Charissa Thompson claims to have made up sideline reports, sends social media into embarrassing spiral

FOX and TNF broadcaster Charissa Thompson joined Barstool podcast “Pardon My Take” Thursday to talk shop and revealed an industry secret: she occasionally makes up sideline reports during games. Why she decided to share this is anyone’s guess, but it certainly conjured a lot of responses.

Charissa Thompson explained her reasoning in a clip that the cowards at Barstool Sports have since deleted:

“I’ve said this before, so I haven’t been fired for saying it, but I’ll say it again. I would make up the report sometimes because, A, the coach wouldn’t come out at halftime or it was too late and I was like, I didn’t want to screw up the report, so I was like, “I’m just gonna make this up.'”

“No coach is gonna get mad if I say, ‘Hey, we need to stop hurting ourselves, we need to be better on third down, we need to stop turning the ball over and do a better job of getting off the field,’ Like, they’re not gonna correct me on that. I’m like it’s fine, I’ll just make up the report.”

– Charissa Thompson on Pardon My Take

First off, I want to be very clear that it’s totally fine for her to do that. Those interviews are probably the most pointless part of the broadcast, and, considering she’s apparently said this before without being fired, she and her employers are fully aware of that fact.

Nobody remembers a single sideline report they’ve seen in their sports-watching lives. Charissa Thompson is right, too. There’s no shot a coach would correct one of her made-up reports.

That’s true for two reasons. One, the reports are so generic the coach would have probably said it anyway. And two, no coach has ever watched a sideline report.

Now, does that mean Thompson should share that on the biggest sports podcast in America? Probably not. While it was not exactly that horrible a comment to make, the backlash on social media has been intense (and ultimately embarrassing).

Glen Macnow clutching his pearls and demanding she be fired while working for one of the biggest cesspools of human thought in the Western Hemisphere is just too rich. Charissa Thompson needs to lose her job, but shitmongers like Joe Giglio and ESP can keep theirs? Get a grip, you clown.

Lisa Salters went full melodrama as well. Just look at this absolutely embarrassing Twitter thread.

I think you doth protest too much, Lisa. Outside of injury updates, nobody cares. You know your job is pointless. Why else would you react in such a way?

Lisa, you’re so right. What would we do without you bothering coaches on the sidelines and asking them pointless questions? People shit on Ken Rosenthal and other MLB reporters for doing the same thing during baseball games, so this feels like fair game to me.

Oh, and guess what! Charissa Thompson is still on Prime’s TNF broadcast, doing what she does best. I’m sure that makes hard-hitting journalists soooo upset.

Of course, this has somehow turned into a women in sports issue as well. I’m not here to single anyone out, but if you saw this as an opportunity to record yourself talking about how this affects the image of women in sports, just know you did more damage to the overall reputation than Charissa did.

I watched the Sixers get fucked by the Celtics on Wednesday with an all-female booth and didn’t bat an eye. Women are everywhere in sports, and it’s great to see! There’d be even more opportunities in sports for both men and women if those who complain about it would, well, watch women’s sports, but that’s not what I’m here to discuss.

If you want to come at me and call me sexist, feel free. I’m literally defending a woman in sports; one of the best in the business, mind you. I’m not anti-woman, I’m anti-self-absorbed-people, regardless of race, gender, creed, or nationality.

Both men and women have used this fake outrage to farm engagement and prop themselves up as morally superior. NFL sideline reporters making shit up is not what’s fostered America’s distrust of the media. The media did that all on its own by lying to people about things that actually matter.

In the end, this doesn’t remotely matter. Sideline reporters have been obsolete for a time, but not as long as some make it out to be. You may forget broadcasting legend Sergio Dipp, who holds the unofficial title of Last Great Sideline Reporter. Ever since ESPN took him off the NFL sidelines, the job just doesn’t carry the same weight.

Sideline reporting died when ESPN took Sergio Dipp away from us. It just hasn’t been the same since unfortunately. 🥺 pic.twitter.com/pXpA59SZ0o

— Drew Smith (@drewmsmith) November 17, 2023

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