Don’t think Tom Hoffarth will be part of the official Los Angeles welcoming committee for Erin Andrews.

The long-time Los Angeles Daily News columnist obliterated Andrews and her hiring by Fox Sports in a scathing column Friday. He predicts an implosion will be the end result of this match.

Hoffarth threw the first grenade. He called her a “sweet-as-pie sideline maven,” and described her delivery as being full of “nasally vapid words.”

And it gets worse. He writes:

The assumption is someone at Fox watched Andrews carom through week after week as solo host of the early expanded version on ESPN’s “College GameDay,” given an hour to read off her notes and awkwardly ad-lib on ESPNU before the real crew came to start the party. And they still hired her, apparently distracted enough into thinking she did a real swell job.

A few weeks ago, Hoffarth did a superb package on women in sports media tied to the 40th anniversary of Title IX. With that in mind, he writes:

Circle back to the piece we did a couple of weeks ago about Title IX, creating a list of the 40 women in the sports media over the past 40 years who raised the bar in the business.

We sought feedback from a few trusted people who work in the sports media to make sure we hadn’t left anyone out or given someone too much credit.

Only one suggested we find a way to add Andrews. But in pointing out that “raise the bar” requirement, and already having a top tier of female sideline reporters in Lesley Visser, Andrea Kremer, Bonnie Bernstein, Doris Burke, Jeannine Edwards, Jamie Little, Lisa Salters, Michele Tafoya, Jeanne Zelasko or Suzy Kolber, it was pretty clear Andrews was not part of this ya-ya circle.

In a sideline beauty pageant against the likes (and dislikes) of Melissa Stark, Lisa Guerrero, Jenn Brown or Jill Arrington, then Andrews wins – and not just on Miss Congeniality points.

Naturally, Hoffarth is catching plenty of heat for the column.  The Big Lead’s Ty Duffy had problems with it.

I have to say I agree. Hoffarth definitely has some valid points, but I think he was overly harsh in his judgement of Andrews.

While I don’t think Andrews is Diane Sawyer, I do think she has some skills and a presence, an essential quality for any TV sports personality, male or female. Naturally, it helps immensely that she’s good looking, but you need much more than that to succeed.

Surely, there will be more on Erin Andrews. There always is.