You can listen to the whole thing here. After five years as a sports reporter, she moved on to write about science and health, leaving the rest of the battle to I might have actually said, "Can we talk about how your face looks like one of those ear-shaped potato chips that the lady from the Lay's factory brings on The Tonight Show once a year? Apparently a guy has to be awfully secure not to be intimidated by my frequent trips into locker rooms (as though I'm doing comparative shopping) or by my knowing a good bit about sports. Specific. "A sportswriter, huh? A, on Women's Day which is a holiday named after a magazine. Why the fuck can yall walk in, and we are half-naked? He ran into a dark office where I found him hiding under the desk. NFL Network Airs Interview With Naked Players In Background. The access is great, but it does create some very. ")[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. He let me do it. By now I wouldn't really notice if he'd worn a towel or hadn't. She demanded the same access that male reporters had. What does it really matter if the rest of the world knows? 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. first female sports columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald, where she covered rugby union, Australian rules football, cricket and rugby league. TAFOYA: But you do that all the time, don't you? 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. Like the other night when I was interviewing Kenny Rogers after the game, and I just happened to notice he had really healthy-looking hair. One even said, "You know you don't have to do this work," in a tone that sounded like Sting telling Roxanne she didn't have to put on the red light. In return for players giving up some privacy, media get a one-stop shop for all the color their audiences could want, while franchises reap the marketing benefits of near-daily publicity. 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. But I don't think it seems very logical to some of the other reporters. I know they don't know what they're talking about. I fully expected trouble. 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. Theres a press area for that express purpose. SALIE: Men, that was all men, that was all men, sister. 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. The rest is all overrated. Even when one is naked. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. And you know, that was the last I ever heard of it from anyone on the team. I compared my scar (a plate and six screws from a broken ankle) to Mark Tylers scar from his broken leg, with Mark proclaiming mine cooler.. Now that is underrated, and the goal of every reporterits what keeps us focused. 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. Do you go into the locker room? Near the field, I can see it is Al Newman and somebody. You get a really honest reaction, and thats what makes stories good., Some of the best locker room reporting comes when the unthinkable happens, reminding us that these gods between the lines are just men and women outside of them. Dressed in a pair of virgin white flats, I trudged through the Arlington Stadium tunnela conglomeration of dirt and spit and sunflower seeds, caked to the walkway like 10,000-year-old bat guano at Carlsbad Cavernsdreading the task before me. the frigid steppes of Russia and beyond, like, say, Phoenix. TAFOYA: All right, Daniel. [1][3], After her graduation from college, she moved to the East Coast to attend graduate school, but she decided to pursue a career in sportswriting. Oh sure, little stuff happened, like the time one of the Oakland A's made a big point of standing next to me naked in the middle of the clubhouse or one of the Los Angeles Raiders chucked a set of shoulder pads at my butt. Cindy, who is dabbing brown goop on my roots, figures this is like when the seniors get all reactionary and vote in the ugliest girl for homecoming queen, and it just might happen on a bigger scale. Here's your last question. And you know, they all say that word so well. "Can I talk to you for a minute," I said. Or maybe into public relations. I was surprised to realize that some of the wounds still hurt. I mean, I know how penises work. 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. The National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Football League barred women reporters from entering men's locker rooms when women first . Alabama Phenix. She would later come to work at The Times as well. SALIE: Do you have a minute for me, coach? That first-person ode to Arlington Stadium was entered in a contest. The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. Perhaps the most meaningful were the calls from fellow sportswriters. ' Herman said. "You know," I thought, "I doubt if any of them read the Observer.". Another superior had his assistant let me off early so he could be waiting for me in the parking lot. Buying ball tickets to as many games as my dad and I wanted to see was out of the question, so we climbed the wall in the late innings or sat in those free grassy spots behind the Cyclone fence. I eventually walked over to Kenny, who was sitting on a stool by his cubicle. Hopefully we can ditch this weird practices permanently in 2022. Donna doesn't like newspapers either. In an interview on the March 11, 2011 edition of Bill Simmons' podcast, "The B.S. The other night, there were two girls in the clubhouse after the game. I have one of the few jobs where the first thing people ask about is penises. Suddenly it all made sense: the way the numbers went across in a line on a scoreboard, what the three numbers at the end of the nine meant, even why the shortstop didn't have a bag. I wanted to cry each time he said that. I think you'd need to show that male reporters are not allowed into female locker rooms to show a double standard. In the arbitrary world of newspaper politics, the arrival of a new sports editor breathed life into my career. Fox NFL analyst Brian Baldinger said Sainz was "asking for it," during a radio conversation, and Washington Redskin Clinton Portis put on an entertaining display when asked about comments he made during a radio interview, saying that when there are female reporters in a locker room, "I Up until then, my assignments had been small-time: high school games and features on father-daughter doubles teams and Hacky Sack demonstrations. But I must tell you, I find that being a reporter is so much easier than being a fan. agree wrote: If a male reporter went into the womens locker room, all hell would break loose. I wonder how these female reporters and staff would feel showering and changing with men in their locker room? 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. But there are still places out there where they believe in cooties, so Tafoya will answer three questions about men's-only clubs. 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. About 1986, there was a college football convention in Dallas. That's something he'd say to anyone, I realized. They were happy to oblige. Oh no, I was not having that. Getting the killer quote? He said he was 16. SAGAL: How do you talk about sports for five hours without boring yourself to death? Ken Dryden of the Montreal Canadiens talks to reporters in the locker room circa 1975 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Sanchez is a media-savvy guy, so I figured he would be a nice ice-breaker. He was standing in front of me ready to talk, I locked eyes on him, and asked my questions. It would be the last day ever for those white shoesand my first of many covering professional sports. SAGAL: Or C, in December, only to buy Christmas gifts for their husbands in the pro shop? The Liberty Line is owned and operated by TLL Sports LLC. Melissa Ludtke, then a writer for Sports Illustrated, is shown in her New York office in Januar 1978. They knew I could write even the most boring stuff into something of interest. SALIE: Like gee, coach, it's not going so well, is it? All of my male media brethren went cruising into this sacred place, and then, there was only methe lone female reporter covering a USC football gamewaiting outside. Two Sundays ago, for example, Minnesota Vikings kicker Blair Walsh missed a last-second chip shot that would have likely advanced his team to the next round of the NFL playoffs. But there were a few giggles. A small band of medianormal-sized humanstries to keep out of half-naked players way as they dip behind a curtain sporting the teams logo and into the showers. It was quite apparent who the poor influence was on that side of the barn. I like to think I've earned a little respect. New York Times hockey reporter Robin Herman was a trailblazer, breaking down gender barriers by becoming the first female journalist to interview players inside a men's professional sports locker room in the U.S. On Tuesday, her husband former Times editor Paul Horvitz told the newspaper that she passed away from ovarian cancer. My most innocent comments were greeted with sexual innuendo. 1950) is an American sportscaster who worked for ESPN and NBC Sports beginning in 1987 until 1993. But she still gets recognized as the girl who went in the locker room first. Your job is sort of provide on-field commentary. And surely the Observer's reader demographics did not include most ballplayers and some stadium employees. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. "OK, you mean you've talked to Troy Aikman, and you didn't notice what a hunk he is?". 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. He had leis, candles, and the whole altar thing going on in his locker. As I steamed over this, I took a shot of courage (a cold Starbucks Caf Latte) and pondered my circumstances. As it stands now, the NFL allows female reporters in locker rooms, but only after games. I went home and called my sports editor. They wouldn't let him in the club, so he finished his journey on the steps. NEW YORK (CBS) Everyone has an opinion about the recent incident involving the way Mexican reporter Ines Sainz was treated in the New York Jets locker room Saturday. Reprinted here with permission from the author, who has also provided an afterword about the response to her story. 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