I told him. There were reporters all around the lobby of the downtown Hyatt, waiting for coaches to arrive after a golf game. 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. Friends at Bible study ask if the players are mean to me. SAGAL: We'll be back in a minute with more of WAIT WAITDON'T TELL ME! Jenny Kellner. And you won't believe this, and I swear it's true: the immediate response of three women who don't even like sports outside of bungee jumping at Baja is, "You've seen Ro Blackman naked?". Man, did I ever realize how my attitude and courage level had changed. He could not allow me to bother the guests. I was unknowingly standing next to the shower exit and of course, two linemen cruised by me with nothing on. I'm sure he's been naked in the room where I was at some time. In 1973 she was hired as the New York Times' first female sports reporter. Then there was the time we had a story about an SWC coach paying players, and I appeared one morning at the school where he was an assistant. Or at least made me feel that way. As of 2013, she was working as a freelance writer.[1]. I'm no wimp; I can take a lot. Summoners Value War. Career ladders are never cushy for anybody, man or woman, unless of course your dad is president of GM or GE or whatever Nation's Bank is called this week. when she asked if he'd like brown gravy or cream. Sanchez is a media-savvy guy, so I figured he would be a nice ice-breaker. I started out in the office, taking scores on the phone and taking heat from the guys. 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. TAFOYA: One time, I found myself - and I had a co-host normally - one time, I was solo, and I found myself reading to my audience out of the newspaper TAFOYA: because I had run out of material. Bergen Legal. Briggs first said women journalists should be barred from locker rooms during an interview with Peggy Kusinski of NBCChicago.com on Wednesday, the same day the NFL issued a memo that said women . Affirmative. After a while, you just get used to nakedness and its all business. I felt like a cancer victim who was finally ready to give up the fight because it meant giving up the pain and humiliation. I said, "Raffy says you want to see me." And theyre very conscious that everything they say could get out.. I was nervous the first time I entered the Rangers locker room, about seven years ago. Several were guys who had been my superiors at one time or another and were just so gushing with their praise. 2 min read Independent media will not have access to locker rooms during the upcoming NFL. Api. Olson was born and raised in the metropolitan area of Phoenix, Arizona. 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 female reporter conducts post-game interviews with members of a men's soccer team in the locker room. 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. Rebecca Lowe who in March joined NBC Sports from ESPN and in 2012 became the first woman to present the FA Cup Final from Wembley Stadium has had hot dogs thrown at her by the U.K.'s infamous. Sometimes I'd turn the sound down on the TV and try to do baseball play-by-play, too. many of her friends were going through similar, if much less public, struggles in fields like advertising and law and medicine. from NPR. Ive noticed the female athletes still get a closed locker room to shower and change today. There are plenty of women who have guy friends and have no ulterior motive in the friendshipcontrary to popular belief, women and men can co-habitate in extreme conditions. No reason being a modern love to prove she said her ideal, first female reporter in nfl locker room! Alabama Phenix. The first thing I saw was four guys in a big shower. 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. 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. I remember hiding in a tree outside a North Dallas bank waiting for an SMU running back because we had heard this was where he picked up his money. Industrial-size hampers, home to growing mounds of moist practice jerseys, sit on each side of the cramped chamber in its Syosset, New York, training facility. We lived in Arlington, about five miles from the ball park. One of the more interesting nuggets from the conversation between two of my favorites was Longs take on reporters accessing locker rooms postgame. I'm going to look at their eyebrows when I talk to them because that will make sure that I'm focused there, and I can never be accused of looking anywhere else. The first time I saw The Best American Sports Writing, I wasn't anywhere near good enough a writer to gain entry into that elite company. [4] Robert Perryman did the same while her back was turned. And it was my first failure covering sports. By then I had researched what day shipment was due in bookstores. TAFOYA: I was too focused on his eyebrows. It was time to go back to the dream. So you're a female reporter, you are allowed inside the NFL locker room, you're a pioneer, but there's still places out there, Michele, where they believe in cooties. I was covering the minor league team in Wilmington, Del., one night. TAFOYA: a player sitting next to him says, ma'am, could you just turn around and let the man put a towel on? Forty years ago today, "Sports Illustrated" and its reporter Melissa Ludtke took on Major League Baseball and won. Some summers we went to 20 games; others we went to about 56. I helped cover the team for the Associated Press. She won numerous writing awards during her time with the Daily News, including "Best Sports Reporting" by the Society of Professional Journalists. July 27, 1997 Seven years ago, Zeke Mowatt flashed himself at Lisa Olson, who was then a reporter for the Boston Herald, and the great locker room debate erupted. She also was a national columnist for AOL's FanHouse sports website, and a columnist and the first woman in Sporting News' 120-year history to write the magazine's monthly back page. 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. 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 September 19, 2010 at 2:43 p.m. TV Azteca reporter Ines Sainz was uncomfortable with catcalls she received in the New York Jets locker room as she waited to interview quarterback Mark Sanchez . Once I stopped and they looked up, so I started spinning around in circles. A kidI mean, really a kidstarted telling me women had no business in the locker room. Am I right? I never told my friends. Well, Reggie Jackson was my first. The latter are supposed to be more humorous than the former, though adulthood has taught me different. She had few female colleagues in sports media to lean on. Now almost everyone had stopped watching football and was watching me and Reggie. About two yards down, I see legs behind the batting cage. I like to think I've earned a little respect. According to the Chicago Tribune, Briggs stands behind his comments. Yeah, my ode to the old stadium won it all. I don't have a radio talk show yet, but I now make my living writing about sportsat the moment, mostly the Texas Rangers. A simple no would have sufficed. "OK, you mean you've talked to Troy Aikman, and you didn't notice what a hunk he is?". He ran into a dark office where I found him hiding under the desk. She has also authored six books and was the first Texas Rangers ball girl. But much of the early abuse came from the place I least expected itmy own paper. A male usher stopped three female journalists from entering the Jaguars locker room after their loss to the Colts because they were women, asking other men if it was OK before finally allowing . All she wanted was to be afforded the . Melissa Ludtke was 26 years old when all this took place. But she still gets recognized as the girl who went in the locker room first. Its a bizarre world that weve come to live in. 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. That was the stunned reaction of journalist Joey Chandler after she, along with two other female journalists, was reportedly barred from entering the Jacksonville Jaguars locker room on Sunday night. I was in some pretty heavy company. Olson sued the team, and the players she implicated were fined by the NFL after its own investigation. So everyone's kind of shuffling around. I really want to be as unobtrusive as possible, so I will turn away from someone who is dressing or, if I have the time, wait until he has put his shorts on before I approach. The NFL is condemning remarks made by Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis concerning female reporters in the locker room. others. Mike called me into his office and told me he was now "into it" for passing on the piece. SAGAL: Absolutely. On this day in 1977, Melissa Ludtke was barred from reporting the World Series from the teams' locker rooms. Franchises are increasingly fielding their own media teams to produce game stories and video interviewsmeaning more softball questionsjust as metro newspapers are cutting back. Perhaps the most meaningful were the calls from fellow sportswriters. 26 photos, First published on August 12, 2011 / 12:24 PM. TAFOYA: I think one of the most - and again, I won't name names - but I remember doing an NBA game, and I was asked to go interview a player's wife in the stands about something. In 1975, the NHL allowed New York Times reporter Robin Herman into the men's locker room, making her the first woman to enter a hockey team clubhouse. TAFOYA: I adored football growing up. Ludtke said when But there were a few giggles. teams to allow her and other women reporters access to athletes in the postgame locker room when, unexpectedly, the two coaches at the 1975 N.H.L. The biggest cultural difference between reporting on sport in the UK and across the pond is that everyone here is allowed into the locker-room. Sometimes I'm kind of quiet in a group interview, and I have this feeling other reporters will think it's because I'm a dumb ol' girl. I had offered the story first to my sports editor, Mike Perry (standard newspaper policy). For instance, there are things I might say to a friend or even a casual coworker that I wouldn't think a thing about, but I stop short of saying such things to the players. On cue, all the players in the Jets locker room got up and they all had the word Gitte written on their asses, he says. All-Star Game in Montreal. Locker room interviews that take place after professional sports . 2011 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. SAGAL: OK. I admit, some days even the UPS guy looks awful good. So is it awkward for you? Readmore, With the 65th overall pick, the Rangers chose Adam Tambellini, a 6-foot-2 center whose father and brother each played for the Islanders. But she still gets recognized as "the girl" who went in the. By then, I had become accustomed to the nudity and byplay of the locker room. Gerry Fraley of The Dallas Morning News was the only other writer in the press box. My dream of covering professional baseball seemed further away than ever. Ines Sainz: NFL Investigates Jets locker room was a story. So I stepped down the tunnel from the dugout to the clubhouse and peered around the open door. TAFOYA: I'm entering my third season for "Sunday Night Football. And here I'd been hoping for a controlled rollout on this thing. Like, I understand getting the whole story for your readers. If you, as a grown man or woman, want to peep another adults private square, it doesnt need to be under the guise of a free and independent press. Would it be awesome if they were better ventilated? One of the most famous all-male gentlemen's clubs in London was the Reform Club with the fictional Phineas Fogg started and ended his trip around the world in 80 days. "I can't believe you are not in love with these men," she says, biting her cuticle. He said he was 16. She had prepared for it by being in the first class of women admitted to Princeton and said Like many people, Donna, who should have been named Brittany, just can't accept this. I began a one-kid campaign to institute ball girls at Arlington Stadium as well as to become the first. Guys just walk around naked, mostly, says Arizona Republic sports columnist Paola Boivin. It's the reason I'm a sportswriter, and I learned it from my dad. (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? After I poured myself out in the "Locker Room" piece, I was a bit empowered. Pleasure to have you. I stopped myself because he might not take it right. The repetitiveness and intensity of the format can be more frustrating. "Do you think I am a prostitute?" Last night's trash still blows, even though people are sweeping all over the place. 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. Donna doesn't like politics, so she asks what it is I do for the paper again. 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. Maybe I didn't belong here. This Is Why Female Sportswriters Can Go in Men's Locker Rooms Melissa Ludtke, a writer for Sports Illustrated, is shown on the job in her office in New York, Jan. 23, 1978, when she was. After criticism, Kiam apologized for the joke two days after he had told it. Youve got limited time to talk to the players before they leave, so make hay or fail is my mantra. SAGAL: You're going to say B, he got back to London but couldn't be readmitted because he wasn't wearing a jacket and tie. When I was 14, I heard from a friend that the Rangers would soon be hiring ball girls. Tell Me When It's Over is an interview series in which we ask former athletes about the moment they. I had to think as much about how to handle the next unwanted advance or suggestive quip as I did trying to figure the Mavericks' averages. All most know how to do is bitch about the Cowboys and Mavericks and Rangersabout their (a) record, (b) salaries, (c) coach or managerand praise the "kick-butt" barbecue they make before watching 18 hours of football on Sundays. And you know, that was the last I ever heard of it from anyone on the team. I'd had enough. Going to do my best. Host virtual events and webinars to increase engagement and generate leads. We've invited you here to play a game we're calling SAGAL: OK. Then he held my head over the top of the wall in center. Most of the men I've dated certainly don't know about the social fraying of America or why it might be at all amusing that a guy named Fujimori is in charge of Peru, so you'd certainly hope they knew some inane facts about NFL rushers. All rights reserved. I know people make sexual comments to one another, and they are not always inappropriate. 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. "Can I talk to you for a minute," I said. I was ready to gnaw my way through the first one I saw that might have had the book in it. TAFOYA: All right, Daniel. I asked. All-Star Game in Montreal said, yes, female reporters One was about the sad tale of the career of David Clyde. Yet anyone who gets self-worth through random sex with a professional athlete is not exactly MENSA material. 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. TAFOYA: You know what, though, timing is everything, and I think I sort of followed the floodgates that were opened by Lesley Visser and Robin Roberts. Theres a press area for that express purpose. The only way a female reporter can do her job in a locker room is if the players don't look at her as a chick. Referring to the United States military's use of Patriot missiles during the then-ongoing Gulf War, Kiam said to the audience: "What do the Iraqis have in common with Lisa Olson? Places in Arlington might not get it until mid-afternoon. Later he admitted to calling her a "classy bitch. 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. But I couldn't back out. Cripes, maybe I should just wait til they all get dressed before talking to them? SAGAL: So you came back, and you're like, well, I just talked to the coach of the losing team, and he suggested certain things that were anatomically impossible. 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. The documentary was about female sportswriters' struggles to gain access to male locker rooms in order to be able to do their jobs. But one thing kept me in sports: I got a Rangers media pass every year. There are a lot of times I want to compliment a player or make a personal observation, just because it's my nature, but my nature has to change for a moment because I don't want anyone to get the wrong impression about my intentions. A female reporter conducts post-game interviews with members of a men's soccer team in the locker room. Gordon Robertson, locker room guard, stops Robin Herman from entering the Chicago Black Hawks locker room (January 1975). From a New York Times obit by Richard Sandomir headlined "Robin Herman, Who Pried Open Doors in the NHL, Dies at 70":. Get two questions right, and you win our prize. We may earn a commission from links on this page. It's not a place for socialising. A, Revolutionary officers hid inside from British pursuers who wouldn't enter because they were not members. She impressed her supervisors, and the paper hired her as a paid sports journalist. The media circus surrounding professional sports is fed in part by this particularly odd sort of press access. Except she and St. Cyr 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. But I had a deadline. They've both seen Patriot missiles up close." done in the locker room, so equal access had to be granted. Still, most professional athletes also realize that allowing journalists into their sanctuary is a part of the job. Logic says they might not. I dont really think about it. 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.. The access is great, but it does create some very. 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