Burke a lifelong basketball junkie
When ESPN's small army of sideline reporters fans out across America next week, Erin Andrews will be with the Big Ten. But Big East fans will be well served with Doris Burke, who provides a serious, hoops-minded take on the job.
The fact she's a woman long since has ceased to be an issue. That's the way it is when you're a lifelong basketball junkie who fell hard for the Big East watching the likes of Pearl Washington and Patrick Ewing in the 1980s.
"I've said this many times: Basketball people are basketball people," she said. "When you have a joint love for the game, once the topic of conversation switches to the game, gender is out the window."
Burke, 43, the youngest of eight children, lived in West Babylon until age 7 but grew up in Manasquan, N.J., dreaming of being Maurice Cheeks or Kyle Macy.
After playing and coaching at Providence, she has stayed in the game in a big way, working about 90 events a year, college and pro, men and women, sideline reporter and analyst.
"If it's basketball," she said, "it's for me."
