Meet the Press Somewhere Else

[batmagadanleadoff]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=33151 time=1583875665 user_id=68]
=Centerfield post_id=33147 time=1583875171 user_id=65]
I mean, the gist of this seems to be:



Male sports writers think locker room access is crucial. Sure, some women may get harassed a bit, but it's not bad and much better than it used to be. In the end, hanging out with naked dudes gives me insight, and that makes me a better writer.

[Edgy MD]

The players aren't going to come in and hang out in the media lounge for the hours before the game. Post game? Sure. But also consider there are 25 guys. Post game, you are going to have to decide who you want in there. Do the reporters decide that? And how? They're competing against each other. The team's communications guy? You're relying on him to pick three, four, five guys to interview? That's a tough position to put him or her in.

Well, I would think it would be everybody. As noted, the theory holds that each player would be required to spend X amount of time in there. if he doesn't want to speak, well, he's probably less trapped there than he would be in the locker room. He can smile and refuse interview requests and let folks know if he is overheard mumbling something, he's not on record.



I'm sure there are numerous downsides, but I think more than a few are of the concerns are of the "It's been done this way, so I can't be done that way" variety.



I understand the notion that players won't be as candid, but I guess we'll see during the next bunch of weeks.

[Ceetar]

I mean, the gist of this seems to be: Male sports writers think locker room access is crucial. Sure, some women may get harassed a bit, but it's not bad and much better than it used to be. In the end, hanging out with naked dudes gives me insight, and that makes me a better writer. I don't get what the problem is with the nudity. They're adults and professionals and the writers at least, are formally educated. Doctors and nurses see naked people all the time. And the majority of nurses are females. We're a prudish and sexually immature society and that needs to change and the way to change that is not by removing women from the locker rooms or restricting them. If there's harassment going on in the locker room, I would imagine that the thing to do is to eliminate the harassment instead of banning women reporters from the locker rooms. Cocks and nipples. Big fucking deal.

nobody's banning women from the locker rooms, we're banning non-employees, period. It's a damn locker room, not an interview room.



If you're so bad at your job that you need to trap a player at his locker. If the only time he'll talk to you is when his pants are literally around his ankles, maybe you're not so good at your job.

And if talking to the media is so important, why are we relegating it to 'gotcha' moments when they can't run away? Will some avoid a more casual 'media area' even if that's where all the snacks and drinks are? probably. But guys avoid the media now too. You're just giving them the dignity of not having to blow you off (half) naked while they're literally doing something else.



Don't make it a "media area" though. Maybe it a clubhouse. just pull out the locker room stuff. Put the chairs, the boombox, the food, the foosball and PS4,the beer in the clubhouse and all the clothes and showers in the locker room. it's not hard. giving the players a few minutes of private time to be human isn't the end of sportswriting.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I mean, the gist of this seems to be: Male sports writers think locker room access is crucial. Sure, some women may get harassed a bit, but it's not bad and much better than it used to be. In the end, hanging out with naked dudes gives me insight, and that makes me a better writer. I don't get what the problem is with the nudity. They're adults and professionals and the writers at least, are formally educated. Doctors and nurses see naked people all the time. And the majority of nurses are females. We're a prudish and sexually immature society and that needs to change and the way to change that is not by removing women from the locker rooms or restricting them. If there's harassment going on in the locker room, I would imagine that the thing to do is to eliminate the harassment instead of banning women reporters from the locker rooms. Cocks and nipples. Big fucking deal. nobody's banning women from the locker rooms, we're banning non-employees, period.

I know that. I was addressing some general attitudes here towards women and locker rooms.



P.S. Do they still say "locker rooms"? I think it's "clubhouses" these days, right?

[Ceetar]

my very point was to separate the two aspects of it. There are probably other words. One place that's literally just showering and getting dressed, another that's all the other zillion things that go on in clubhouses.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

This thread is out of hand. Wariness of the further separation between the subjects and media that the virus is cover for is the concern. Making it about women or ceetars willful ignnornace of what the media even does or how they divide the clubhouse are all other things that aren't about what might be lost were that separation to continue.

[Centerfield]

Maybe messages are getting jumbled.



I don't buy MLB's excuse for excluding the media from the clubhouse. It's likely something they've wanted to do for selfish reasons for some time and are likely using this as an excuse.



That being said, for other reasons, I think clubhouse interviews should end anyway. It puts female reporters in a situation that ranges from kinda uncomfortable to outright harassment. There are lots of other options that make sense. And I think sports journalism will survive even if beat guys can't sit around half naked with their bros anymore.

[Ceetar]

Oh, for sure MLB's reasoning is purely PR. Baseball's great at pretending to care about things and then doing only actually making a token attempt at fixing it.



They did not, as the press would have you believe, kick their puppies.

[Frayed Knot]

=Centerfield post_id=33178 time=1583896675 user_id=65]I don't buy MLB's excuse for excluding the media from the clubhouse. It's likely something they've wanted to do for selfish reasons for some time and are likely using this as an excuse.