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I have raised this issue before and there may be people who disagree, largely because of the girl's looks. But Erin Bates is an awful pit reporter. She continues to mangle the English language. Honestly. I was watching the "lites" race from Southwick on SPEED, Bates was interviewing Villopoto, and once again she starts throwing out big words but she doesn't know what they mean. She sounds like some big, dumb football player or a blinged-out rapper with a third-grade education. It's just insulting.

It's far more than just this one instance. Bates routinely spews gibberish. She's the George W. Bush of motorsports and sounds like she learned grammar from a bad video game. There are plenty of female sportscasters, several of them in motorsports, who make Bates sound like an uneducated hick. Those girls look good, too.

This is a matter of laziness. It's not a matter of smarts. It's an issue of a girl trading on her looks and refusing to put in the work needed to get the job done. Bates needs to get with the program. She needs to get her on-mic performance up to the same level as the other guys and girls in motorsports or go back to selling insurance. Frankly, she's an insult to people like Krista Voda and Jamie Little, and even RacerX Show pit reporter Erin Normoyle.

I can't believe she's gotten a pass on this for so long just because of her looks. Hell, even Jillian Barberie had to get her on-mic banter up to pro level and she was way hotter than Bates in her heyday. I don't know why Bates gets a pass on this. I just know it makes the sport look a little stupider and needs to end.