Erin Andrews Returns to Sidelines for ESPN

Erin Andrews and ESPN clearly put a little bit of thought into how they wanted her return to play out on national television. Overall, they probably could not have done a better job of making her return a non-event, which is likely exactly what they were trying to achieve. Since the peephole video of Erin Andrews hit the web a few months ago, her fame has skyrocketed and millions of people around the world can now say that they've seen her dance around her hotel room naked. And after some initial comments about legal action and efforts to identify and prosecute the people responsible for filming her naked without permission, things quieted down.

Things quieted down so much that you almost had to look twice to see that it was in fact Erin Andrews working the sidelines during the opening night of the college football season. There she was, at one of the lesser games of the night between North Carolina State and the University of South Carolina. She reported from the sidelines on the in-game injuries and was able to speak with the coaches at appropriate times for their comments on the game. Basically, she did what she always does and the broadcast just rolled along as usual.

And it's pretty easy to get away with that when the game is a regional match-up on a Thursday night. When the lights get brighter and the games get bigger, it may be a little more difficult for Andrews and ESPN to ignore the big story that made her a near-household-name, at least for a little while.