Erin Andrews and the Cubs locker room: Discuss

As soon as you de-streetify that poor baby. He's creepin' me out.

 

Blame the Plain Dealer. I took it from their site.

 

Try it some time. Go on.

 

I'm sure it is no walk in the park, Flash, but the point is that the most visible male journalists deal with some of that, too.

 

Oh. OK.
It's kind of how I interpret it tho.

 

That sentence was explained in the next two grafs. Am not trying to lessen the problems of being a female reporter. However, when she does things like kiss a college athlete (Pat White), that and subsequent issues are magnified because of a problem of her own doing.
Flash, am sure that you and other female journalists on here manage to do their job without doing things like that. It's called professionalism.

 

Never said it's inappropriate to touch anyone else, only that what Erin Andrews did -- no matter whose side you believe -- wasn't necessary in that particular situation.

Whether it was "suggestive" as Nadel said, or "to gauge an old injury" as Andrews said, neither she nor he are saying it was "normal behavior" -- either she went out of her way to check the broken bone or she went out of her way to, umm, feel his bicep; either way, it wasn't a casual gesture in the course of conversation like a handshake or back-slapping, etc. -- so it doesn't really fall under what I said.

Slappy, how in the world did you interpret what I said as "double standards are OK"? I specifically said they're not. ???

 

buck, that's my bad. I was ascribing Bubbler's post about never initiating contact to you. So I was thinking you were saying all contact is inappropriate, when you did not.

 

Just remember ... journalism is a contact sport.

Dancing is a collision sport.

 

Re touching/hugging/handshaking etc:

One thing I know about successful women in sports: They have an extremely well-honed and experienced sense of situation. They get the nuances of certain scenarios, the people involved, and the invisible boundaries. The ones who don't get it just fail.

Considering someone like Erin has always been targeted as a hottie airhead, she would have failed in this business a long time ago if she didn't get it. Clearly, she does. She has a very specific job, and she does it in a very specific way. Good for her.

 

It's all good, IJAG. I hope I clarified anyway -- I think "in the normal course of conversation" is the line that clears it up for me. Some people are more demonstrative when they talk, and I think that type of contact is normal and OK. You shouldn't have to be a robot when you're interviewing somebody ... whether male or female.

BUT, you shouldn't go out of your way to make non-casual, not-in-the-course-of-conversation physical contact with someone you have a professional relationship with. That's the boundary, and I think Andrews crossed that then. (Maybe she didn't; I wasn't there. But that's the sense I get, and hey, we all have our opinions.)

As for contact itself, if Ramirez or Tony Stewart or somebody gives you a fist-bump or even a little hug ... well, what can you do? You handle it with grace, and know you're still a professional even if they cross the lines a little. Nothing wrong with that, because you didn't go out of your way to make that contact. I think Andrews handles that well most times (Pat White, etc., being an exception), especially since she's a target for that, as 21 said. Sometimes, like this, she could have handled it better. But so can we all.

 

You know why it's a double standard? Because -- get ready now -- men and women are different. And those differences are highlighted when a woman is working in a male-dominated environment like a major league locker room.

People's reactions are different. I'm guessing that in his time with the Cubs, Lou Piniella has never asked Bruce Miles or Paul Sullivan if they're going on a modeling assignment. I'm also guessing Miles and Sullivan wouldn't have to feel a player's hand to report about his injury. And if that becomes the standard, I'll never write about another groin pull.

It gets back to the foolishness of "if a guy wore (whatever) into a locker room...." that's totally irrelevant. Things are different. Erin Andrews will get a different reaction in a locker room than Steve Levy will.

Men. Women. They're different. You don't have to embrace the concept, but you should try to understand it.