Jeanne Zelasko Wants In The Dodgers' TV Booth

http://6-4-2.blogspot.com/2008/12/jeanne-zelasko-wants-in-dodgers-tv.html

I really, really thought I wasn't going to have any news to publish
today... it turns out I was utterly wrong. The Arizona Republic
reports that Fox Sports hottie Jeanne Zelasko would like consideration
as the next Dodgers' TV road broadcaster:
Jeanne Zelasko got hooked on baseball when she was "a little peanut"
writing letters to her father who was working in Asia, trying to
impress him by slipping in the name of a major leaguer she had just
watched on television.
"In my mind, that was the way to reach out to my dad," said Zelasko,
42, who now is reaching out to the baseball gods - and the Los Angeles
Dodgers - in hopes of becoming the first woman to do play-by-play in
Major League Baseball.

A position became available when Charlie Steiner, who did 40 games a
year on cable, had his role redefined. Fox, meanwhile, canceled the
baseball pregame show she hosted with Kevin Kennedy due to the loss of
advertising revenue.

"I love everybody I work with and would do it until I fell out of the
chair, and I love sports," she said. "But this is an interesting time
for me as I try to figure out, 'OK, what's next?'

"There is an opening for the Dodgers . . . so I have been beating down
their door a little bit."

Zelasko said it is understandable that the Dodgers asked her if she
ever had done baseball play-by-play - the answer is no - but she had
that role for ice-skating and gymnastics competitions.

"But I've been around baseball for a very long time, and Kevin
Kennedy, who should be managing somewhere, taught me more about that
the game than I think most people could even consider. I was blessed
to be next to him for eight years. So I'm excited. I don't know if
they'll bite."

There's a theory that says you know you've made progress when <insert
minority here> can get jobs regardless of competence. I don't honestly
know if that would be the case with Zelasko; I've had my beefs with
Charlie Steiner (En-car-na-see-own, Charlie), but outside of that
inexplicable pronunciation tic, he's been an affable and knowledgeable
presence in the booth. Zelasko we simply don't know much about, except
for her twinkie-ish in-studio appearances, and her odd roving
appearances talking to people in the stands or managers in the
dugouts.
One thing we do know about Zelasko is that she's had a tough go of it
lately. Not only did she lose her father to a heart attack in 2007,
her sister developed a brain aneurysm, and she was diagnosed with
thyroid cancer. Zelasko and her sister are both doing well (as of
April, 2008), and Zelasko has returned to her normal duties at Fox.