One of the country’s most prominent women in sports journalism has weighed in on ESPN getting rid of one of its most prominent female faces.
And Sage Steele, a former ESPN personality who has become a national voice for the conservative conservative cause, held nothing back in praising Samantha Steele Ponder.
The move represented ESPN’s loss, Steele said, but the rest of the world’s gain.
ESPN on Thursday announced that Ponder had been laid off along with analyst and former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III.
Ponder was a sideline reporter for the network as well as host of ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown.”
She also defended the sanctity of women’s sports, in an era where the madness of men competing against women in physical strength is justified under the pretense of men being “trans.”
In May 2023, she passed along an endorsement of a social media post by Riley Gaines, the prominent former collegiate swimmer who has become an activist for keeping women’s sports safe for women.
“It is not hateful to demand fairness in sports for girls,” Ponder wrote wrote.
I barely said anything publicly abt this issue & I’ve had so many ppl msg me, stop me in the street to say thank you+ tell me stories abt girls who are afraid to speak up for fear of lost employment/being called hateful. It is not hateful to demand fairness in sports for girls https://t.co/teNoMDWNW4
— Samantha Steele Ponder (@samponder) May 25, 2023
It was that kind of firmness of spirit that Steele saluted in a social media post published Thursday.
I love you, @samponder pic.twitter.com/2IMwURVfMN
— Sage Steele (@sagesteele) August 15, 2024
She said she and Ponder had been friends for years, “mainly because of our similar values and our faith.”
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“Samantha has taught me so much about God, about scripture, about the Bible, about not giving up and standing tall.
“She’s done that for the last several years at ESPN.”
Steele praised Ponder’s life outside of ESPN, too.
“This is a brilliant woman. An incredible mother who helped make me a better mother … And I’m so excited for her future.”
Steele also sees the job loss as an opportunity for Ponder.
“Sam already knows that this is such a blessing that God is bestowing upon her, because there’s so much more for her to do.”
And finally, she made it clear that what ESPN is billing as a cost-cutting move is actually a loss for the network.
“This is another loss for ESPN, but it is a gain for literally the rest of the world because now you’re going to see the true Sam Ponder,” she said.
