Professional athletes are acting like morons — spoiled brats with bad attitudes and over-sized piggy banks.
Idiotic behavior and swollen egos replace headlines about great plays and heroic performances. The latest in a long line of athletic indiscretions doesn’t involve an athlete — it involves an entire athletic organization.
Just days before losing to the Baltimore Ravens, the New York Jets made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Ines Sainz, a female reporter working for Mexican television, attended the Jets training facility to interview star quarterback Mark Sanchez.
However, Sainz was reportedly subjected to inappro-priate behavior leading to an NFL investigation. Reports suggest that the Jets coaching staff where deliberately throwing footballs in her direction and certain players made inappro-priate remarks when she came into the locker room.
As sports fans, are we surprised by the story? No. Are we surprised by any of the stories that we hear about misbehaving athletes? No. Is there an end to the ridiculousness of the
stories? No.
Sainz should be treated differently from her male colleagues because…? Exactly, she should not be treated differently. I am sure the male reporters at practice weren’t treated differently, so why is the attractive, female reporter treated differently?
For professional athletes those are exactly the reasons; she is an attractive, female reporter. The world of professional sports is a male-dominated environment and women are still fighting to be a part of it.
Women find themselves at the bottom of a very steep mountain when it comes to sports reporting. There are certain careers where women are respected and those around them are gender blind — sports reporting is not one of them. I am sure the Jets’ Head Coach Rex Ryan wouldn’t throw a football in the direction of Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay or Oprah Winfrey. The frat-house culture that exists in sports teams, like the Jets, makes for an uncomfortable environment for female reporters like Sainz.
The incident at the Jets’ training camp has sparked debate about whether or not women should be allowed in the male locker room. The fact that there is a debate is ridiculous. The locker rooms in the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB are designated work zones and reporters are allowed to enter during certain periods before and after games, regardless of their sex.
The gender rules work both ways. The WNBA allows male reporters in their locker rooms and so far no males have been harassed by female athletes. Clinton Portis of the Washington Redskins chimed in with his two cents by saying giving a female reporter “a choice of 53 athletes, something has got to be appealing to her.” Portis eloquently displayed his ignorance and lack of common sense by saying, in layman’s terms, that female reporters shouldn’t be allowed in the locker room because they will want to have sex with an athlete.
Female reporters display as much integrity and professionalism as their male colleagues. The locker room is their workplace. It is not a bar or nightclub where they prowl looking to pick up athletes — sorry Mr. Portis. Female reporters enter the locker room to do their job.
If Oprah entered the locker room would it be assumed that she is deciding whether or not she wants to sleep with a running back or a line man? Or would it be assumed that she’s doing her job?
Professional athletes are the only ones who can’t seem to answer that question correctly.
