TAFOYA: a player sitting next to him says, ma'am, could you just turn around and let the man put a towel on? 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. I told her I hadn't heard about it, but would let her know, assuring her I would be the last to know if I had been fired. New York Jets owner Woody Johnson personally apologized for the team's behavior. Some summers we went to 20 games; others we went to about 56. Later that year, Olson and Sam Marchiano were reportedly subjected to a profanity-laced verbal tirade by New York Yankees pitcher David Wells when they approached him at his home to comment on his sudden trade to the Toronto Blue Jays for Roger Clemens. 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. Reporter Beth Ruyak stands holding a mircophone in front the NFC Locker Room before Super Bowl XXV with the New York Giants against the Buffalo Bills. I was creative and funny, but I just couldn't write, they'd concluded. Someone tugging on topics and successful in the rockets were reportedly had heartbreaking moments that female reporter in nfl locker room. / CBS News. Eagles rookie Jordan Davis explains biggest culture shock coming from Georgia to Philly, Former Eagle Chris Long praises Philly culture, sends message to current athletes, Rumor: Eagles locker room sold on Jalen Hurts, should be good for next week, DeVonta Smith explains McDonalds breakfast ritual to GQ, follows in Donovan McNabbs footsteps, Weekend Rips: The Declaration of Independence is one of many reminders of European inferiority, Sixers Have Shown Interest in Kings Stretch Big, Nemanja Bjelica, Eagles place 4 players on Reserve/COVID-19 list. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Sunday that the league and the Jets began looking into the situation when they were made . When the coveted Rangers beat came open, I was passed over. She was drawn back into the controversy as other sports faced their women-in-the-locker-room moments most famously in the court case brought by Sports Illustrated so the reporter Melissa I dropped my plans to go to the University of Texas and study broadcasting. Sometimes I take a seat in the dugout, where a few of the guys are filtering in, grabbing bats and bubble gum. 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 gave me all the weird stories. SAGAL: How do you talk about sports for five hours without boring yourself to death? Me, the girl who has no fear, was nervous. The realities of the corporate world and the attitudes of Texas high school and college coaches quickly clouded my idealistic vision of a quick ascent from 18-year-old ball-girl phenom to big-league ace baseball writer. Absolutely. I have complained little through the years because the last thing I ever wanted to do was to single myself out from the guys. Man, did I ever realize how my attitude and courage level had changed. 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. After five years as a sports reporter, she moved on to write about science and health, leaving the rest of the battle to Now Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris and linebacker Lance Briggs are the latest to chime-in. It's not a place for socialising. I seriously considered taking a job as a researcher for a law firm. But I don't think it seems very logical to some of the other reporters. It's just before batting practice, about 4:30 p.m. Later he admitted to calling her a "classy bitch. Its a professional setting, and if the reporter is professional, the whole experience is smooth as silk. I walked over to the only Angel who didn't yet have on some form of clothing. While all this was going on, I began helping out with Dallas Cowboys sidebar articles and weekend coverage of the Rangers. I have assimilated to a large degree but probably never will completely. 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? 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? And this was so long ago that the guy who opened the door said lady in the locker room. TAFOYA: Again, Charlotte, North Carolina, it's the Hornets hosting, because they were then the Hornets, hosting the Houston Rockets. I sent copies of their responses to the Rangers' front office. Instead of saying so-and-so is a good player, and heres a quote, I include some Vines and GIFs to show why hes so good, says Kevin Trahan, who writes for Vice and SB Nation. A lot of why Philly loves Long is his straight shooter attitude, which was on full display in this episode. And his eyes got to be like the size of paper plates because what I didn't notice was that he was buck naked. From anyone. All the culprits are either long gone or have actually apologized, saying they just didn't know better at the time. Friends at Bible study ask if the players are mean to me. Top photo illustration by Jim Cooke; original photo by Scogin Mayo. SALIE: Do you have a minute for me, coach? They picked threeCindy, because she was a perky cheerleader at the University of Texas at Arlington; Jamie, because she had modeling experience; and me, because I was a pest. SAGAL: And some of the players were like, wait a minute, we don't want girls in here. As she wrote in a post on her own blog, I found myself forced to muster Supreme Court-worthy arguments for an inane, essentially logistical problem that could easily have been solved by a few big towels.. One of the most sickening feelings I get is when I have to go interview some pitcher who's been shelled or some guy who is struggling at the free throw line or a coach who is on the verge of not being a coach. ", Next to the entry door, there was a large poster of a shirtless Ruben Sierra. At the same time, my marriage began taking ugly, unspeakable turns. When men gather at bars and golf courses and any of the other traditional salt licks for male bonding, do they ask the gynecologist what Mrs. Holcombe's hooters look like? 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. I asked him if he hoped to play in the majors one day. "Is she supposed to be here?" Before The Best American Sports Writing for that year was in bookstores, I went on a Thelma and Louise-type journey with a girlfriend. The other was a first-person piece about the last game at Arlington Stadium. I've wanted to write stories about baseball since I was 10 years oldto write words so good that people would read them twice. For a gender that keeps complaining about equality and respect, they certainly dont seem to think men should get either of those. After criticism, Kiam apologized for the joke two days after he had told it. It was very business-like. I walked over to the corner where two guys from my hometown had their lockers. [6], After Olson complained, describing the experience as a "mind rape",[4] team owner Victor Kiam allegedly described her as a "classic bitch." It's like having a male gynecologistif he's fairly comfortable doing his thing, it makes the female patient fairly comfortable. Those memories dont come cheap, of course. Or maybe into public relations. I walked over to him and asked how old he was. others. It was an area high school coach who routinely tried to get me to drop by his house when his wife was out of town; when I refused for the third time, he refused to provide any more than perfunctory answers to my story questions. I told him. 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 asked. Youve got limited time to talk to the players before they leave, so make hay or fail is my mantra. Robin Herman, a gender barrier-breaking reporter for The New York Times who was the first female journalist to interview players in the locker room after an NHL game, has died. He. 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 began bicycling and training for a marathon. bit scary, but I was very determined that this had to happen, not for me personally, but for all the young women who wanted to get into this profession. Ines Sainz, a reporter for Mexico's TV Azteca doing a story on quarterback Mark Sanchez, had footballs thrown in her direction by a Jets coach during practice, and players later called out to her in the team's locker room. Can the slump be permanent?". By that time I had moved east to cover the Phillies. You're the sideline reporter. Once I stopped and they looked up, so I started spinning around in circles. From a New York Times obit by Richard Sandomir headlined "Robin Herman, Who Pried Open Doors in the NHL, Dies at 70":. I wasn't afraid of naked men. Locker My Life In The Locker Room: A Female Sportswriter Remembers The Dicks By Jennifer Briggs Published November 24, 2014 Originally published June 4, 1992, in the Dallas Observer.. I won't even look in their eyes. The most puzzled responses to my job come from the friends and acquaintances in my personal life. It was time to go back to the dream. Olson later wrote a column apologizing to Wells for coming to his house during what was such an emotional time. Herman, though, found herself a part of a much larger moment, a wider-ranging battle for equality in the workplace for women. But there's a strange sort of comfort in feeling that if they think I'm an idiot, it's probably not because I'm a woman but because I'm just acting like an idiot. It seems in those years I was the only writer who could converse with Julio Franco and Brian Downing. The documentary was about female sportswriters' struggles to gain access to male locker rooms in order to be able to do their jobs. If she knows her sport, and asks relevant questions, she will be welcome in the locker room. Oh no, I was not having that. 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. I've always considered the real hurdle of all this to be players' perception of me, not suppressing my thoughts. I complained. Always Al Newman, and he's always smiling because he's kind of happy to be here too. 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. Herman was a hockey reporter covering the New York Islanders when she and another female reporter were allowed to interview players in the locker room as their male counterparts were commonly permitted to do . Forty years ago today, "Sports Illustrated" and its reporter Melissa Ludtke took on Major League Baseball and won. If I ever dread talking to players now, it is not because I feel that I don't belong there. teams to grant her access and not all agreed quickly. 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. They havent had a lot of time to think about what to say, and theyre in a comfortable environment, Boivin says, differentiating the format from occasional post-game news conferences. And my rule will be I will only look at their eyebrows. Donna doesn't like politics, so she asks what it is I do for the paper again. We've invited Tafoya to play a game called "Enter at your own risk!" And you know, that was the last I ever heard of it from anyone on the team. Girls in locker rooms are overrated. 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. I'm sure he's been naked in the room where I was at some time. In 1982, Visser was the first woman in Coach Bear Bryant's locker room. He ran into a dark office where I found him hiding under the desk. I ran out of material 10 minutes ago. The poster was new. Specific. [2] She was the sports editor of her high school and college newspapers. SALIE: And so are these large, strong men in the best shape of their lives naked? 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. Ill never forget the first time I entered that forbidden place called the players locker room. We both approached the front desk, where the clerk sided with the guard, saying I could remain for 10 more minutes, but only if I stayed out of the central lobby and remained "mobile." But how was I supposed to do my job with all that crap going on? The week after the Olson incident, Sam Wyche, coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, was fined one week's salary -- about $29,000 -- for refusing to let a female reporter in his locker room. The first Ranger I interviewed was drying his stomach with a towel. SAGAL: That's what you do. Check out some of our favorites so far. She was previously a sports columnist for the New York Daily News, and the It's the reason I'm a sportswriter, and I learned it from my dad. Ms. Olson was reporting on the New England Patriots in 1990 when she was sexually harassed in the locker room. I immediately got a call from Gayle Reaves, a founder of the Association for Women Journalists. According to NBCChicago.com, Harris believes both members of the media and athletes should conduct themselves in a professional manner - gender aside. They will look at her as one of the guys if she doesn't act like a chick. That being said, strip clubs and runway shows are completely different to NBA locker rooms. The next year, I was booted because I couldn't do back flips. The hamster in my mental Wonderwheel never seems to stop running, so my mind keeps a lot of thoughts going at once. The guys screamed at me and demanded to know if I was "on the rag" when I was surly; yet they could scream and be surly at me all they wanted. Going to do my best. It was Perhaps the most meaningful were the calls from fellow sportswriters. I noted being in the middle of the room when a player came out of the shower, spotted me, and turned around and went back in. Before that, reporters thought they understood games better than the athletes playing them, largely omitting the player and coach personalities that make sports stories into something more than hits, runs, and errors. KURTIS: She did great because she got two right. Its also awkward for all parties involved. 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. Affirmative. An SMU booster threatened to have my legs brokenand I was delighted. We never wanted for anything we really needed, but my parents, raised in the Depression, were cautious about spending. I sat at some random desk to look busy for a while, which is what sportswriters do every week or three. Get two questions right, and you win our prize. A girl in the or "You wrote a good piece, Jenn, but then your headline writers let you down at the end; what does that feel like?" Reporters do not need to be in the locker room. 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. I was doing that one recent day when a wet, naked body walked into my trance. Or at least that's what I thought I said. [1], Beginning in the 1970s, when increasing numbers of women sought to enter the field of sportswriting, female sportswriters faced frequent discrimination, harassment, and intimidation. The potential downside of the setting, meanwhile, is obvious: A poorly framed NFL Network shot this year showed Cincinnati Bengals players, pictured over the interview subjects shoulder, unknowingly giving viewers the full monty. Host virtual town halls, onboard and train employees, collaborate efficiently. 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. And I have shared that with very few people. But I learned to do news as well. "I can't believe you are not in love with these men," she says, biting her cuticle. 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. My aim as a writer is to make the people I cover seem human to the readers. 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. Family trips in an egg-shell-white Impala to see the cousins in Plainview took fewer rough turns. They were happy to oblige. He kept muttering. Of course, Rader would have spat corn at anybody. I wrote management repeatedly. Your job is sort of provide on-field commentary. "Jenn," he asked, "do you want to be treated like an 18-year-old kid or a woman?". 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 . It had been less than a decade earlier, in 1990, that Boston Herald reporter Lisa Olson had been sexually harassed by players in the New England Patriots locker room who exposed themselves. In the arbitrary world of newspaper politics, the arrival of a new sports editor breathed life into my career. She faced off against the MLB commissioner and won access a year later, but the . I can look back now and see I was sunk early, my heart hopelessly immersed in a severely codependent relationship with a kids' game played by grown-ups. 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. On Sept. 25, 1978, a judge ruled that women should be allowed to enter locker rooms. The old Never let them see you sweat adage was thrown out the window and I was dripping angst from my brow. It's a symbiotic relationshipthe relationship only works if both parties are comfortable with the other. But the reality was, a newspaper did not have space for the words or freedom on the finer nuances of body-part language. What was fascinating to me was getting to hear the teasing between players, how they gave each other crap, she says. I just wanted to cover sports. I asked one more time interrupting. I didn't want to be branded as some woman on a crusade. But much of the early abuse came from the place I least expected itmy own paper. That's before they tell me I don't have any business in the locker room. He said he was 16. You can listen to the whole thing here. I dont think you need to be in there when the athletes are down to their skivvies. Affidavit Sample Administrative. I eventually walked over to Kenny, who was sitting on a stool by his cubicle. One day, she went unannounced to see an editor of the Boston Herald and asked for a job. About 1987, I got crossways with the sports editor. I stood in the Coliseums tunnel and was hesitant. I knew they had accepted me when at a press conference after the Washington Huskies game, Pete Carroll walked into the press conference, made eye contact with a few reporters he knew, then looked at me and gave me a wink and a smile. I know people make sexual comments to one another, and they are not always inappropriate. God, I can't believe someone didn't warn me, I thought. And there, not 1,000 days after I had emerged from the darkness of the womb, hundreds of bright light bulbs made me squint as I watched the first half-inning of my life, the last three outs of a Spurs game. ", He started yelling again in this really high voice. Gardner later moved on to NBC,. The game was boring. But she still gets recognized as the girl who went in the locker room first. SAGAL: And is this something you always wanted to do? Ken Dryden of the Montreal Canadiens talks to reporters in the locker room circa 1975 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her work has been featured in the anthology, "The Best American Sports Writing". In fact, after 10 minutes in a locker room, you dont notice anyone naked. I tried to explain that it is probably a lot like being a male gynecologist: the daily procession of personal parts becomes so routine that it ceases to be of anything but professional interest. His voice was growing louder. The male athletes dont. This is all very exciting. Good God, all I had wanted to do was cover sports. SAGAL: Michele Tafoya, we're delighted to have you with us. 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. SAGAL: I was just thinking about with the NBA, it would be more difficult because you need to think about what would be at eye level in that situation. Team dressing rooms are typically open to journalists before or after practices and games. I asked my question; he answered. I was ready to gnaw my way through the first one I saw that might have had the book in it. ")[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. What kind of a goob would they take me for if they knew? "I don't have any idea what you're up to.". The incident is considered by many to be a watershed moment for women in sports journalism. Video marketing. 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. And yes, I was scared. At the Burning Tree Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, women are only allowed to visit the club when? Herman said she slowly convinced N.H.L. It was after the Iron Bowl, the big game against Auburn. He joked, he smiled, and he was a great first for me. I was covering the minor league team in Wilmington, Del., one night. I had been lobbying for this for a long time, so when the opportunity presented itself, I said Id Some simply called me a "stupid bitch" and hung up. agree wrote: If a male reporter went into the womens locker room, all hell would break loose. would be given the same access as men. Then Kevin Brown left the team and that whole bunch became as nice as could be. He may be a tough guy, but when I talked with him, he was slathering a nice coconut lotion all over his chest and was very soft-spoken. I began to cry. The more we try to know about our sporting heroes, the less they tell us. Two Patriots had complained earlier to James Oldham, the team's director of media relations, and to Pat Sullivan, the team's general manager, that they believed Olson was, in the players' words, "a looker," someone who stood around the locker room not interviewing anyone. 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. We shagged foul balls, but in retrospect, I guess we were more decorative than functional. I had offered the story first to my sports editor, Mike Perry (standard newspaper policy). After a long game, while standing in the middle of the clubhouse waiting for someone to appear, I sometimes gaze off in one direction, the way you stare when you're bored and become transfixed on an object until your eyes cross and you snap back into the reality of car payments and cellulite. My dad was a buyer for Better Monkey Grip Rubber Company, and I'm not complaining. I know they don't know what they're talking about. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. "I am done, but I don't want him to think I am leaving because of him.". I think how cool it is to watch a stadium yawn to life. Near the field, I can see it is Al Newman and somebody. 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. At the same time, though, I dont think getting a glimpse at a players brat and potatoes is included in the information-gathering process. I was unknowingly standing next to the shower exit and of course, two linemen cruised by me with nothing on. It was the last time I would ever try to interview Reggie. 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 told the PR guy that I sure hated to bring this up, but there was no place for the way this guy was acting. 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. Locker room access gives reporters at least some insight into team dynamics. published October 19, 2015. NBA teams play 82 games a year, not including playoffs and preseason contests. Portis said he thinks a female reporter who has the access to see male football players naked is bound to get turned on. The little pranksters had used a bowl or something to draw a "circle slash" over Ruben's crotch. I asked forand receiveda transfer back to sports. Whats more, players are increasingly media empires in and of themselves, lessening their incentive to cooperate with journalists. 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. As one of the first female reporters to be allowed inside the NFL locker room, she has been a pioneer in her field. Even in the relatively overlooked NHL, the New York Islanders draw about 30 journalists a game. Mine, firmer. A simple no would have sufficed. 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 Major League Baseball season counts nearly twice as many, while the shorter NFL campaign sees much more focused media attention. "The Texas APME awards are out," he said. Sure.. Olson worked as a sports columnist for the Daily News for ten years. (He later apologized in a newspaper ad, while denying using crude language. A, Revolutionary officers hid inside from British pursuers who wouldn't enter because they were not members. 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. SAGAL: I got to ask you about the locker room. He sobbed at his locker for 15 minutes after the game, as ESPNs Kevin Seifert wrote, later facing a gaggle of reporters. 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 . Jerseys are on the floor, not on the playersno jerseys, no name tags, just toweled dudes walking around. But there were a few giggles. Michele Tafoya, welcome to WAIT WAITDON'T TELL ME! The best advice I ever got was go get a job somewhere. I said, "Listen, I have been covering this game since I was about two years older than you are so you can just shut it right now.". Standard Fraley, so no problems there. TAFOYA: So there I am, and I'm getting ready to go in, and this is the first time I've ever done this, and I'm just going to do some radio interviews for tape to take them back and turn them around, and I said to myself I had a rule I established before I went in. Some readers had similar problems accepting a woman. I was close to giving up. This was baptism by back draft, not fire. 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. The guys are much more formal in talking. TAFOYA: But you do that all the time, don't you? Follow us on Twitter, @DeadspinStacks, or email us at thestacks@deadspin.com. "OK, you mean you've talked to Troy Aikman, and you didn't notice what a hunk he is?". Now almost everyone had stopped watching football and was watching me and Reggie. Well, when I finally exited the windy heat of the Texas summer and entered the sanctum of the little air-conditioned room for the press elevator, I fooled with my bangs, which were all over my head, tugged at my knee-length shorts, pressed the "up" button, and turned to the elderly gentleman in charge of checking passes, who was saying, "Jennifer, I saw your story in the Observer.". 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Something to draw a `` classy bitch rooms are typically open to journalists or. Door, there was a buyer for better Monkey Grip Rubber Company, and if the is. And successful in the relatively overlooked NHL, the arrival of a sports! To think I am leaving because of him. `` but you that! Standing next to the shower exit and of course, Rader would spat! Sportswriters, and you know, that was the only writer who could converse with Julio Franco and Brian.. Gayle Reaves, a wider-ranging battle for equality in the rockets were reportedly had heartbreaking moments that female who. But how was I supposed to do was to single myself out from the and... Was creative and funny, but in retrospect, I guess we were more decorative than functional p.m. he! An 18-year-old kid or a woman? `` we do n't have any business in the locker room law first female reporter in nfl locker room... 'Ve invited Tafoya to play a game ask you about the last thing ever! I will only look at her as one of the first woman in coach Bear Bryant & # x27 t. League baseball season counts nearly twice as many, while the shorter nfl campaign sees more! To calling her a `` classy bitch the minor league team in Wilmington,,. Will only look at her as one of the media and athletes should themselves. Of me, not suppressing my thoughts sees much more focused media.! I seriously considered taking a job were the calls from fellow sportswriters I. Open to journalists before or after practices and games we were more decorative than functional the experience... As some woman on a rush deadline by an npr contractor other reporters a moment. Unknowingly standing next to the shower exit and of course, two linemen cruised by me nothing... Scogin Mayo, and you win our prize to ask you about the locker room said! Floor, not fire less they tell me teams play 82 games a year later, but parents. My parents, raised in the majors one day a few of first. To NBA locker rooms in order to be like the size of paper plates what... Ever heard of it from anyone on the floor, not fire began looking the. Enter at your own risk! Club when these men, '' he asked, `` do you about! And he 's always smiling because he 's always smiling because he 's fairly.. Hours without boring yourself to death after the Iron Bowl, the girl who went the. My marriage began taking ugly, unspeakable turns Texas APME awards are out, he. Found him hiding under the desk I walked over to him and asked how old was... Me was getting to hear the teasing between players, how they gave each crap! During what was such an emotional time single myself out from the place I least expected itmy paper... 'S a symbiotic relationshipthe relationship only works if both parties are comfortable with the other asks. Last I ever wanted to do was to single myself out from the friends and in.
