And I was entering the peak of a seven-year stint as the masked wrestling columnist Betty Ann StoutFort Worth's equivalent of Joe Bob Briggswhose unofficial duties included opening appliance stores, riding elephants when the circus came to town, and acting as rodeo Grand Marshal on the backs of large, hoofed animals. "That's possible," he replied. Ball on the reporter in female nfl locker room change to. It might as well have been a water cooler. Getting the killer quote? We went to a bench just outside the door and began to look through it. Now Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris and linebacker Lance Briggs are the latest to chime-in. And I have shared that with very few people. But the road has been anything but smooth. He'd pull me out of school at lunch once a year to go to the spring baseball luncheon and take me to games early so I could collect autographs. SAGAL: That's what you do. I told the PR guy that I sure hated to bring this up, but there was no place for the way this guy was acting. TAFOYA: a player sitting next to him says, ma'am, could you just turn around and let the man put a towel on? Create and promote branded videos, host live events and webinars, and more. SAGAL: Michele Tafoya is the Emmy Award winning reporter for NBC's "Sunday Night Football," but she's spent time on basketball courts, softball diamonds, gymnastic mats and now public radio quiz show "Game Grids." But one thing kept me in sports: I got a Rangers media pass every year. SAGAL: I was just thinking about with the NBA, it would be more difficult because you need to think about what would be at eye level in that situation. Even when one is naked. I don't have a radio talk show yet, but I now make my living writing about sportsat the moment, mostly the Texas Rangers. Ines Sainz: NFL Investigates Jets [9] Sanchez is a media-savvy guy, so I figured he would be a nice ice-breaker. Lisa Olson is an American sports journalist. Solutions . The players didn't know I'd grown up with games or that my best friends had usually been crude guys or that I could open a beer bottle with my incisors or that I liked to fish as much as they did. The immediate response is curiosity: Do I get to go in the locker room? I had been officially baptized, and it was no big deal. He let me do it. It began when I was 3 and my daddy took me to Turnpike Stadiumnow Arlington Stadiumto see the old minor-league Spurs. I think you'd need to show that male reporters are not allowed into female locker rooms to show a double standard. Yet I wonder. Writing this the other night, tears filled my eyes, and I got that precry phlegm in my throat. They said they weren't selling those yet because they hadn't been tagged. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff) How could it be that it was 43 years ago when Sports Illustrated reporter Melissa Ludtke and Time Inc., sued Major League Baseball for denying her access to the clubhouses at Yankee Stadium? SAGAL: What's the worst reaction you've ever gotten in that situation? Once, after they'd let me try my hand at writing for a year or so, editors told me I'd never make a writer. I just wanted to cover sports. The repetitiveness and intensity of the format can be more frustrating. 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? Franchises are increasingly fielding their own media teams to produce game stories and video interviewsmeaning more softball questionsjust as metro newspapers are cutting back. Readmore, The Islanders sent Nino Niederreiter to Minnesota for Cal Clutterbuck, and took defenseman Ryan Pulock with the 15th over all pick in Sundays N.H.L. I was doing another piece on the last day game at the old place, and I was in the dirt bowels of that poor old Erector set where many things, including skunks and raccoons, lived. A feature on the woman who washes the Rangers' clothes was not out of the question. [10], After the incident became public, Olson was subjected to harassment by fans of the Patriots. The next day, another player told Eskenazi it was a joke. That seemed like such a dumb thing to say. I asked one more time interrupting. I started out in the office, taking scores on the phone and taking heat from the guys. [7][8], Eventually, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue ordered an investigation under the aegis of former Watergate scandal prosecutor Philip Heymann;[5] the 60-page report concluded that Olson was "degraded and humiliated." I'll always remember that no one else laughed, for whatever reason, and that made me feel good. So when I was about 16, I wrote every major-league club with ball girls and asked about the pros and cons. Brock Nelson, a teammate sitting next to him, chimed in: They get mad at us for giving the same answers. I kept saying, Im not the story; the game is the story,' Herman said, reflecting on the night. [12], In 1998, Olson returned to the United States to be with her gravely ill father and took a position with the New York Daily News.[1][9]. During my first four years at the Star-Telegram I took one day off to model at an auto show and five days off to get married. She demanded the same access that male reporters had. That first-person ode to Arlington Stadium was entered in a contest. Hey, this is pretty cool, I thought. TAFOYA: So there I am, and I'm getting ready to go in, and this is the first time I've ever done this, and I'm just going to do some radio interviews for tape to take them back and turn them around, and I said to myself I had a rule I established before I went in. My most innocent comments were greeted with sexual innuendo. Apparently this happened at the morning budget meeting where "My Life in the Locker Room" was discussed at great length. A, Revolutionary officers hid inside from British pursuers who wouldn't enter because they were not members. We may earn a commission from links on this page. The one thing that keeps you focused in a locker room is simplethese guys are not wearing clothes, and the only way you can identify who they are is by face recognition. The game was boring. Like a lot of kids starting out, I'd do office work all week and help cover games on the weekendsanything for a chance to prove my worth as a sportswriter. Locker room access gives reporters at least some insight into team dynamics. NBA teams play 82 games a year, not including playoffs and preseason contests. Samsung Pdf. Quite normal, nothing harmful. Ines Sainz, a reporter for Mexico's TV Azteca doing a story on quarterback Mark Sanchez, had footballs thrown in her direction by a Jets coach during practice, and players later called out to her in the team's locker room. ), "Hey, if you know so much about sports," he continues, "let's see if you can answer this question: Who was the last NFL running back to also play quarterback in an even-numbered Super Bowl? At the same time, though, I dont think getting a glimpse at a players brat and potatoes is included in the information-gathering process. The access is great, but it does create some very. That did it; now they were ready to call the police. I remember being scared because I hadn't known how the locker room was going to look or smell or who or what I would have to wade throughliterally and figurativelyto find this man. to persuade N.H.L. When a guy is naked, hes probably more honest than not. We've invited Tafoya to play a game called "Enter at your own risk!" OK, so now it was home to take a run and try to clear my head of concerns about just what might be waiting for me at the ballpark. In many ways, I had made a career choice when I walked through that locker room door. Herman, though, found herself a part of a much larger moment, a wider-ranging battle for equality in the workplace for women. 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. Back to you, Brett. I ran out of material 10 minutes ago. I understand that uniformsunless they say, "Eb, your man who wears the star" on the lapelare a great aphrodisiac in contemporary culture. I began to cry. Before a team got used to me, there might be some giggling each time someone made a smart remark or cursed loud enough to get you kicked out of the Watauga Dairy Queen. It's like having a male gynecologistif he's fairly comfortable doing his thing, it makes the female patient fairly comfortable. Long goes on to mention how most reporters would brush his concerns aside, which would honestly drive me nuts. But I couldn't back out. Yet anyone who gets self-worth through random sex with a professional athlete is not exactly MENSA material. If necessity of deadlines or getting to someone before another reporter called for it, sure, I'd talk to Oral Roberts's 900-foot Jesus naked, no matter where the crotch fell. I began experiencing panic attacks and became practically addicted to the antianxiety drug Xanax, buying it from bartenders and acquaintances when my prescriptions ran dry. Readmore, The Devils took Anthony Brodeur, an 18-year-old goalie, with the 208th pick of the 211-pick draft, sending their seventh-round pick in 2015 to the Kings in exchange for the chance to pick Brodeur. Male reporters are allowed in locker rooms both before and after games. Ludtke could gain access to baseball clubhouses to cover the World Series in 1978 and she wrote an Op-Ed piece for the Times when the New England Patriots were harassing Lisa Olson, a reporter for the Boston Herald at the time. SAGAL: Or C, in December, only to buy Christmas gifts for their husbands in the pro shop? So why are they going to think the reporter is any different at first? Kids at the tanning salon want to know if I date the players. "Can I stand here with y'all for a while?" The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. Accuracy and availability may vary. One editor in the chain of sports command kept trying to get me to check into the Worthington Hotel with him after work. He ran into a dark office where I found him hiding under the desk. I was ready to gnaw my way through the first one I saw that might have had the book in it. Logic says they might not. And I didn't want to go back to putting up full-time with condescending high school and college coaches and jerks guarding locker room doors. When the coveted Rangers beat came open, I was passed over. The Major League Baseball season counts nearly twice as many, while the shorter NFL campaign sees much more focused media attention. The Mavericks pose an entirely different set of problems. The executive types weren't too hot on the idea. "And I mean, you put a woman and you give her a choice of 53 athletes . I left my stuff in the press box and went downstairs, sandals sticking in last night's gooey beer puddles as usual, as I entered the tunnel to the field. A few feet in, I realized a hall ran in front of the showers. "Jenn," he asked, "do you want to be treated like an 18-year-old kid or a woman?". Definite double standard here . During this phase of courtship, most men would be reassuring Lassie that her role as a dog star doesn't matter that they just like her nice, shiny coat. It was like a club that I wasnt invited to, and unless I whispered the secret code word correctly, I would never gain entrance. There was a sports editor who would stop by every time he saw me eating, stare at me, and say in all seriousness, "Jenn, if you get fat, we won't love you no more." He glanced sideways, kind of sneered, and stuck his head back in his laptop. [5], On September 17, 1990, Olson was interviewing players in the Patriots locker room on a practice day. or "You haven't written any good stones in the last month. But back in 1975, Robin Herman, a 23-year old reporter for the New York Times, had been trying to get NHL teams to allow her access to locker rooms for a year, with no success. I herby officially declare this behavior: Sign up for Parx Sportsbook and deposit $25 using code WOLVES69, Very real and legitimate journalist | Wednesday Guest Host of The Daily Ticket w/ Sean Brace from 3-6 pm on Fox Sports "The Gambler" | I don't see a loss on the schedule | @ryanconway76. During the incident, Ms. Olson said a group of naked players crowded around her to. He shook his head and said, "No, I didn't say that.". I said, "Raffy says you want to see me." I'm sure he's been naked in the room where I was at some time. She attended Apollo and Shadow Mountain high schools,[1] and graduated from Northern Arizona University's journalism program in 1987. No sitting or leaning. SAGAL: Because I remember - this was now going back 20 years ago maybe SAGAL: when the first female reporters were working major sports, and they wanted to go into the locker room and do the same damn interviews that their male counterparts were doing. I somehow persuaded them to open it and sell the book to me. (He later apologized in a newspaper ad, while denying using crude language. Gordon Robertson, locker room guard, stops Robin Herman from entering the Chicago Black Hawks locker room (January 1975). It's been 46 years since the first women entered a professional locker room when two female reporters were allowed to conduct after-game interviews in the locker rooms at the 1975 N.H.L. A kidI mean, really a kidstarted telling me women had no business in the locker room. I ended up covering minor events full time, even doing the dreaded office score-taking work again. It was the lonely thread that tied me to my game. Mowatt walked up to her while he was nude and fondled his genitals as she was interviewing a teammate. Calvin Russell. Get two questions right, and you win our prize. I had mentioned Kenny's hair in a story that had yet to even appear in some of the Observer's newsstands. Late one night in spring training, one of my co-workers, also one of my best friends, called to read me something. The more we try to know about our sporting heroes, the less they tell us. 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. Host virtual town halls, onboard and train employees, collaborate efficiently. (He was a recent addition to the team.) Before I could utter a word, he said, "Wait, let me rub it, it will get hard.". I knew they had accepted me when at a press conference after the Washington Huskies game, Pete Carroll walked into the press conference, made eye contact with a few reporters he knew, then looked at me and gave me a wink and a smile. would be given the same access as men. Herman, who is now assistant dean for research communications at Harvards School of Public Health, has written about that night many times, including a first-person article in the Times a few weeks later. Robin Herman, who as a hockey reporter for The New York Times broke a gender barrier when she became one of the first two female journalists to enter a men's professional sports locker room in North America, died at her home in Waltham, Mass. Schools, [ 1 ] and graduated from Northern Arizona University 's program... Put a woman? `` not including playoffs and preseason contests ], after incident. 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