ESPN reporter minds her P’s and Q’s for spelling bee

When Erin Andrews was in grade school, her father helped her develop word skills by holding spelling drills at home.

Whenever she misspelled a word, she had to write it 10 times, says Steve Andrews, who was a master speller himself as a child.

“Of course, we were not dealing with the kind of words that come up on the National Spelling Bee,” says Erin’s dad.

Erin won’t be tested on her spelling skills this week when she covers the annual event for ESPN and ABC, but she’s doing homework anyway.

“I’ve never done this before and it’s a long event, all day on two networks, and these kids are sharp,” says the 30-year-old who is best known for her sports reporting on ESPN.

Andrews has become one of the network’s most popular female sideline reporters. College students chant her name at football and basketball games. She was voted “America’s Sexist Sportscaster” in a 2007 Playboy poll. And she’s all over the Internet — from fan-created Web sites to YouTube clips.

Andrews says although that’s flattering, she’s dedicated to getting the coverage right, so she’s studying the backgrounds and preparing personal profiles of the top spellers who will compete in the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington.

“The cool part of this assignment is getting to know the stories behind these kids who have been studying for years and can spell words I’ve never heard of,” she says.

Sponsored by the media company E.W. Scripps, the event airs live Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on ESPN and from 8 to 10 p.m. on ABC.

Tom Bergeron of “Dancing With the Stars” will host the prime-time ABC coverage. “SportsCenter” anchor Chris McKendry is host of the ESPN daytime coverage.

Andrews, who will be on both telecasts, says she’s excited about the opportunity.

“The competition is intense and it can get emotional, so I have to be mindful of that when I do the interviews,” she says.

Her father says he knows his daughter will be prepared: “I am always amazed at the amount of research she does in preparing for her sports coverage.”

Erin began her broadcasting career with Fox Sports Florida South as a freelance reporter from 2000-01 before becoming a Tampa Bay Lightning reporter for the Sunshine Network from 2001 to 2002.

She then joined Turner Sports covering the Atlanta Braves and college football for TBS and the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers and NBA’s Atlanta Hawks for Turner Sports South.

She went to ESPN in 2004 as part of the network’s hockey coverage team.

Her father said her audition for ESPN was a snap because she was asked to cover a Lightning game. “She knew all the players and all their stories and they knew her, so she really impressed everyone at ESPN,” he says.

In the fall of 2004, Andrews’ star began to rise when she became a sideline reporter for ESPN College Football Saturdays and she connected with the college crowd.

She also covers college basketball and Major League Baseball. “Things get really hectic when the seasons overlap and I am flying back and forth between games,” says Andrews, who lives in Atlanta with her younger sister, Kendra, a professional dancer.

Steve Andrews says he is impressed at how fast Erin’s career has accelerated. He said he and Paula laughed about the Playboy poll. “We went online and voted for her,” he says. “Imagine us looking at Playboy. It hasn’t been a negative because Erin has gotten a lot of attention from other media. But hell will freeze over before she ever would be in Playboy for anything else.”