There is a long history of female reporters being mistreated and disrespected in NFL locker rooms. Perhaps the most famous example came in 1990 when Boston Globe reporter Lisa Olson was taunted and harassed by New England Patriots players. The team's general manager, Pat Sullivan, tried to cover up the whole ordeal and was ultimately fired as a result.
Are these types of things still occurring today? We turn to our panel of experts.
SDBoltReport.com reporters Samantha Fillerup and Jaime Cattano both spent some time in the San Diego Chargers locker room last season. Amberly Dressler, a former SDBoltReport.com writer and the current publisher of AZRedReport.com, frequented the locker room of the Arizona Cardinals.
Samantha Fillerup |
Jaime Cattano |
Amberly Dressler |
According to all three, the locker room landscape has changed dramatically since Olson's encounter.
"I did not feel the players acted inappropriately at all," said Fillerup of her experience in the San Diego locker room. "If anything, they were extra nice to me, maybe because I am female."
Cattano made her first locker room rendezvous after last season's Week 4 contest between the Bolts and Oakland Raiders. She commended all of the Chargers for their professional behavior.
And according to Dressler, this new era of extreme professionalism extends beyond San Diego. The Cardinals players were equally accommodating during her time in the team's locker room.
"Not a single player was uninviting or rude," she said. "The players made me feel comfortable, and both they and I did our jobs professionally."
Despite all of the efforts by players and media alike to maximize professionalism, the locker room interactions between male athletes and female reporters will always come with some degree of discomfort. It's tough for a male athlete not to feel exposed undressing in front of a member of the opposite sex, just like it's daunting for a female to enter a room brimming with naked giants -- especially for the first time.
Here's how Dressler describes her first locker room venture: "Following the game, I attended Coach Ken Whisenhunt's press conference hoping by the time I entered the locker room the players would be dressed and ready to talk. When security opened the door for me, I gasped and couldn't turn around fast enough. There's no pretty way of saying it -- there were grown men naked…everywhere!
"The guard asked if I was OK and I smiled and tried to play it off. Basically, I just needed a moment. I took a deep breath and did the job I had always hoped I'd have. I went in and killed it."
Like Dressler, Fillerup just needed a moment to adapt to an alien environment.
"Was there some parading around the locker room? Yes. I am sure that happens whether I am there or not, though," she said. "Maybe it's more exaggerated around me, but nothing was too surprising. In my experience, the players I have interacted with have been very attentive and respectful. I would say more so than they would be with a male reporter."
So while the Erin Andrews incident rekindled the dialogue about the uphill battle facing many female reporters, the days of Lisa Olson-type offenses appear to have gone the way of the wishbone offense.
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