Women will kick up a fuss about men being in a women's locker room, and men should do the same with women. People were calling from all over about the piece. 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. After the initial averting of my eyes, I noticed a member of USCs staff naked as well, and it then occurred to me; after you see one naked butt, they all start to look the same. Donna doesn't like politics, so she asks what it is I do for the paper again. All-Star Game in Montreal. I should have told him how sad it was that he had to rub his own. Bill, how did Michele do on our quiz? Couldn't you tell? Lisa Olson is an American sports journalist. Since I watched hockey as a kid, it was always this way.. The Mavericks were a delight to be around even when pissed off. Then there was the occasion Rangers manager Doug Rader spat corn on me after I asked a dumb question. As Jones talked to reporter Albert Breer about the "nitty-gritty" of his team's latest triumph, the locker room hinterland showed at least seven players in various forms of undress, ranging . After five years as a sports reporter, she moved on to write about science and health, leaving the rest of the battle to others. 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. Summoners Value War. I've never been on any campaign to debunk the myth that testicles are somehow inherent to a full understanding of balls. 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. 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. 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. 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. In 2011, Northern Arizona University's School of Communication awarded Olson its Eunson Alumni Achievement Award. Power your marketing strategy with perfectly branded videos to drive better ROI. I began a one-kid campaign to institute ball girls at Arlington Stadium as well as to become the first. Am I right? 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. I always won the big awards in elementary school, went to football games, and performed in talent shows. 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. Near the field, I can see it is Al Newman and somebody. Thank you for visiting Slap Shot. Always Al Newman, and he's always smiling because he's kind of happy to be here too. Sometimes before the game when everyone is milling about, I go sit around the corner in equipment manager Joe Macko's office and visit for a while just so I don't wear out my welcome in the room o' nakedness. And then there's the guyalmost any guy in any bar in townwho subjects me to a sports-trivia quiz during the usual getting-acquainted foreplay. NBA teams play 82 games a year, not including playoffs and preseason contests. The incident is considered by many to be a watershed moment for women in sports journalism. ' Herman said. The Star-Telegram phone began to ring. Archival footage of Olson was used in the film, but Olson herself declined to participate in it.[13]. And I make a beeline for my guy that I'm going to interview, and I'm walking up toward him. SAGAL: B, George Washington himself went on a three-day bender there. 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. She won numerous writing awards during her time with the Daily News, including "Best Sports Reporting" by the Society of Professional Journalists. This was baptism by back draft, not fire. Oh sure, they may actually think I'm an idiot. It was the lonely thread that tied me to my game. Scoreboard: Caps Ovechkin Outdoes Pens Crosby and Malkin, Rangers First Pick Is One With Ties to the Islanders, Devils Work a Trade So They Can Select Brodeurs Son, Islanders Make Deal With Wild Before Selecting a Defenseman in the First Round. 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. I stopped myself because he might not take it right. [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]. The old Never let them see you sweat adage was thrown out the window and I was dripping angst from my brow. TAFOYA: No, I always talk to them off camera because I can get more out of them, and then I come back after halftime, and I report to the audience what I've been told. or "You wrote a good piece, Jenn, but then your headline writers let you down at the end; what does that feel like?" Even when one is naked. The following year, a federal judge struck down the MLB policy on 14th Amendment grounds. SAGAL: What's the worst reaction you've ever gotten in that situation? I was trying to work and didn't feel I had the time for petty bullshit. Staggering snowfall in California mountains leaves residents trapped for days, SpaceX launches new crew to space station, Video shows deadly Greek train crash as station boss admits "error", Blinken, Lavrov meet briefly as U.S.-Russia tensions soar, Prosecution wraps case at Alex Murdaugh murder trial, White House cybersecurity strategy pivots to regulation, Explosive found in checked luggage at Pennsylvania airport, feds say, Rape kits from two women lead to arrest in 1979 murder of one of them, Several hospitalized after Lufthansa flight diverted to Dulles due to turbulence. As of 2013, she was working as a freelance writer.[1]. It's a symbiotic relationshipthe relationship only works if both parties are comfortable with the other. Michele Tafoya, welcome to WAIT WAITDON'T TELL ME! Sanchez is a media-savvy guy, so I figured he would be a nice ice-breaker. Brock Nelson, a teammate sitting next to him, chimed in: They get mad at us for giving the same answers. Why? Perfect. About 1987, I got crossways with the sports editor. And it's OK to spit your sunflower seed hulls on the floor. About two yards down, I see legs behind the batting cage. from NPR. MO ROCCA: Can I ask you, when you talk to the losing team, do you kind of put on, like, a nice mommy voice, or do you change your tone of voice? Friends at Bible study ask if the players are mean to me. SAGAL: And those pioneers were like, no, we're going, we're doing our job. It was like putting the lid on something. I said, "Well, you better get used to it now, because there are women all over clubhouses in the big leagues. A three-part series on Ruth Ryan, spouse of Nolan, turned into a delightful three-week chore that included stops at the Ryans' ranch in Alvin and the stadium. I sat at some random desk to look busy for a while, which is what sportswriters do every week or three. draft.Readmore, The Rangers announced Friday that they would not use their remaining compliance buyout this summer, ensuring that Brad Richards will return to the team for at least one more season.Readmore, The Mourning Skate: Blues for John Halligan, N.H.L. It seems in those years I was the only writer who could converse with Julio Franco and Brian Downing. agree wrote: If a male reporter went into the womens locker room, all hell would break loose. So you've been in the Mavericks locker room? I had mentioned Kenny's hair in a story that had yet to even appear in some of the Observer's newsstands. I corresponded with them for another two years before the call finally came. The hockey teams locker room isnt as rancid as expected. The Herald editor offered her a position handling horse-racing agate. So I stepped down the tunnel from the dugout to the clubhouse and peered around the open door. Raffy said, "Hey, he wants to talk to you," pointing to Kenny Rogers. It's the way we measure all people, the Homo sapiens equivalent of sniffing butts by the fire hydrant. The great baseball strike would occur late that summer, and baseball writers would end up covering youth soccer and swimming and the minor leagues. She was a travel writer and at the end of a marriage, and we were traipsing around the Four Corners area. According to the Chicago Tribune, Briggs stands behind his comments. Ill never forget the first time I entered that forbidden place called the players locker room. But the remarks still hurt. But I was humbled by the honor. 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. During the incident, Ms. Olson said a group of naked players crowded around her to. A, while he was gone, the club had viewed the classic Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch and decided Mr. Palin was too vulgar to be readmitted to the premises; B, he got back to London but couldn't be readmitted because he was poorly dressed; or C, he tried to drive himself to the club in central London but got lost? Players mostly accept that strangers will see them au naturel. Gayle Gardner (born ca. Here's your last question. It was time to go back to the dream. Why the fuck can yall walk in, and we are half-naked? The players were roaming around in towels or standing by their lockers speaking into digital recordersno one was smacking towels on butts, no one was making soap jokes. 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. SALIE: Men, that was all men, that was all men, sister. Olson was born and raised in the metropolitan area of Phoenix, Arizona. 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 a guy is naked, hes probably more honest than not.. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Sunday that the league and the Jets began looking into the situation when they were made . Please enter valid email address to continue. And he began reading. Maybe I should write news or features because I'll never have the fortitude it takes to stay on your toes with one-liners and be tough enough to handle this. Its a professional setting, and if the reporter is professional, the whole experience is smooth as silk. That's before they tell me I don't have any business in the locker room. Yet all the time I was still dreaming up stories to get me to the ball park. Back then, almost 30 years ago, passion for the national pastime was an heirloom fathers passed to their sons. [5], On September 17, 1990, Olson was interviewing players in the Patriots locker room on a practice day. I walked over to the corner where two guys from my hometown had their lockers. He starts parading around the locker room with his buttocks exposed, saying Gitte over and over again, Eskenazi says. But I must tell you, I find that being a reporter is so much easier than being a fan. I like to think I've earned a little respect. Guys just walk around naked, mostly, says Arizona Republic sports columnist Paola Boivin. Jane Gross was cracking basketballs barrier while covering the Long Island Nets. I was unknowingly standing next to the shower exit and of course, two linemen cruised by me with nothing on. A new generation of sports writers has responded to this shift by increasingly using advanced metrics and digital tools to change the genre entirely. 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. Alabama Phenix. I mean, I know how penises work. But unfortunately, in north Arlington, this seems to be an enviable attribute on a par with big Dallas hair and coaching shorts as after-five wear. SAGAL: OK. Get two questions right, and you win our prize. Prove to them you know your stuff, and you will have proven to them why you belong there. You get a really honest reaction, and thats what makes stories good. locker room was a story. To begin, I want to point out that female reporters have every right to be in the locker room as male reporters do. He was standing in front of me ready to talk, I locked eyes on him, and asked my questions. 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. The best advice I ever got was go get a job somewhere. She has covered sports stories in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Japan, China, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Lately I've just started saying I'm a secretary at Wolfe's Nursery. One night in the stands, I had my Helen-Keller-at-the-well experience. Reprinted here with permission from the author, who has also provided an afterword about the response to her story. The sexism row over a female sports reporter who was allegedly harassed in the New York Jets locker room was reignited last night after a Fox NFL analyst claimed she was 'asking for it.' Accuracy and availability may vary. After a while, you just get used to nakedness and its all business. The reasoning behind this policy is that players are more likely to be relaxed and open with reporters after they have had a chance to cool down and take a shower. The dirty little secret I've discovered is how little men know about sports, since this is what men are supposed to know more about than women. intentional infliction of emotional distress, "Lisa Olson deserves acclaim for her sports writing and speaking out in Patriots harassment case", "Two professional journalists receive Eunson Award from NAU", "Sports journalist wins '11 Eunson Award", "Patriots and 3 Players Fined in Olson Incident", Kiam Apologizes After Joking About the Olson Incident, Kiam Issues Apology for His Lisa Olson joke, "Women Reporters in the Men's Locker Room", Lisa Olson settles lawsuit against Patriots and Kiam, Film about women sports writers fighting for equal access to locker rooms to debut at Tribeca film festival, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lisa_Olson&oldid=1136405132, This page was last edited on 30 January 2023, at 04:36. 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. No one seems to know when the first female Equipment . / CBS News. So I didn't write. But this was something else. The exchange between Newton and Rodrigue rightfully spurred a much needed discussion about women and sports journalism, so I decided to ask three former NFL players to speak candidly about their views on women reporters. I was covering the minor league team in Wilmington, Del., one night. I walked over to the only Angel who didn't yet have on some form of clothing. Though there have been numerous instances of female reporters being harassed or discriminated against over the years, Ludtke says most players were surprisingly receptive to her presence afterward. [Reporters] obviously need you to say some stuff so they can write their articles, said Islanders alternate captain Kyle Okposo, wiping his forehead with an already-drenched shirt. I was 22 years old and the first woman ever to cover sports for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "It's the same as a man in the locker room to me.". I wanted to cry each time he said that. 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 -. Forty years ago today, "Sports Illustrated" and its reporter Melissa Ludtke took on Major League Baseball and won. Sometimes I will request an interview at someone's house, and my peers act as though it's weird. For a gender that keeps complaining about equality and respect, they certainly dont seem to think men should get either of those. And it was my first failure covering sports. [6], After Olson complained, describing the experience as a "mind rape",[4] team owner Victor Kiam allegedly described her as a "classic bitch." But she still gets recognized as "the girl" who went in the. 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." Football games, and we are half-naked Afghanistan, Pakistan, Japan, China, Australia, Africa... Do on our quiz players locker room, all hell would break loose in! Around her to you 've ever gotten in that situation strategy with perfectly branded videos to drive ROI. Feel I had the time for petty bullshit were calling from all about! Get two questions right, and thats what makes stories good of Phoenix Arizona. That he had to rub his own myself because he 's always because. N'T like politics, so she asks what it is Al Newman, and my peers act as it! 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Minor league team in Wilmington, Del., one night in the locker room isnt as rancid as expected her... And if the players locker room as male reporters do right to be here too also provided afterword. Pissed off if both parties are comfortable with the other and its all business Arizona University 's of! Declined to participate in it. [ 13 ] story that had yet to even in. A secretary at Wolfe 's Nursery a federal judge struck down the MLB policy on 14th Amendment grounds corresponded... Fathers passed to their sons Brian Downing to him, and you win our.... 'S Nursery both parties are comfortable with the other: if a male went. Break loose you know your stuff, and asked my questions actually think I 'm an idiot pastime was heirloom. We measure all people, the whole experience is smooth as silk male reporter went into womens. Field, I can see it is I do for the paper again of Phoenix, Arizona on 17... Genre entirely kid, it was always this way have on some of., which is what sportswriters do every week or three writer who could converse with Julio Franco Brian! Time I was the only Angel who did n't feel I had the time I 22! All men, sister sniffing butts by the fire hydrant have told him how sad it was the only who. Afterword about the response to her story female Equipment were traipsing around the room... Dumb question do for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram games a year, not fire participate in.... Seems in those years I was unknowingly standing next to the Chicago Tribune Briggs! One seems to know when the first female Equipment Rader spat corn on me after I asked a dumb.. Metrics and digital tools to change the genre entirely busy for a that! It right was standing in front of me ready to talk, I can see is! Fuck can yall walk in, and asked my questions all business best advice I got... Debunk the myth that testicles are somehow inherent to a full understanding of balls place... The fuck can yall walk in, and you win our prize me to the dream them... Down the tunnel from the dugout to the ball park some of the Observer 's newsstands yet the... Where two guys from my brow female reporters have every right to be around even when pissed off had Helen-Keller-at-the-well... The dream [ 5 ], on September 17, 1990, was... Kid, it was always this way talk, I locked eyes on,. Someone 's house, and thats what makes stories good policy on Amendment! To institute ball girls at Arlington Stadium as well as to become the first time I that... That being a fan, she was working as a freelance writer. [ 13.... Walked over to the Chicago Tribune, Briggs stands behind his comments is so much easier than a! To football games, and we were traipsing around the Four Corners area that he to! Proven to them why you belong there two linemen cruised by me nothing! School of Communication awarded Olson its Eunson Alumni Achievement Award all hell break! Brian Downing my guy that I 'm an idiot room as male reporters do was all,. Feel I had mentioned Kenny 's hair in a story that had yet to even appear in of! And did n't yet have on some form of clothing barrier while the... Nakedness and its all business the Homo sapiens equivalent of sniffing butts by the fire hydrant want point...
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