Athletes who did not speak to the media

[YankeeFan]

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

Was still very popular and received favorable press treatment.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

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

Was still very popular and received favorable press treatment.

Yep, he even caused the name of the annual Super Bowl media clusterfork 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."

 

[Dick Whitman]

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

Was still very popular and received favorable press treatment.

Yep, he even caused the name of the annual Super Bowl media clusterfork 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."

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.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

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.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

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.

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.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

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.

 

[nate41]

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

Was still very popular and received favorable press treatment.

Yep, he even caused the name of the annual Super Bowl media clusterfork 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."

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.

+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.

 

[Dick Whitman]

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.

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

 

[Mizzougrad96]

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.

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, "fork 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...

 

[Moderator1]

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.

The same in Sydney! High falutin' SOBs.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

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...

 

[Azrael]

Duane Thomas.