2023 Vimeo.com, Inc. All rights reserved. Michele Tafoya, welcome to WAIT WAITDON'T TELL ME! SAGAL: He left the Reform Club, traveled around the world in 80 days, came back, ran up the steps, but he was not wearing a jacket and tie. I never told my friends. And surely the Observer's reader demographics did not include most ballplayers and some stadium employees. I seriously considered taking a job as a researcher for a law firm. Build a site and generate income from purchases, subscriptions, and courses. It was critical no one smelled fear or I'd lose respect from the get-go. The hamster in my mental Wonderwheel never seems to stop running, so my mind keeps a lot of thoughts going at once. That's before they tell me I don't have any business in the locker room. SAGAL: The job of the NFL sideline reporter is three parts glamour, four parts grit and 10 parts fending off the advances of a randy Hall of Fame quarterback. 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. I know people make sexual comments to one another, and they are not always inappropriate. or "You wrote a good piece, Jenn, but then your headline writers let you down at the end; what does that feel like?" The Liberty Line is owned and operated by TLL Sports LLC. Mowatt walked up to her while he was nude and fondled his genitals as she was interviewing a teammate. I fully expected trouble. 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. On this day in 1977, Melissa Ludtke was barred from reporting the World Series from the teams' locker rooms. 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. Phyllis George Brown, a former Miss America winner and the first female sportscaster to work at a major network, died on Thursday after complications from a blood disorder she had developed. 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. SAGAL: That's what you do. ", TAFOYA: I spent about eight seasons before that on "Monday Night Football.". I was leaning against a post, waiting for Grant Teaff, holding a notepad. The New York Islanders arent shy about giving interviews in various stages of undress. All the culprits are either long gone or have actually apologized, saying they just didn't know better at the time. The rest is all overrated. 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. 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. 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. Sometimes you have to stand around and wait while your guy gets ready, so reporters will pull out their phones and pretend to be reading emails . In 2011, Northern Arizona University's School of Communication awarded Olson its Eunson Alumni Achievement Award. I stood in the Coliseums tunnel and was hesitant. 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. And there I was at the big red clubhouse door, dented and bashed in anger so many times it conjured up an image of stone-washed hemoglobin. "Is she supposed to be here?" A few minutes later he came back out wearing a towel. TAFOYA: There's another joke there, but (unintelligible). She is currently involved in a court case to allow women reporters in sports locker rooms. If I did ever fall hopelessly head over heels for one of these men, it would not be because I had noticed a pterodactyl-size penis, but for the same reasons I'd fall for anyone else. (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? They havent had a lot of time to think about what to say, and theyre in a comfortable environment. Youve got limited time to talk to the players before they leave, so make hay or fail is my mantra. Ludtke and Time Inc. filed a civil rights lawsuit months later. 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. "Are you going to talk to me or not?" Horse's Heinie on occasion, was watching a college football game in a chair in the middle of it allnaked. Oh equality indeed. Ball on the reporter in female nfl locker room change to. As I steamed over this, I took a shot of courage (a cold Starbucks Caf Latte) and pondered my circumstances. SAGAL: Michele Tafoya, we're delighted to have you with us. I asked Reggie, as everyone watched and listened. And he began reading. SAGAL: What's the worst reaction you've ever gotten in that situation? Female players never have to be naked for the media to do their job as they get 30 minutes of closed locker room time for privacy and dignity. Like many people, Donna, who should have been named Brittany, just can't accept this. Access issues aside, broader changes in the media environment have begun to change the content of locker-room interviews, presenting a more chronic problem for many sports journalists. At first, I thought he meant on the job. Forty years ago today, "Sports Illustrated" and its reporter Melissa Ludtke took on Major League Baseball and won. 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. Ines Sainz, a reporter for the Mexican network TV Azteca, gestures while working on the sideline during the second quarter of an NFL football between the New York Jets and the Baltimore Ravens at . I'm no wimp; I can take a lot. Power your marketing strategy with perfectly branded videos to drive better ROI. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. I try to explain, which is difficult because Donna and I are on different sexual wavelengths. Raffy, Kenny Rogers, Kevin Brown had their little clique on the far side of the clubhouse. Archival footage of Olson was used in the film, but Olson herself declined to participate in it.[13]. Its a bizarre world that weve come to live in. But how can you really profile a guy if you haven't seen his coffee table or the junk stuck to his fridge? It was the lonely thread that tied me to my game. TAFOYA: But you do that all the time, don't you? Olson later wrote a column apologizing to Wells for coming to his house during what was such an emotional time. No one seems to know when the first female Equipment Manager was hired. first female sports columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald, where she covered rugby union, Australian rules football, cricket and rugby league. It's just before batting practice, about 4:30 p.m. For days, weeks, months --. Like a son telling his mom, Way to go, you made me proud.. I can't understand the idiots who call the sports department and want to talk to a man on the phone instead of meor some guy who goes out of his way to spit Niblets on me. Or go back to feature writing. TAFOYA: Yes, on-field commentary, pre-game interviews, post-game interviews. Or at least that's what I thought I said. I want you guys here when I make the game-winning kicks, and I realize that I got to have you guys here when I miss them. They mostly acted like brats. She was a member of the first class of women at Princeton University. And yes, I was scared. Accuracy and availability may vary. Its all weve ever known, right wing Josh Bailey, wearing a blue Islanders shirt, skin-tight compression shorts, and knee-high athletic socks, told me after a practice last week. August 12, 2011 / 12:24 PM I know they don't know what they're talking about. 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. "Just do your job, that's it," he told NBCChicago.com. Should they be banned from locker rooms? 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. The Stacks is Deadspin's living archive of great journalism, curated by Bronx Banter's Alex Belth., Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise. 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 every once in a while I think about slatted billboards and a daddy's arms. The Herald editor offered her a position handling horse-racing agate. No less than two or three times a home stand, the feeling hits againalmost always as I walk down that tunnel from the upper deck that spits you out in back of home plate. We may earn a commission from links on this page. If reporters are usually allowed into locker rooms, then this reaction makes sense. The most puzzled responses to my job come from the friends and acquaintances in my personal life. 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. The hockey teams locker room isnt as rancid as expected. As of 2013, she was working as a freelance writer.[1]. ", I falter, and he complains, "Hey, I thought you said you knew sports.". He had leis, candles, and the whole altar thing going on in his locker. They didn't know, and it made me feel awkward that they didn't know that this stuff really didn't bother me outside of the fact that I felt obligated to respond with a remark, which took away from my ability to do my job. "OK, you mean you've talked to Troy Aikman, and you didn't notice what a hunk he is?". God, I can't believe someone didn't warn me, I thought. Summoners Value War. Do you go into the locker room? I can't remember the number of times I've picked up the phone in the sports department, answered some trivia question, and, when the answer didn't win the guy a bar bet, had the caller demand, "Put a man on this phone." It was mostly worn, ectoplasm-green indoor-outdoor carpetingand stares. 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. Sometimes I will request an interview at someone's house, and my peers act as though it's weird. The next year, I was booted because I couldn't do back flips. [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]. ")[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. So you've been in the Mavericks locker room? He might not understand that I meant its thickness and shine were enviable. 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. 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