Nine for IX: Let them wear towels

I watched this last night and thought it was very good.

I'm assuming Lisa Olson was asked to participate but declined. I don't blame her, but it would have been interesting to hear her version of it today. I'm always curious what places don't let writers participate in projects like this when it's ESPN. Not sure if that was the case.

I would have liked to have seen Susan Fornoff included as well. I remember

Did anyone else watch?

 

Glad they did not use Lisa. With no disrespect meant that story has become a
cliche since it is always wheeled out whenever a locker room controversy came up.

It was time to come up with some new story lines.

I bet if he were alive that Maury Allen would like to take back his quote.

 

It does get brought up a lot, but it would be interesting to hear her perspective on it. I was actually wondering about halfway in if they were even going to bring it up.

I'm fascinated by this stuff. I remember the Fornoff-Kingman deal and I crossed paths with Fornoff a couple times when I was in high school.

I saw a player wave his dick in the face of a female colleague at one of the first events I ever covered and she didn't flinch or acknowlege him.

Another female writer, in a similar situation, (I was not there for this...) looked up at the player and said, "I assure you, I've seen better..." and there was a discussion at the paper whether that was a "professional" thing to say, but apparently the player apologized to her the next day and never gave her any grief.

 

I read somewhere Olsen declined to participate. I would've liked to see them include Robin Monsky, the PR director of the Braves who won a lawsuit against the Braves for discrimination. Chuck Tanner wouldn't let her in his office, she was banned from clubhouse, really weird stuff.

 

Yes, Olsen declined.

 

The Lesley Visser story about Bear Bryant letting her in the locker room was hilarious.

 

You can tell why media folks wanted to give Garvey a break even as his life fell apart. He went out of his way to be a good person.

Also, another reminder of, did Bowie Kuhn do one single stinking thing right in his tenure as baseball commissioner?

 

Yeah, Garvey came across very well in the piece. It's unfair that he still has all his hair.

 

It's possible that Lisa didn't want to be a bigger part of the story, though that's not to dismiss Mizzou's theory. Didn't stop the directors from making it a cornerstone of the piece.

Disagree with Boom about Lisa's story becoming cliche. How would you have reacted if someone had done that to you in a locker room? How would you have felt if you thought leaving the country for a few years was the best solution because you were getting inundated with threatening and nasty communication? Not sure she did it strictly because it was a way to let the firestorm cool down - maybe she really wanted to see and experience another corner of the world and who could blame her if that's the case? - but the theory shouldn't be considered a serious stretch.

For all the things we claim to stand for in this country and for all our passion for sports - both journalists and fans - and we treat people in this manner? Shouldn't be forgotten - ever. To have not thoroughly revisited that story is unthinkable. Sure, other females were being treated poorly - Lisa certainly wasn't the only one - but her story was the one most likely to be remembered by people who don't follow the industry as closely as many of us on this board do.

And finally ... next time you think it's tough to do YOUR job ...

 

They didn't need Lisa for this, the old footage told her story. And since she has been steadfast about not talking about it, seems completely appropriate she didn't talk here.

I would have rather seen this as a 30 on 30 instead of relegated to the 'Women's Interest' slice of programming. There were so many other writers/athletes/coaches who could have contributed; so many more stories to tell.

The only part of the production I really took issue with was the repeated dramatization of a lonely shadowy woman alone in an eerie darkened tunnel, waiting. Not necessary.

It made me sad. I was a rookie in the mid-80s, determined to laugh at the brutal 'jokes' and sleazy innuendo from both athletes/coaches and colleagues. Many times, the colleagues were WAY worse. It didn't bother me then, but the memories bother me now. Definitely made me stronger and better and more determined to succeed, but in hindsight, I can't believe what we put up with in the name of 'doing our job.'

 

This could be said for all nine, right? But the difference is in the labeling alone. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

 

Right, I don't like the label. Seems ironic to produce a documentary about how women should be equal, and then air it as part of a 'Women Only' series.

To me, it reinforces the notion that there are sportswriters, and there are women sportswriters.