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Press box horror stories

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Inky_Wretch, Oct 22, 2012.

  1. Yodel

    Yodel Active Member

    As anyone who covered the Mike Shula-era Tide can attest, the only thing slower than his offense in the red zone was his time to the postgame presser.

    During his final year, after a scintillating 30-14 win over Duke, we were in the usual position. At Bama, they had a press area interview room with assigned seating so you could file downstairs instead of getting back to the press box.

    Well, after waiting a long time, I decided to go back to my spot and write a while as I waited. When I go to my spot, Don Shula is sitting in my chair, staring at me. I could not envision throwing the head coach's father out of my chair, so I just went back to find a player to interview.

    Not really a horror story, but kind of funny.
     
  2. ColdCat

    ColdCat Well-Known Member

    Covering a Purdue football game a few years back I sat a few seats down from a guy who was wearing Purdue sweatshirt, Purdue hat, had no notepad or laptop with him and spend most of the game on his cell phone with various people saying "Hey, guess where I am right now."
    Most of the foofs at least stay away from the post game presser, but one at Purdue showed up and started CLAPPING when Danny Hope walked into the press conference.
     
  3. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Has Whitlock's Drew Bledsoe incident made the list yet?
     
  4. typefitter

    typefitter Well-Known Member

    There's lots of Whitlock stuff on the Deadspin thread now, but I don't think that's there. It's mostly about how he's a lazy blob. SHOCKING.
     
  5. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    One place I worked, all the laptops had locks and some device attached to them. We were told very clearly to lock our laptops anytime we got up (even to go to the restroom). Don't know how many people actually did that, but the point was clear.... "this is not a toy and if we have to spend several hundred dollars to replace one that gets stolen, it's coming out of YOUR paycheck".

    So I never go off and leave anything more than a paper clip behind. Even in a supposedly secured area like a press room or press box, you never know who is in there, as this thread attests.
     
  6. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I wasn't there for that incident, but most of the versions that I've heard all said that while Whitlock shouldn't have put that sign up, they had some sympathy for a recognizable, out-of-town columnist who was being hazed by the fans. Some of those places are merciless.
     
  7. FileNotFound

    FileNotFound Well-Known Member

    The stories are pretty good, but the design of that comment "thread" is awful. Very, very difficult to try to read each one.
     
  8. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    Clue us in on what the story is about that Mizzou.
     
  9. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Here's my understanding of what happened with Whitlock. It was written about in a few places, including SI...

    He's in the press box at a Chiefs-Pats game, I'm guessing late 1990s...

    It's a snowstorm. Fans are ragging on him through the glass. Fat jokes all over the place.

    Whitlock takes it to the signs.

    "WARM IN HERE!"

    "GOOD FOOD TOO!"

    At some point, the sign became...

    "DREW BLEDSOE IS GAY!"

    I think Whitlock got a 30-day suspension for the incident.
     
  10. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    Wow. Thanks for sharing.
     
  11. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    Another version:

    In October 1998, Whitlock was suspended for goading fans who were taunting him at a Chiefs-New England Patriots game in Foxboro, Mass. Against the press-box glass, he held up hand-scrawled signs that said, “It’s warm in here — good looking women too” and “Bledsoe gay? Pats suck.” (He was referring to Patriots’ quarterback Drew Bledsoe.)

    That was on Sunday, Oct. 11. The next day, Whitlock was suspended, and the suspension turned out to be for two weeks. The Star didn’t inform the public, however, until 10 days after the suspension. On Oct. 22, then-sports editor Rick Vacek wrote a column explaining the suspension and referred to “offensive” signs that Whitlock had shown to Patriots fans. He didn’t say what the signs said.



    http://jimmycsays.com/2010/08/05/whitlock-and-the-stars-credibility/
     
  12. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    I remember that incident. It was the first time I'd heard of Jason Whitlock.

    I don't mean that as a shot, because in those dial-up Internet days, the ability to read out-of-town columnists was limited.
     
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