Don’t hate her because she’s beautiful.
Ines Sainz is back, and we owe her an apology. She’s not the media-manipulating airhead everybody assumes.
Underneath whatever skimpy clothing she’s currently wearing is a legitimate journalist. Or as legit as 94 percent of what passes as “the media” these days.
“My credibility is the moment I start interviewing,” Sainz said in an interview with FanHouse. “Then they see I know what I’m talking about.”
Sainz problem is that she’s hot and doesn’t mind showing it. That triggered an international incident two months ago when she showed up at Jets camp and some players started acting, allegedly, like they’d OD’d on a bottle of Viagra from Brett Favre’s old locker.
Now Sainz is working the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito fight for Top Rank. At least company president Todd duBoef doesn’t mind admitting the truth.
“Ines is obviously pleasing to the eye,” he said, “and we’re repositioning our sport to hit all markets, to make us more contemporary.” Is that such a bad thing?
Yes, according to the same critics who blasted the TV Azteca reporter after her visit to the Jets. They want somebody like Howard Cosell at ringside, not The Bimbo Who Ate New York.
I was ready to join the chorus, then promoters made Sainz available for interviews. Now I’m re-thinking my haughty position on journalists who double as Bond Girls.
Sainz makes a pretty good case for them. And I’m not just saying that because of the 1,391 photos I’ve seen of her in a bikini. At least I don’t think I am.
The Jets scandal can largely be traced to two things — cultural ignorance and beauty-ism.
“People say it’s my fault. I only say we are supposed to be a very open-minded world. If you feel good…It’s not bad to present beauty. I truly believe that all women want to be as feminine and beautiful as possible.” –Ines Sainz You’ve heard of racism, sexism, ageism and even baldism. Beauty-ism is discrimination based on appearance. The belief that if a person looks like a million bucks, they have a two-cent head.
Sainz graduated from the Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro with a master’s degree in tax law. Just because she wore those ironed-on blue jeans to interview Mark Sanchez doesn’t mean she was there just for giggles.
She recited a list of assignments around the world, from the World Cup to auto racing to European soccer. There was never an incident like the Jets, even though her wardrobe remained pretty much the same.
“Believe me,” she said, “they know my credibility.”
Critics think if reporters don’t come off like Mike Wallace, they’re not doing their job. They chided Sainz for traipsing around Super Bowl Media Day feeling players biceps and getting rides on their shoulders.
Media Day is made for that kind of fluff. And you can bet viewers all over Mexico enjoyed Sainz playing cowgirl more than they would have watching her ask Sean Payton about stopping the Colts’ passing game.
TV and sports is primarily entertainment, not the Kefauver Hearings. Sainz knows how to entertain, which is why Top Rank came calling.
Back at Jets camp, if Sainz had actually interviewed Sanchez she would have asked the same questions he’d gotten 1,000 times from other media members.
The difference is they look like John Clayton. If Sainz dressed in a sweatshirt with jelly stains on the sleeves, her credibility wouldn’t have been an issue.
I wrote earlier that if she wanted to be treated like a professional, she needs to dress like one. If nothing else, she could have taken a sartorial cue from the other female reporters who cover NFL teams.
“Well, I’m Latin,” she said. “They are not me.”
She’s admitting what politically-correct observers dare not say ? cultural norms are different in North and South America; especially on TV. Our Katie Couric dresses like she’s going to a board meeting. Their Katie Couric dresses like she’s going to Hugh Hefner’s hot tub.
Sainz could have tried to dress like the usual media crowd at the Jets camp. But I don’t know how many American reporters would wear Nehru jackets to cover a cricket match in Mumbai.
“People say it’s my fault. I only say we are supposed to be a very open-minded world. If you feel good… how do you say it English…. It’s not bad to present beauty,” Sainz said. “I truly believe that all women want to be as feminine and beautiful as possible.”
That’s apparently acceptable in most places where Sainz shows up to work. Here, it means you’re conniving, narcissistic and D-U-M dumb.
At the risk of perpetuating the stereotype, Sainz has her wardrobe picked out for Saturday night’s fight.
“It’s a black dress,” she said. “It’s elegant.”
Please forgive her if she doesn’t look like Howard Cosell.
