to talk about sports.

Unless, of course, they're good looking.

Sports: The male domain. Of men, for men, by men. And if women actually have some insight or form an opinion? Well, of course.

If they're hot, maybe you give a listen. If they're not, you dismiss them. If they're accomplished, they slept their way there anyway.

It's still more about how they look than what they say.

We've come a long way, baby. Or is it just babe? I mean, google the term "female sports reporters" and know among the first things you see? "The hottest female sports reporters," by Men's Fitness. Swell. So you know how I read Newton's apology?

Blah, blah, blah.

For one thing, I'm guessing Newton was still the father of his two daughters when he made the original comment. And so Cam Newton essentially apologized for his honesty. Yep. Honesty.

Because Cam Newton's original thinking falls in lockstep with most other male sports fans in this country.

They don't want to hear women talking about sports. Or writing about it. It's sports. The male domain. And what would women know about it anyway?

One thing I've learned: The whole thing about "until you've walked in someone's shoes" really ought to be the second Golden Rule. I can't imagine what it's like to be a woman in the sports media business. Hell, I can't imagine what it's like to be a woman in any business. You have to work twice as hard to get half the credit. And then constantly subjected to the Cam Newtons of the world (at least Cam didn't hide behind anonymity, though).

OK. I've done this for 26 years now. And I've run into more incompetent male reporters and broadcasters than female. Maybe because there are more males. But the larger point: Gender has nothing to do with it. You are an idiot or you're not.

I mean, here's my list of female journalists with whom I've spent some time and from whom I've learned stuff: Vickie Fulkerson (Day Paper), Lori Riley (Hartford Courant), Donna Tommelleo (Associated Press), Christine Hanley (Associated Press), Sally Jenkins (Washington Post), Michelle Smith (ESPNW), Ann Killion (San Francisco Chronicle), Rebecca Lobo (ESPN), Doris Burke (ESPN), Kara Lawson (ESPN), Beth Mowins (ESPN), Suzyn Waldman (WFAN), Claire Smith (Hartford Courant et al) Jackie MacMullan (Boston Globe), Wendy Parker (Atlanta Journal). To name a few. That's not to say I haven't run into a few dimwits, too. But as previously stated: Why does it have to be about gender? Why can't a dimwit be a dimwit?

Example: The blatherers got all over Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly for snapping at female Indianapolis Star reporter Laken Litman after the Irish lost to Georgia a few weeks back. Here's how it went: Litman: "Obviously you made a ton of changes, changed the culture, everything. But obviously, you lost and at the very end, kind of like last year, seven of eight losses, how do you ..." Kelly: "What's the question?" Litman: "I'm getting to it." Kelly: "Well, get to the question." Litman: "How do you keep this from snowballing?"

This just in: Kelly had every right to be curt. Because Litman's soliloquy was unnecessary. Just ask the question.

Like: "Coach, given your struggles in close games, how do you keep this from snowballing?"

This, of course, had nothing to do with Litman's gender. Kelly would have been justified snapping at a male reporter as well.

Again, the point: Neither incompetence nor brilliance isn't gender specific.

A good question is a good question. A dumb question is a dumb question. And your plumbing has nothing to do with it.

So, gents, how about you open your minds and shut your mouths? Women can do this, too. And quite well. This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro