Where Have You Gone, Bonnie Bernstein? Chiefs' Fans Needed You!

According to the Fanhouse's own Michael David Smith, CBS eliminated sideline reporters and nobody noticed. Smith's comment is actually very representative of what many people think: sideline reporters are useless and, like most useless objects, they should be thrown into the trash.

First, let me point out, that I am very partial to Bonnie Bernstein. Nothing, to me, is sexier than a woman who knows sports. Before I go Joe Namath on this blog, let me also add that she is a terrific sideline reporter. She is a true professional, she takes her job very seriously, and she asks all the right questions. In my opinion, it is sideline reporters like Bernstein and Michelle Tafoya that epitomize the way the sideline reporter job should be operated. But even the most seemingly useless sideline reporters are useful in some capacity.

The CBS broadcast dropped the ball big time in the Chiefs vs. Rams broadcast.
Because of CBS' hard-headed decision to eliminate sideline reporters, Chiefs' fans missed extremely valuable information on why four of their starters were hooked from the game with injuries, never to return. Shouldn't somebody at CBS notice when star linebacker Derrick Johnson leaves the game on crutches? Instead, we had to make that conclusion ourselves, asking ourselves why Keyaran Fox was playing snap after snap after snap. What about the status of the Chiefs' pro bowl guard, who was carted off the field? What about Greg Wesley, who left the game with a shoulder injury? What about potential Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate Tamba Hali, who left the game with a hip pointer injury. These are four marquee players that left the game and yet not a whisper from the broadcast crew. Not even a mouse squeak.I first question why neither Don Criqui or Steve Beuerlein seemed to care enough about these marquee injuries to update the viewing audience on their status. How long did it take them to notice that Derrick Johnson was out of the game? I don't think they even noticed that Greg Wesley was out of the game at all. And why did they never bother to give a single update as to any of the players' injury status?

In Criqui and Beuerlein's defense, their job isn't to patrol the sidelines. They can only see the field; they can't see what's going on on the sidelines. Sideline reporters are always quick to report on these injuries. They even report when players leave the field dinged up then return to the game. It would have been nice if Bonnie dropped us a line and told us what was up. There is so much going on on the sidelines, that sideline reporters provide a valuable filter. In other words, if Bonnie Bernstein were on the sideline for the Chiefs vs. Rams game, you can bet that we would have had a status report on those four players almost the instant they were sent to the locker room.

CBS needs to bring back sideline reporters. CBS is right: most people don't notice that sideline reporters are missing, but they do recognize that they are missing something really important, even if they can't make that connection right away. I barely made the connection myself. I was checking on the status of the Chiefs' players when I began to ask myself: "Why didn't anybody mention these major injuries in the broadcast?" Then I remembered reading MDS's Fanhouse report. He's 100% right: had I not read his blog, I would've never made the connection. Thanks, MDS!

Nobody seems to notice that sideline reporters are missing from the sidelines, but that doesn't mean that they aren't valuable. Before you discredit sideline reporters, take notes the next Monday Night broadcast and watch how quickly Michelle Tafoya reports even the most minor of injuries.

CBS may be saving a few bucks, but in exchange they are robbing fans of a valuable experience. Let me be the first to plead with CBS to bring sideline reporters back to football. We may not notice when they're there, but boy do we notice when they're not.