What’s a nice Jewish girl like you…?

Howell’s Bonnie Bernstein tackles Super Bowl XL

by Ron Kaplan
NJJN Staff Writer

“I tend to over-prepare,” said Bonnie Bernstein, a sports journalist for CBS, as she gets ready for her fifth Super Bowl. “It’s my DNA.”

Although the 40th NFL championship game airs on the FOX network, Bernstein will be on CBS/Westwood One Radio providing diverse perspectives on the game, to be played Feb. 5 at Ford Field in Detroit.

These days, Bernstein, a 15-year veteran in the business, is known for her work as CBS’ lead sideline reporter for NFL broadcasts and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships. She joined CBS after three years with ESPN, where she covered the NBA Finals, Major League Baseball playoffs, and the NCAA women’s basketball championships for SportsCenter. She also served as a correspondent for NFL Countdown and College GameDay.

The Brooklyn-born Bernstein grew up in Howell, where she took to playing sports and writing about them at a young age.

“I’ve loved sports for as long as I can remember,” she said during an early morning interview prior to a radio appearance. Her parents, Herb and Lois, were big sports fans and encouraged her interests. She played soccer at five before turning to gymnastics a few years later. “I’m a firm believer that you’re a product of your environment.”

The writing bug similarly bit her early. Bernstein claimed, “I knew from the third grade that I wanted to be a sportswriter.”

At Howell High School, Bernstein competed on the track team and chose her college — the University of Maryland — based on its sports program and the renowned Merrill College of Journalism. She graduated magna cum laude and was a four-time Academic All-American in gymnastics. (Bernstein was elected to the journalism school’s board of directors in 2005.)

The presence of women in sports journalism, for decades a male-dominated environment, has come a long way since Lisa Olsen, a reporter for the Boston Herald, was harassed by members of the New England Patriots in 1990.

Bernstein is proud of her accomplishments and appreciative of those who paid their dues before her. Her Web site, BonnieBernstein.com, receives letters from around the world. “My favorites are the ones that come from young female aspiring sportscasters. While there were women on TV when I was growing up, I didn’t necessarily have a ton of role models.

“I remember watching Lesley Visser and Gayle Gardner and Andrea Joyce when I was younger. They were prominent in paving the way for women.”

“Young women look to me as someone to pave the way. I’ll accept the title of second generation pioneer.”

She bristled at the suggestion that some female sideline reporters are there for their visual appeal rather than reporting skills. “If you actually listen to what comes out of my mouth, you know it’s not window dressing. You can say what you will if you want to paint with long brush strokes.” At the same time such scrutiny “is not a bad thing,” she said. “It keeps me on my toes. I can never do the proverbial resting on my laurels.”

Nevertheless, Bernstein, 35, believes there’s a double standard at play. “People never look at your whole body of work,” she said. “It’s funny — every once in awhile I’ll hear a guy mispronounce a name and it’s [considered] a slip-up. If, for some reason I [make a mistake], they say, ‘She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.’”

Bernstein still comes up against what she called an “old-school” mentality, with some players and coaches having trouble accepting the presence of women in their all-male enclave. “‘Accept’ is a strong word,” she said. “‘Tolerate’ might be more appropriate.”

Understandably, Bernstein has a certain preference for the cooperative in the sports crowd.

“You tend to root less for teams and more for coaches and players you’ve had success with,” she said. She admitted, however, that her favorite player was Jerome “The Bus” Bettis, who will get his chance to shine in this year’s Super Bowl as a member of the AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Bernstein recalled the final game of the 2004 season, which Bettis said might be his last. Fortunately, the popular player, who hails from Detroit, changed his mind about retirement. “This would be a great coda to his career,” Bernstein said.

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