[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]. You're the person they throw down to as SAGAL: And you've got the reports in the sideline, well, this guy's injured, well, this guy feels this way. It was also the Bear's last season. SAGAL: We'll be back in a minute with more of WAIT WAITDON'T TELL ME! The TCBY people are pouring half gallons of yogurt stuff into the soft-serve machines; a guy is sweeping up peanuts in three-quarter time. I was creative and funny, but I just couldn't write, they'd concluded. Ines Sainz: NFL Investigates Jets Property. But I don't think it seems very logical to some of the other reporters. They see how (or if) players interact; get some idea as to who's happy, who's not, and maybe find out why or why not. He carried me to the back of the outfield wall and climbed the slatted boards with his right arm and clutched me in his left. 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. Sometimes we'd just watch any game on the TV. I helped cover the team for the Associated Press. In exchange for their candor I have agreed to keep them anonymous. Gardner later moved on to NBC,. KURTIS: She did great because she got two right. He sobbed at his locker for 15 minutes after the game, as ESPNs Kevin Seifert wrote, later facing a gaggle of reporters. Its also awkward for all parties involved. When I interviewed players, I found I had a much more personal relationship with them if I could sit next to them at their locker, says Gerald Eskenazi, an occasional CJR contributor who spent more than 40 years writing for The New York Times. If you can do that, they will accept you with open arms, and, actually, be on their best manners when you talk to them. SAGAL: I thought, you know, when you turned around, he'd have the towel around his head to cover up his big eyes. The next year, I was booted because I couldn't do back flips. SAGAL: OK. Even when one is naked. No sitting or leaning. "The Texas APME awards are out," he said. I had enough natural talent, I felt certain, that with one high heel in the door, I could work my way into a writer's jobmaybe even someday cover baseball. Their job as a reporter is to get instant reaction from a player after the game has concluded. Now, there are no F-bombs. Oh sure, at first they think it's pretty cool that you're the only person at a party who can remember Neil Lomax's name or that you can name all the Rangers managers in 18 secondswith a shot in your mouth. Pearlman is a household name when it comes to sportswriters, and Long is one of the most beloved Philadelphia athletes in recent memory. 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. ", I falter, and he complains, "Hey, I thought you said you knew sports.". SAGAL: How do you talk about sports for five hours without boring yourself to death? I said, "Well, you better get used to it now, because there are women all over clubhouses in the big leagues. It was quite apparent who the poor influence was on that side of the barn. They havent had a lot of time to think about what to say, and theyre in a comfortable environment. Your job is sort of provide on-field commentary. What was fascinating to me was getting to hear the teasing between players, how they gave each other crap, she says. During the incident, Ms. Olson said a group of naked players crowded around her to. Affidavit Sample Administrative. I've been around long enough now that if they see me turn away, they probably know it isn't because I'm scared or intimidated. ), "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? Maybe I didn't belong here. All I remember is green and light and the security of my daddy's arms. The hamster in my mental Wonderwheel never seems to stop running, so my mind keeps a lot of thoughts going at once. The next day, another player told Eskenazi it was a joke. SAGAL: Absolutely. ")[5] Later, on February 4, 1991, at a male-only sports banquet in Stamford, Connecticut, Kiam told the attendees a crude joke about the incident. TAFOYA: No, it is, but the emotional rollercoaster of being a fan, it's just not worth it. Do you go into the locker room? Thats the life of a kicker.. It's also tricky when you give one writer a piece that showcases him or her in very many words and photos. It was walking into the football locker room at the University of Texas in Austin and having a large man with burnt-orange pants and dark white face pick me up by my underarms and deposit me outside the door. Absolutely. I began a one-kid campaign to institute ball girls at Arlington Stadium as well as to become the first. "You can't be in here now.". Were you a football fan growing up? Or at least that's what I thought I said. And I wanted to cover the Rangers someday. There are postgame press conferences and media availability throughout the week. Her family were fervent sports fans. He said he would have me thrown out physically. I kept saying, Im not the story; the game is the story,' Herman said, reflecting on the night. For the first time in NFL history there will be two female coaches on the. Actually, I tell them, one of the most peculiar side effects of my job is that it seems to run off men in personal relationships. 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. Women did not get equal access to post-game locker room interviews until a federal court decision in 1978. I sat at some random desk to look busy for a while, which is what sportswriters do every week or three. And of course, women everywhere want to know about that great walled fortress of wet boy flesh, the locker room. I've known one veteran NFL player for more than 20 years -- since he was in college -- and he tolerates women in the locker room but honestly believes we, including me, are there to look at naked . Gordon Robertson, locker room guard, stops Robin Herman from entering the Chicago Black Hawks locker room (January 1975). There were nights in the stands, too, where, just so I could enjoy the game more, my daddy patiently tried to teach the basics of scoring to a child not yet versed in addition. Please enter valid email address to continue. And I make a beeline for my guy that I'm going to interview, and I'm walking up toward him. It was like a club that I wasnt invited to, and unless I whispered the secret code word correctly, I would never gain entrance. He starts parading around the locker room with his buttocks exposed, saying Gitte over and over again, Eskenazi says. In fact, after 10 minutes in a locker room, you dont notice anyone naked. I was certainly heartened when I heard about Robin, said Ludtke, who also now works at Harvard as editor of the Neiman Reports magazine. I never went near a bedroom with any of them, but I told him "a woman" because I didn't know how answering "18" to this loaded question would affect my precarious career. I'm a general assignment sports reporter now, which means I do whatever they ask of me. SAGAL: So you are and have been for how long now, the sideline on-field reporter for NBC's "Sunday Night Football"? I was ready once again to be the greatest sportswriter who ever lived. And yes, he gave me a pat on the shoulder afterwards. Herman, then a 23-year-old reporter for The New York Times, had been trying for a year Getting the killer quote? 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 have no idea why, except that Nolan Ryan and my daddy are my heroes, and I just have no need of seeing either one of their white heinies. I somehow persuaded them to open it and sell the book to me. Power your marketing strategy with perfectly branded videos to drive better ROI. Television. Locker room interviews that take place after professional sports . I'd actually never been in an NBA locker room until last winter. And while most nudity is off-camera and doesnt find its way to audiences, the shirtless, disheveled, or still-sweating sports star, facing an array of microphones in front of his cubby, has become an enduring image in sports coverage. At the same time, though, I dont think getting a glimpse at a players brat and potatoes is included in the information-gathering process. And yet, 40 years after Robin Herman became the first female reporter to enter an NFL locker room, women are still fighting a war against rampant sexism in the industry, with Twitter. Franchises are increasingly fielding their own media teams to produce game stories and video interviewsmeaning more softball questionsjust as metro newspapers are cutting back. They knew I could write even the most boring stuff into something of interest. I'd had enough. Gayle Gardner (born ca. And my rule will be I will only look at their eyebrows. The poster was new. (He was a recent addition to the team.) "Jenn," my friend told me, "I guess you rate a towel now.". Jerseys are on the floor, not on the playersno jerseys, no name tags, just toweled dudes walking around. Then I did something I had never done. But instead, the man who is an idol to thousands of children launched into a verbal tirade loudly insulting my intelligence and shouting for someone to remove me from the clubhouse. I try to explain, which is difficult because Donna and I are on different sexual wavelengths. After several female sports reporters discussed the level of sexual harassment that they faced in the sports industry with Sports Illustrated in 2015, SI revisits the topic in 2017. The Downing part of it, as the guys who would later be a part of The Ticket said, was because, "He wouldn't hit a girl, so we'll go in behind you. Answer (1 of 4): After reading Carrie Rickey's answer, I have to say that no one ever gets this story right. An SMU booster threatened to have my legs brokenand I was delighted. Ludtke said when The Liberty Line is owned and operated by TLL Sports LLC. Steam Food Of Industry. Another superior had his assistant let me off early so he could be waiting for me in the parking lot. I didn't want to be branded as some woman on a crusade. And his eyes got to be like the size of paper plates because what I didn't notice was that he was buck naked. 7 players remain on Eagles latest injury Danny Green provides new insight on Tobias Interview: Former Eagles Super Bowl Champ, Chris Long, Joins Tom Segura on Tom Talks. We may earn a commission from links on this page. Immediately, reporters started asking me, Are you going to do it? Except she and St. Cyr But the point is that you don't even think much about people being naked after a while, and unless you have some peculiar reason for remembering, you don't know who you have seen naked because they all kind of waltz in and out of the shower naked, just one wet butt covered with soap film after another. 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