There’s no other way to put it. Beth Mowins, ESPN play-by-play announcer, broke one of the biggest barriers in sports. She became the first woman ever to call a nationally televised NFL game during Monday Night Football.
 The last time this happened, the year was 1987 and Gayle Sierens called a matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks on NBC. Sirens set the stage for Mowins to continue to break barriers in the broadcast booth — even if it took 30 years.
 As a woman who aspires to work in football once my college days are over, this moment meant so much for me, and I know I wasn’t the only one. The outpour of support definitely outweighed the negative, because let’s be honest, there is always going to be people who are not going to like the change.
Growing up, I was always the girl who would rather play football than with dolls, I religiously watch NFL games on Sunday, Monday and Thursday and for all my life it’s been a man that’s talking. Don’t get me wrong, I love hearing Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth calling Sunday Night Football, but for the first time in my life, I heard a voice that sounded like mine.
Being a woman in a male dominated profession is not easy and I say that with three years of real experience as the sports editor for The Battalion. I have in no way experienced any of the challenges that women like Mowins and Sierens had to go through while trailblazing the road for those of us to hope to follow in their steps. But boy am I thankful that I have such strong women to look to when in a tough bind.
 The feeling of seeing a woman who I grew up listening to while watching college softball call a football game was an emotional experience. I was so emotional that I called my parents crying because of what that meant to me.
 In May, I went to a conference in Austin for the Association of Women in Sports Media. At that conference, I felt what I felt last night— inspired. The feeling being around so many strong women in sports only solidifies my decision to follow my passion. Which means that everything the women in sports have done so far is working.
Mowins proved last night that just because she’s a woman that doesn’t mean she can’t call a football game. Not only did she carry Rex Ryan, who’s making the transition from coach to analyst, she proved that gender shouldn’t play a role in a sports job.
If you’re qualified to do the job, then nothing else should matter.
Angel Franco is a telecommunication media studies junior and sports editor for The Battalion.