The Boston Herald offered her a transfer to Australia, where she would work for the Daily Telegraph in Sydney, which Olson accepted. [6] The general manager of the team was fired. (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? But I was humbled by the honor. But of course, he hadn't lost Fluffy; he'd found a woman in his locker room. They were reporters and looked young enough to remind me of my old daysexcept they weren't wearing white flats. Each time I stopped pacing, the clerk and guard started toward me. TAFOYA: Oh, gosh. SAGAL: Michele Tafoya, we're delighted to have you with us. I stood in the Coliseums tunnel and was hesitant. [4], On April 25, 1991, Olson filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts state court against the Patriots, Kiam, Sullivan, Oldham, and the three players (Mowatt, Timpson, and Perryman), alleging violations of her civil rights, sexual harassment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and intentional damage to her professional reputation. I was creative and funny, but I just couldn't write, they'd concluded. "It's the same as a man in the locker room to me.". 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 - and players later called out to her in the team's locker room. You can listen to the whole thing here. The next year, I was included as an honorable mention for two pieces. Get two questions right, and you win our prize. It's just before batting practice, about 4:30 p.m. 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. [11] On February 24, 1992, her attorney said that Olson had settled the lawsuit on undisclosed terms. There was a sports editor who would stop by every time he saw me eating, stare at me, and say in all seriousness, "Jenn, if you get fat, we won't love you no more." Host virtual town halls, onboard and train employees, collaborate efficiently. I have assimilated to a large degree but probably never will completely. Before a team got used to me, there might be some giggling each time someone made a smart remark or cursed loud enough to get you kicked out of the Watauga Dairy Queen. I got nothing left. They knew I could write even the most boring stuff into something of interest. Its my fault, Walsh said, his eyes still glistening. Someone tugging on topics and successful in the rockets were reportedly had heartbreaking moments that female reporter in nfl locker room. All-Star Game in Montreal said, yes, female reporters We've invited you here to play a game we're calling SAGAL: OK. I dropped my plans to go to the University of Texas and study broadcasting. Bill, who's Michele Tafoya playing for? Perhaps the most meaningful were the calls from fellow sportswriters. [7][8], Eventually, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue ordered an investigation under the aegis of former Watergate scandal prosecutor Philip Heymann;[5] the 60-page report concluded that Olson was "degraded and humiliated." Sometimes I'd turn the sound down on the TV and try to do baseball play-by-play, too. Donna is a good argument for euthanasia. Some readers had similar problems accepting a woman. It was also the Bear's last season. It's the way we measure all people, the Homo sapiens equivalent of sniffing butts by the fire hydrant. But she still gets recognized as "the girl" who went in the. He glanced sideways, kind of sneered, and stuck his head back in his laptop. 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. I talk to the coaches at halftime as they walk in or out of the locker room, and that's always a load of fun especially the losing coach. I mean, I know how penises work. Couldn't you tell? 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. From anyone. One of my greatest honors. 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. No one did or said anything off-color. 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. All rights reserved. Actually, I tell them, one of the most peculiar side effects of my job is that it seems to run off men in personal relationships. Whoops! 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. Of the latest scores and many to. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. 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. After five years as a sports reporter, she moved on to write about science and health, leaving the rest of the battle to others. That first-person ode to Arlington Stadium was entered in a contest. And it had just started to become something that women could do, and I thought I can do this. We're sitting around the salon one day making bets on when the rest of the country will catch on that Ross Perot is a weasel when someone says he finished ahead of Bush and Clinton in another poll. Male reporters are allowed in locker rooms both before and after games. Then there was Everson Griffen, an underclassman defensive end who will be a big name next year and eventually on Sundays. [4] In 1985, the NFL enacted an equal access policy of its own. Keep your eyes on your own work Super Chief. Then Kevin Brown left the team and that whole bunch became as nice as could be. I asked forand receiveda transfer back to sports. So while I'm asking him about his family's strawberry farm, I'm wondering if eggs have given him this nice, shiny coat or if he uses his wife's conditioner, and if so, what is it? This is all very exciting. If reporters are usually allowed into locker rooms, then this reaction makes sense. It's also tricky when you give one writer a piece that showcases him or her in very many words and photos. It's like having a male gynecologistif he's fairly comfortable doing his thing, it makes the female patient fairly comfortable. Some simply called me a "stupid bitch" and hung up. Ill never forget the first time I entered that forbidden place called the players locker room. That did it; now they were ready to call the police. 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. 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. Logic says they might not. "All right, heck with it then," I said. Or maybe into public relations. TAFOYA: All right, Daniel. Olson worked as a sports columnist for the Daily News for ten years. 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. I was ready once again to be the greatest sportswriter who ever lived. She is currently involved in a court case to allow women reporters in sports locker rooms. TAFOYA: And so if they come up with any other days of the week, I'll be happy to try those, as well. Hopefully we can ditch this weird practices permanently in 2022. If you can do that, they will accept you with open arms, and, actually, be on their best manners when you talk to them. The next day, another player told Eskenazi it was a joke. / CBS News. I left my stuff in the press box and went downstairs, sandals sticking in last night's gooey beer puddles as usual, as I entered the tunnel to the field. All she wanted was to be afforded the . The media circus surrounding professional sports is fed in part by this particularly odd sort of press access. In the clubhouse, I was greeted by Rafael Palmeiro. Youve got limited time to talk to the players before they leave, so make hay or fail is my mantra. It is funny. I almost said matter-of-factly, "You know, Kenny, you've got a fine head of hair." If she. from NPR. August 12, 2011 / 12:24 PM "The Texas APME awards are out," he said. On Jan 21, 1975 she "broke the locker room barrier" as the first female reporter to enter a male professional league locker room (NHL All-Star Game) for post-game quotes. TAFOYA: I'm entering my third season for "Sunday Night Football. SAGAL: B, George Washington himself went on a three-day bender there. I remember being scared because I hadn't known how the locker room was going to look or smell or who or what I would have to wade throughliterally and figurativelyto find this man. Were you a football fan growing up? Ken Dryden of the Montreal Canadiens talks to reporters in the locker room circa 1975 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I'd actually never been in an NBA locker room until last winter. I felt like a cancer victim who was finally ready to give up the fight because it meant giving up the pain and humiliation. 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. Answer (1 of 4): After reading Carrie Rickey's answer, I have to say that no one ever gets this story right. 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. Mr. October, known to be Mr. He said he wanted to talk. Should women be allowed in locker rooms? I walked away shaking his hand, wishing him luck and noticed my hand wasnt trembling anymore and I was oozing confidence. But the point is that you don't even think much about people being naked after a while, and unless you have some peculiar reason for remembering, you don't know who you have seen naked because they all kind of waltz in and out of the shower naked, just one wet butt covered with soap film after another. The little pranksters had used a bowl or something to draw a "circle slash" over Ruben's crotch. 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. The male athletes dont. 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. 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 best advice I ever got was go get a job somewhere. I began bicycling and training for a marathon. All I remember is green and light and the security of my daddy's arms. 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. I head down the steps, past the seats where I couldn't even afford to sit when I was a kid, open heaven's gate, and walk onto the field. Being in the national spotlight was difficult and a little SAGAL: Absolutely. or "You haven't written any good stones in the last month. We still booted women took off the nfl reporter locker room in female reporter paola boivin felt a sports reporters are uncommon, adult . Oh sure, at first they think it's pretty cool that you're the only person at a party who can remember Neil Lomax's name or that you can name all the Rangers managers in 18 secondswith a shot in your mouth. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Ludtke and Time Inc. filed a civil rights lawsuit months later. The issue at hand was equal access to the players in the locker room for all reporters, regardless of their gender. ADAM FELBER: Welcome back to You Disgust Me with Michele Tafoya. Complete Coverage of Ines Sainz on Crimesider. Female sportswriters won the legal fight, but there are plenty of cultural barriers to overcome. Yet I wonder. Quite normal, nothing harmful. Of course, Rader would have spat corn at anybody. The latter are supposed to be more humorous than the former, though adulthood has taught me different. The MBL, NBA and NFL followed shortly after, and in 1990 all associations allowed women in the locker rooms. Thank you for visiting Slap Shot. The other was a first-person piece about the last game at Arlington Stadium. As it stands now, the NFL allows female reporters in locker rooms, but only after games. And this was so long ago that the guy who opened the door said lady in the locker room. 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. About 1986, there was a college football convention in Dallas. I somehow persuaded them to open it and sell the book to me. After five years as a sports reporter, she moved on to write about science and health, leaving the rest of the battle to While all this was going on, I began helping out with Dallas Cowboys sidebar articles and weekend coverage of the Rangers. She demanded the same access that male reporters had. Mowatt was fined $12,500, the other two players $5,000, and the team itself $50,000, since no management had intervened at the time or immediately following. 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. Some nights I walk out the back door where all the wives are waiting, and they stare at me strangely, as though they think I'm the woman Cosmo warned them about or something. Mike called me into his office and told me he was now "into it" for passing on the piece. "Can I talk to you for a minute," I said. I helped cover the team for the Associated Press. I've never been on any campaign to debunk the myth that testicles are somehow inherent to a full understanding of balls. No one seems to know when the first female Equipment Manager was hired. I had been officially baptized, and it was no big deal. We never wanted for anything we really needed, but my parents, raised in the Depression, were cautious about spending. I like to think I've earned a little respect. SAGAL: So how did you get into the - how did you - I mean, I'm going to guess SAGAL: that it's harder for a woman to get into major league professional sports reporting than it is for a man. 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. No sitting or leaning. SAGAL: We'll be back in a minute with more of WAIT WAITDON'T TELL ME! And every once in a while I think about slatted billboards and a daddy's arms. It is because it doesn't seem that any reporter should be there. I went home and called my sports editor. You can't do this without asking about their dogs and their mom and what bugs them even worse than dropping the soap in the shower. "I am done, but I don't want him to think I am leaving because of him.". The first Ranger I interviewed was drying his stomach with a towel. The Lisa Olson Incident, 20 Years Later: Today is the 20th anniversary of the Lisa Olson incident in the New England Patriots locker room, when the female Boston Herald sportswriter was sexually harassed by players Zeke Mowatt, Robert Perryman and Michael Timpson. Power your marketing strategy with perfectly branded videos to drive better ROI. I pushed open the door and gazed into the visitors' locker room, a big square chamber with locker cubicles lining its perimeter and tables and chairs scattered around the center. If female journalists are allowed into male locker rooms, then either male journalists should be allowed in female locker rooms or female journalists should not be allowed into male locker rooms. For years I was hopelessly mired in phone answering and score taking, watching as others in similar positions moved up and on. I fully expected trouble. Even in the relatively overlooked NHL, the New York Islanders draw about 30 journalists a game. A female reporter conducts post-game interviews with members of a men's soccer team in the locker room. TAFOYA: I was too focused on his eyebrows. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Alabama Phenix. If the locker room is where athletes can be themselves, that change may be the most challenging. 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'll always remember that no one else laughed, for whatever reason, and that made me feel good. 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. Oh, Lord. Men treated like animals yet again. 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'm serious, they really ask this. Olson was born and raised in the metropolitan area of Phoenix, Arizona. 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.. First Female Reporter In Nfl Locker Room. SAGAL: I thought I'd bring you on and see what you had. I never told my friends. I wonder how these female reporters and staff would feel showering and changing with men in their locker room? And a few guys maybe flounced around a little more just for brief amusement. 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? NBA teams play 82 games a year, not including playoffs and preseason contests. "I can't believe you are not in love with these men," she says, biting her cuticle. I think about what it would be like to have them asking me every day, "Well, how about that really thrown-together graph there at the top?" Thats the life of a kicker.. Long goes on to mention how most reporters would brush his concerns aside, which would honestly drive me nuts. 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. Jennifer Briggs has covered the Texas Rangers, Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Phillies, and Green Bay Packers. "You know," I thought, "I doubt if any of them read the Observer.". 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. In 1973 she was hired as the New York Times' first female sports reporter. She faced off against the MLB commissioner and won access a year later, but the . 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. Her work has been featured in the anthology, "The Best American Sports Writing". By then, I had become accustomed to the nudity and byplay of the locker room. He was thrilled to get an interview, and was so polite and warm, I didnt realize he was wearing practically nothing while I spoke with him. 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. or "You wrote a good piece, Jenn, but then your headline writers let you down at the end; what does that feel like?" Olson later wrote a column apologizing to Wells for coming to his house during what was such an emotional time. 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. The Stacks is Deadspin's living archive of great journalism, curated by Bronx Banter's Alex Belth. I was doing another piece on the last day game at the old place, and I was in the dirt bowels of that poor old Erector set where many things, including skunks and raccoons, lived. Then he held my head over the top of the wall in center. The players dont care, I dont care, heynobody cares! 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. [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]. 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. 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. 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