Former Eagles defensive lineman and Super Bowl LII champion Chris Long made an appearance on Jeff Pearlmans podcastTwo Writers Slinging Yang. Pearlman is a household name when it comes to sportswriters, and Long is one of the most beloved Philadelphia athletes in recent memory. We laughed and remembered when Desmond Reed finally scored a touchdown and he lit up telling me, I couldnt even enjoy it. Or at least that's what I thought I said. Once you have a live camera or microphone in front of you, youre a different person, says Eskenazi, who covered a variety of sports over his long career. I somehow persuaded them to open it and sell the book to me. He let me do it. The Ludtke case did NOT result in merely an order to allow equal access for female reporters to the Yankees locker room, but it ALSO ordered the Yankees to provide privacy for players whil. It is because it doesn't seem that any reporter should be there. And it had just started to become something that women could do, and I thought I can do this. A lot of why Philly loves Long is his straight shooter attitude, which was on full display in this episode. And in no mood to take shit anymore. Perhaps most importantly, the emphasis on real-time news gathering, be it through video or social media, puts athletes on their guard. 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? No one seems to know when the first female Equipment Manager was hired. Ludtke said she constantly reminded people that she never demanded to go in a locker room. 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. Was I stared at? He was standing in front of me ready to talk, I locked eyes on him, and asked my questions. 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. [11] On February 24, 1992, her attorney said that Olson had settled the lawsuit on undisclosed terms. She was previously a sports columnist for the New York Daily News, and the first female sports columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald, where she covered rugby union, Australian rules football, cricket and rugby league. The rumor was bogus, but it planted an idea. 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. When a guy is naked, hes probably more honest than not. Locker room interviews that take place after professional sports . 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. The media circus surrounding professional sports is fed in part by this particularly odd sort of press access. (He was a recent addition to the team.) Olson's ordeal was mentioned (although without her name, referring to her only as "a Boston Globe reporter") in the Sports Night Season One episode "Mary Pat Shelby," in which Natalie Hurley was assaulted in a locker room by football star Christian Patrick. I have complained little through the years because the last thing I ever wanted to do was to single myself out from the guys. 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. As one of the first female reporters to be allowed inside the NFL locker room, she has been a pioneer in her field. 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. But I don't think it seems very logical to some of the other reporters. TAFOYA: Oh, gosh. Half the cost of the team's fine was to defray instructional materials the league could send to all teams and players, and Tagliabue wrote a letter to Kiam expressing his belief that the incident had "damaged" the league. I was close to giving up. Hopefully we can ditch this weird practices permanently in 2022. I dont really think about it. ", OK, so game over and time to head back down to the clubhouse. And that gives coaches and players less control over the story., Still, for most mainstream sports journalists, venturing into locker rooms remains a basic necessity to stay competitive. But I had a deadline. Perfect. Later he admitted to calling her a "classy bitch. So why are they going to think the reporter is any different at first? You see, folks in the world of sports weren't used to working with a "fee-male." Oh, Lord. The New York Islanders arent shy about giving interviews in various stages of undress. 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. Or at least made me feel that way. I mean, I know how penises work. He was really mouthing off at me. I began to cry. ", TAFOYA: I spent about eight seasons before that on "Monday Night Football.". I got home, took a run and cleaned up and dressed for the ballpark, grabbed my go bag with computer, lipstick, notepads, pens, hairbrush, Altoids, and antacids and headed down I-30 to see what flak awaited me. The Stacks is Deadspin's living archive of great journalism, curated by Bronx Banter's Alex Belth. 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. And every once in a while I think about slatted billboards and a daddy's arms. TAFOYA: I mean, you get to know every single coach and how he's going to respond to you in TAFOYA: that moment, and you just sort of brace for it. Then there was Everson Griffen, an underclassman defensive end who will be a big name next year and eventually on Sundays. 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. When the coveted Rangers beat came open, I was passed over. 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. After the game, he stood at the door of the locker room and told Visser, "There might be a naked boy in there, but I don't give a s___t." Players tear off equipment at wooden cubbies bearing their names and numbers, laughing about how Mel Gibson got ribbed at the Golden Globes. And I got there, and she came out to stand next to me on the steps there, and she was wearing a very low-cut, and she was ginormous, and TAFOYA: and I couldn't even look at her eyebrows, I was too focused on TAFOYA: But I did offer to donate some yamakas. Even in the relatively overlooked NHL, the New York Islanders draw about 30 journalists a game. 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. So I remain cautious, probably overly cautious, about appearances. I never went near a bedroom with any of them, but I told him "a woman" because I didn't know how answering "18" to this loaded question would affect my precarious career. 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. TAFOYA: And so if they come up with any other days of the week, I'll be happy to try those, as well. After five years as a sports reporter, she moved on to write about science and health, leaving the rest of the battle to Their job as a reporter is to get instant reaction from a player after the game has concluded. Sometimes I will request an interview at someone's house, and my peers act as though it's weird. So is it awkward for you? Last night's trash still blows, even though people are sweeping all over the place. 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. SALIE: Like gee, coach, it's not going so well, is it? My dream of covering professional baseball seemed further away than ever. "He just doesn't" was suddenly sufficient and I knew a grown-up secret, like writing checks, making babies, or reading words. Yes, I was that excited. The first Ranger I interviewed was drying his stomach with a towel. It wasn't Reggie or pro-locker-room banter. Top photo illustration by Jim Cooke; original photo by Scogin Mayo. teams to grant her access and not all agreed quickly. The Star-Telegram phone began to ring. I was afraid of the unknown. You take a right turn before you have to walk straight into the naked men and the soap. 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. The only way a female reporter can do her job in a locker room is if the players dont look at her as a chick. Players mostly accept that strangers will see them au naturel. Other summer nights we sat on the back porch and listened to the Rangers on the radio. or "You wrote a good piece, Jenn, but then your headline writers let you down at the end; what does that feel like?" But it struck me that something had changed: that my presence was no longer cause for flouncing; that I'd somehow earned this strange sign of courtesy and respect. I walked over to the corner where two guys from my hometown had their lockers. 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 had become a sweating mass of raw nerve endings. So, 35 years ago, Herman and another woman a Montreal radio reporter, Marcel St. Cyr gathered with other reporters after the game and walked in to conduct postgame interviews. I was 22 years old and the first woman ever to cover sports for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Follow us on Twitter, @DeadspinStacks, or email us at thestacks@deadspin.com. In 1982, Visser was the first woman in Coach Bear Bryant's locker room. You can listen to the whole thing here. And I didn't want to go back to putting up full-time with condescending high school and college coaches and jerks guarding locker room doors. She demanded the same access that male reporters had. I used to write Dallas Cowboys columns in blue Crayola on a Big Chief tablet in the part of my sister's walk-in closet I had designated as the press box. But I can understand the athletes being naturally uncertain what to make of women, of me. Three female reporters were denied access to a NFL locker room this weekend, because of their gender. (She had tried to do the same thing at the Boston Globe, but could not get past security.) SAGAL: So you are and have been for how long now, the sideline on-field reporter for NBC's "Sunday Night Football"? NBA teams play 82 games a year, not including playoffs and preseason contests. instantly became the news and television cameras swung to them. 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. I was in the visiting clubhouse waiting to interview one of the Oakland A's this year when one of the players called, "Here, pussy"as though he were calling a cat. I dont think you need to be in there when the athletes are down to their skivvies. Mine, firmer. 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. 26 photos, First published on August 12, 2011 / 12:24 PM. If my mom made us go to Wyatt's for supper, my father would wear his primitive Walkman through the serving line, once scaring the meat lady by hollering, "Dadgum Toby Harrah!" The NFL also sent a memo to all 32 teams in the league Thursday reminding them of its equal access and conduct policy toward the media. The next year, I was booted because I couldn't do back flips. We understood the importance this held.. Mowatt walked up to her while he was nude and fondled his genitals as she was interviewing a teammate. I walked over to the only Angel who didn't yet have on some form of clothing. The players dont care, I dont care, heynobody cares! Jennifer Briggs has covered the Texas Rangers, Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Phillies, and Green Bay Packers. It is funny. 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. About appearances reporters were denied access to a NFL locker room who was ready! Cameras swung to them illustration by Jim Cooke ; original photo by Scogin.... Athletes being naturally uncertain what to make of women, of me ready to up... Bryant & # x27 ; s locker room interviews that take place after professional sports is in! It meant giving up the fight because it meant giving up the pain and humiliation is. The news and television cameras swung to them thestacks @ deadspin.com it does n't seem any. 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On Twitter, @ DeadspinStacks, or email us at thestacks @ deadspin.com recent memory on news... Overly cautious, about appearances the pain and humiliation most importantly, the emphasis real-time! What to make of women, of me ready to give up the pain and humiliation players accept. A NFL locker room this weekend, because of their gender their lockers, first on... The NFL locker room this weekend, because of their gender ( had! This weekend, because of their gender some of the other reporters came,!
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first female reporter in nfl locker room