Apparently Portland Trailblazers sideline reporter Rebecca Haarlow makes quite the impression, because I got a couple of emails pointing me in her direction. So was all the hype worth it? I have to say, hell yeah. A very hot girl with a bubbly personality. What else do you need in your basketball team’s sideline reporter? How about an Ivy League education? Yup. Rebecca’s a graduate of Princeton University. Holy crap. Brains, beauty, and sports appreciation? I think I’m in love.

Her bio (via her official site):

Covering everything from professional sports to college athletics and poker tournaments, Rebecca Haarlow can be found on Comcast Sportsnet, Big Ten Network and FSN broadcasting her passion: Athletics.

Haarlow is in her second season as the sideline reporter and feature producer with the Portland Trail Blazers. Duties include in-game commentary and interviews, and pre/post game features. Traveling on the road with the team, Haarlow and her colleagues, Mike Barrett and Mike Rice on television (with an amazingly talented crew…SM, DV, CM, SZ, JC, JB, KA, JL, RQ and others) and Brian Wheeler and Antonio Harvey on radio will broadcast nearly 80 games in the 2008-2009 NBA season. Tony Luftman and Michael Holton round out the tv gang, providing all the extra juice on the Home Court Studio show. Go Blazers!!

Helping launch the Big Ten Network in 2007, Haarlow continues as one of the Network’s inaugural sideline reporters, covering football games for Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Purdue. In addition to the gridiron, other highlights for the Network include the 2008 Big Ten Track and Field and Big Ten Softball Championships.

Haarlow has traveled to Melbourne, Australia as a host for the Aussie Millions poker tournament for two years in a row, where she made her national television debut in 2007. She began her broadcasting career in the San Francisco Bay Area, where for three years she worked for Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment, the San Jose Sharks, San Jose Stealth, and the SAP Open men’s professional tennis tournament. Simultaneously, she covered the Sacramento Kings and co-hosted “Kingswatch” as the sideline reporter for Foothill 7 Television in Sacramento.

A graduate of Princeton University, Haarlow was the Ivy League Heptathlon champion and captain of the Track & Field Team. She earned a degree in history, with a focus in American Studies and the U.S. Civil War. A native of Chicago, she was a high school All-American triple jumper who grew up playing soccer, gymnastics, diving and track. Haarlow comes from a family of five. Her parents John and May, brothers John and Mike, sister in-law Courtney, and the family dogs Jessie and Quincy all reside in the Windy City.

Pics via her Facebook: