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Athletes who did not speak to the media

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Dick Whitman, Dec 12, 2011.

  1. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Mark Bavaro famously did not talk to the media when he was a Giant.

    Was still very popular and received favorable press treatment.
     
  2. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    Yep, he even caused the name of the annual Super Bowl media clusterfuck to be re-named.

    It used to be called Picture Day. So, in '87, when the Giants went to the Super Bowl, Bavaro came out to the hordes, sat for a few minutes, and left without talking to the media. The league complained, he pointed out, "It's Picture Day. I came out, they took my picture, and I left."
     
  3. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Wow, really? I talked to Bavaro a couple years ago and he was awesome. I had called him for a nostalgia piece I was working on, if I recall, and he had written a novel right around that time - which wasn't half bad, probably better than I could do - and we talked about writing and football and everything in between. We really hit it off.
     
  4. JimmyHoward33

    JimmyHoward33 Well-Known Member

    The NFL now mandates assistant coaches are available for a minimum amount of timr per week, I believe directly because of Belichick and to some degree Saban.
     
  5. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I know this was something that the PFWA was fighting for. They also wanted to make sure that every player is available in the locker room and not just at a weekly press conference.

    The bottomline in a lot of cases is that if you're an assistant and you know your boss doesn't want you talking to the media, you probably won't do it.
     
  6. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, I was blown off for an interview request by a member of the U.S. equestrian team. Always my personal favorite "I ain't talkin'" incident.
     
  7. nate41

    nate41 Member

    +1. I spoke to him after a speech he did plugging said book and he couldn't have been nicer. And I was a nobody.
     
  8. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    High school wrestlers are always good for it, too, after they lose a state championship match. Ridiculous.
     
  9. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    In 1996, I was sent out to do a feature on a local volleyball player. It was probably the first time we had done a volleyball story all year and was just meant to serve as a preview for the state playoffs. The coach told me, "Your paper doesn't cover enough volleyball, I'm not talking to you." and he wouldn't let the player talk either.

    I called the player at home and she said she didn't want to get into trouble with her coach.

    I told my boss and he said, "Fuck them, don't do the story." and I went out and did a feature on the second-best player in the state and the second-best team.

    The day the story ran, the asshole coach called our preps editor screaming that we did a feature on the other team.

    As luck would have it, the team I did the feature on wound up winning state, over the team coached by the asshole.

    He refused to talk to me after the game and when I wrote, "Coach X refused to comment after the loss." he called the preps editor again to complain about that being put in there...
     
  10. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    The same in Sydney! High falutin' SOBs.
     
  11. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I worked with a SID who would tell players, "If you'll talk after a win, you'll talk after a loss..." I don't ever remember not being able to get a guy when I covered that team.

    Sadly, I found out later in my career that that guy was a member of a dying breed, SIDs who actually help the media...
     
  12. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Duane Thomas.
     
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