RCS: A few weeks ago, we interviewed USA Today columnist Christine Brennan who has talked about the importance for women in sports journalism to appeal to the 12-year-old girl watching and learning about sports.

In your role as a host of SportsNation, how important is it to appeal to that 12-year-old girl?

Beadle: I guess a twelve-year-old girl would look at me and think I can do that too. I think while we have come an extremely long way in this business it's still hard. We didn't play these sports that we're talking about, and there is always going to be that percentage of people who don't want to listen to what we have to say or don't think our opinions are as valid.

It's funny actually. When I covered the Nets we had a girl named Allison, who I guess is a eighth grader now, she came and shadowed me for a day and now we still stay in touch via email, and she wants to do this when she grows up. To me that's a big deal. If one little girl looks at any woman on television or in the papers or in the magazines and realizes that you can still do this regardless of what you can or don't bring to the table or your gender, it's a big deal. I love that.

I don't think I'm doing anything in particular, but I know that growing up if I saw a Robin Roberts or a Linda Cohn, you realize those women are hanging and they're doing a great job. People take them seriously and it's kind of nice.

8 Questions with Michelle Beadle