[6] Sullivan observed Olson and determined that she was acting professionally, interviewing Maurice Hurst, but took no other action. I had offered the story first to my sports editor, Mike Perry (standard newspaper policy). Do they want to know if it's hard for him to keep his professionalism with his hand inserted in some babe's bodily cavityand whether it's scary? Unfortunately, they were working on a few things in that resort, which included labelling the male and female locker rooms. I was down there to see the guy turn off the lights for the last day game. Franchises are increasingly fielding their own media teams to produce game stories and video interviewsmeaning more softball questionsjust as metro newspapers are cutting back. The game was boring. It was like a club that I wasnt invited to, and unless I whispered the secret code word correctly, I would never gain entrance. One of my greatest honors. And I know how smartass remarks work, too. He still didn't answer my question directly. NFL Network reporter, Jane Slater, says that her job being dependent on waiting around an NFL locker room while men are completely naked for an hour to get a. After five years as a sports reporter, she moved on to write about science and health, leaving the rest of the battle to others. After criticism, Kiam apologized for the joke two days after he had told it. We're sitting around the salon one day making bets on when the rest of the country will catch on that Ross Perot is a weasel when someone says he finished ahead of Bush and Clinton in another poll. And what if someone saw me in this state of trepidation? Pearlman is a household name when it comes to sportswriters, and Long is one of the most beloved Philadelphia athletes in recent memory. others. SAGAL: I thought, you know, when you turned around, he'd have the towel around his head to cover up his big eyes. Property. Please enter valid email address to continue. It's a symbiotic relationshipthe relationship only works if both parties are comfortable with the other. The Stacks is Deadspin's living archive of great journalism, curated by Bronx Banter's Alex Belth., Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise. More than two years ago, I told the sports editor I wanted to return to sports. Some readers had similar problems accepting a woman. or "You wrote a good piece, Jenn, but then your headline writers let you down at the end; what does that feel like?" Ive noticed the female athletes still get a closed locker room to shower and change today. He was standing in front of me ready to talk, I locked eyes on him, and asked my questions. If reporters are usually allowed into locker rooms, then this reaction makes sense. I said, "Listen, I have been covering this game since I was about two years older than you are so you can just shut it right now.". Here's your last question. Host virtual town halls, onboard and train employees, collaborate efficiently. In fact, after 10 minutes in a locker room, you dont notice anyone naked. It's not a place for socialising. TAFOYA: But you do that all the time, don't you? The players dont care, I dont care, heynobody cares! If the locker room is where athletes can be themselves, that change may be the most challenging. "Well, I have talked to Troy Aikman," I say, and one woman bites down hard on her blow-dryer and rolls her eyes as though she's just gotten the high school quarterback in spin-the-bottle. To begin, I want to point out that female reporters have every right to be in the locker room as male reporters do. I didn't give it a whole lot of thought as I went into the office that day. SAGAL: That's what you do. The executive types weren't too hot on the idea. However, Briggs thought otherwise. SAGAL: So how did you get into the - how did you - I mean, I'm going to guess SAGAL: that it's harder for a woman to get into major league professional sports reporting than it is for a man. I pushed open the door and gazed into the visitors' locker room, a big square chamber with locker cubicles lining its perimeter and tables and chairs scattered around the center. The guys are much more formal in talking. At the Burning Tree Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, women are only allowed to visit the club when? The NFL launched an investigation into the incident after Sainz, a veteran reporter, claimed footballs were thrown in her direction by a Jets coach during a practice - seemingly deliberately - and players later called out to her in the team's locker room. Why? But I dont see any other solutions.. The male athletes dont. This is all very exciting. But now it was late September, and my editor wanted me to interview Mr. October about what it was like not to make the playoffs. He meant on the bed. Except she. Oh sure, they may actually think I'm an idiot. Should women be allowed in locker rooms? And that gives coaches and players less control over the story., Still, for most mainstream sports journalists, venturing into locker rooms remains a basic necessity to stay competitive. When men gather at bars and golf courses and any of the other traditional salt licks for male bonding, do they ask the gynecologist what Mrs. Holcombe's hooters look like? My aim as a writer is to make the people I cover seem human to the readers. They knew I could write even the most boring stuff into something of interest. ", He started yelling again in this really high voice. Gerry Fraley of The Dallas Morning News was the only other writer in the press box. She was a member of the first class of women at Princeton University. Calvin Russell. ", I falter, and he complains, "Hey, I thought you said you knew sports.". Female sports reporters reveal the dark side to sport locker rooms FEMALE sports reporters reveal the dark side of reporting on male-dominated sports. [10], After the incident became public, Olson was subjected to harassment by fans of the Patriots. And of course, women everywhere want to know about that great walled fortress of wet boy flesh, the locker room. I wanted to cry each time he said that. The internet, magazines, and plenty of small family-owned businesses in the Philadelphia area offer the same experience. Like other working people, professional athletes want to leave the office when their shift ends, so they waste no time stripping down to hit the showers. She impressed her supervisors, and the paper hired her as a paid sports journalist. God, I can't believe someone didn't warn me, I thought. People were calling from all over about the piece. So you've got all these big-haired babes who think the electoral college is a beauty school, ready to hoist their miniskirts for the first athlete who comes along. Her work has been featured in the anthology, "The Best American Sports Writing". It was an exercise in concentration trying to figure out who was who, and while I was concentrating, unfortunately, I managed to sashay into an area that should have had warning signs around it. We still booted women took off the nfl reporter locker room in female reporter paola boivin felt a sports reporters are uncommon, adult . In no other workplace in America are you expected to be putting your clothes on, and somebodys going to talk to you. Bell bottoms hung over my head as I berated Tom Landry for not getting rid of Mike Clark or praised Roger Staubach the way little kids now get all slobbery over Nolan Ryan. I know they don't know what they're talking about. Oh, Lord. I had mentioned Kenny's hair in a story that had yet to even appear in some of the Observer's newsstands. first female sports columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald, where she covered rugby union, Australian rules football, cricket and rugby league. SAGAL: Absolutely. Others, including Michael Timpson, made jokes and egged each other on. She was assigned to cover the Boston Bruins, the 1990 Super Bowl, and, beginning in the fall of 1990, the New England Patriots. And surely the Observer's reader demographics did not include most ballplayers and some stadium employees. But I had a deadline. Late one night in spring training, one of my co-workers, also one of my best friends, called to read me something. Olson sued the team, and the players she implicated were fined by the NFL after its own investigation. Prove to them you know your stuff, and you will have proven to them why you belong there. A girl in the SAGAL: The club was famed for its beverage known as Fish House Punch, which according to legend was so potent, it knocked George Washington out of commission for three days. Create and promote branded videos, host live events and webinars, and more. It is because it doesn't seem that any reporter should be there. 1950) is an American sportscaster who worked for ESPN and NBC Sports beginning in 1987 until 1993. Api. In the arbitrary world of newspaper politics, the arrival of a new sports editor breathed life into my career. Some simply called me a "stupid bitch" and hung up. Or like Brandon Grahams locker is next to mine, and he has 40 reporters around him, and someone is bumping into my naked ass. And blocked by virtue of being a woman Melissa Ludtke's landmark. A female reporter conducts post-game interviews with members of a men's soccer team in the locker room. Oh no, I was not having that. But a little girl with blonde pin curls somehow slipped into the line of succession. [2] She was the sports editor of her high school and college newspapers. I mean, I know how penises work. If I never went in a locker room, it would have been fine with me, Ludtke said. OK, pre-game festivities concluded, I went back up to the press box to start writing some pre-game sidebar. Locker rooms are overrated. Report", Jackie MacMullan reported that the fines were never actually collected from the players. Even in the relatively overlooked NHL, the New York Islanders draw about 30 journalists a game. It's also tricky when you give one writer a piece that showcases him or her in very many words and photos. I got home, took a run and cleaned up and dressed for the ballpark, grabbed my go bag with computer, lipstick, notepads, pens, hairbrush, Altoids, and antacids and headed down I-30 to see what flak awaited me. No one seems to know when the first female Equipment Manager was hired. Michele Tafoya, welcome to WAIT WAITDON'T TELL ME! to that woman.". Writing this the other night, tears filled my eyes, and I got that precry phlegm in my throat. The bouncing, wide-eyed ball girl who wanted to write about baseball more than anything was gone, abandoned in increments on football fields, at locker room doors, in editors' offices, and on barstools. Fear of the unknown tends to do that to you. In a few more feet, the torsos appear and the warm breeze melts around my face. He got an apology from the Hyatt; I got suspected of prostitution while waiting in a hotel lobby for Grant Teaff. Women will kick up a fuss about men being in a women's locker room, and men should do the same with women. All I remember is green and light and the security of my daddy's arms. Point guards became my instant favorites for those early post-shower interviews. I talk to the coaches at halftime as they walk in or out of the locker room, and that's always a load of fun especially the losing coach. Gayle Gardner (born ca. Was I stared at? In an interview on the March 11, 2011 edition of Bill Simmons' podcast, "The B.S. According to the Chicago Tribune, Briggs stands behind his comments. Not sports writing, but the best of every column written in the state that year. Its no big deal, and if you don't believe me, watch The Full Monty a couple of timesit gets old real fast and you don't even notice it anymore. ", Next to the entry door, there was a large poster of a shirtless Ruben Sierra. So I didn't write. In 1973 she was hired as the New York Times' first female sports reporter. I was quite confused. The first thing I saw was four guys in a big shower. I began a one-kid campaign to institute ball girls at Arlington Stadium as well as to become the first. I think how cool it is to watch a stadium yawn to life. 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