Erin Andrews and the Cubs locker room: Discuss

This is embarrassing.

I can't believe I'm reading this crap. I can't believe Nadel is the one on trial here. I can't believe so many of my so-called peers are condoning the sort of behavior any of us would be duly hammered for. I can't believe that even Elliotte Friedman has become so myopic he's missing the point.

This isn't about jealously. This isn't about fears over getting beat. This isn't about whether a columnist should or shouldn't write about something. This isn't about how Erin Andrews dresses or what she looks like.

This is about one thing and one thing only: PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT IN THE WORKPLACE.

I don't who you are, and whether you work for ESPN, the Peoria Post, or the E! Network. You don't trade high-fives and fist pounds with athletes. You don't hang out at the player's sofa congratulating "Rammie" on his big game. You don't touch somebody's biceps. You don't hug somebody you supposedly cover (which I've seen happen before). You're not part of their club. You don't act like you are or you want to be.

Evidently, this is something they don't teach in journalism school anymore. Evidently, "celebrity journalists" get a pass when it comes to the rules of this trade. Evidently, daring to call someone out for acting unprofessionally is worse than acting unprofessionally in the first place.

This is it. I'm done with this board. I'm tired of the point-missers and the name-callers and the people who read sexism or racism into everything. I'm tired of how every attempt at serious discussion devolves into recrimination or toilet humor. You guys can have it. I'll let you go back to slaughtering the messenger now.

 

I wore Members Only when I was on the baseball beat ... in 1982.

 

Fine rant, Gauchos (from UCSB area?). But in this day and age of SJ, it seems like you have to qualify statements lest being labeled a sexist or racist or whatnot even though you're not.

 

See ya!

 

To boot: Let's get Erin Andrews here to defend or explain herself.

 

So what if it is unprofessional behavior? That's worth writing about?

Sports writers acting unprofessional ain't exactly a new thing.

 

She needs neither to explain nor defend herself. She's done nothing wrong. It's not her job to justify herself to resentful reporters who don't have the access and relationships that she has. She's one of the top personaliites for an MLB rightsholder, which makes her part of the "show" that goes on the air when ESPN televises a game. She's not your typical credential holder.

 

You don't think she's read this by now? If someone misrepresented her actions to a world-wide audience, you don't think she'd want to come out and say the guy had no idea what the hell he saw? Just a thought.

 

Sorry, Mike.

 

I find that most people who whine that their 'misunderstood' comments aren't sexist or racist have never been the target of either.

To Gauchos, while you're packing: Stuff happens every day at the ballpark that someone finds 'unprofessional.' You want to see a daily column about it? That's what this is about.

 

I agree she's not a typical rightsholder/reporter, nor does she have to give her "side" of a non-event, but I think someone should squash the notion that most reporters are "jealous" any "celebrity" reporter like her gets access a beat guy or columnist can't, in this case, mike nadel. it's been repeated ad nauseum here, and it's pretty misleading.

in most cases, a familiar face is going to get a better story from a player than an out-of-town tv type. in this case, her job is to land immediate interviews and gives viewers some background or inside info from the field. Most times any "scoop" from one of those kind of reporters gets is lifted from a story done by some man or woman on the beat.

 

Everybody is the target of one thing or another. That argument gets old.