General clubhouse professional courtesy thread

The dude doing his first MLB game thread got me to wondering about clubhouse behavior/protocol among journalists (and TV people, too 8)) . I've been around a while and I've been in just about every clubhouse situation imaginable. I know every city is different, but I'm curious what some of you would consider important things for some of our younger brethren/sistren to know about clubhouse pecking orders.

Here's one that comes to mind for me: If you see a writer or two huddled with a player in front of his locker, tread lightly. I'm not saying avoid it altogehter, but just know that if you walk up to see what's being said, and the player clams up, all of a sudden you have two peers who hate you. They haven't marked their territory or anything and you are certainly entitled, but be careful horning in on interviews this way.

 

I know what not to do ...

Don't do what one Ann Arbor News reporter did, and go into the Yankees clubhouse and ask for Drew Henson's autograph.

Still a story that is told to guffaws and belly-busting chuckles.

 

Don't sit on any of the couches, and don't take from the bubble gum bowl.
Don't talk to a player while he's eating. If players are playing cards don't go up and interrupt.
There are certain places journalists aren't supposed to be; find out where those spots are and don't go there.

 

Ha, ha. This happens all the time in the clubhouse of the team I once covered. All the writers looked like chipmunks with the bubblegum in their cheeks.

Don't stand on the team's logo on the carpet.

 

I am. if a small group of beat writers is talking to a player? don't go there (unless it's post-game deadline situation, then anything goes)

no. you're not. respect the beat guys or they'll make your life hell. in a lot of cases, the player won't appreciate it either

 

Smarmy?

 

Respect another writer if he's doing a one-on-one. NEVER sit on their furniture. Don't hang out unless you have a reason to be there, such as seeking out certain interview subjects. Here, at least, the players hate writers who try to hang out and be one of them. Plus most of them aren't that great of company anyway.

 

And most importantly, don't look down. EVER. If you drop something, leave it.

 

Is that a joke that's over my head, or is there really something to that?

 

He had the locker room confused with federal prison. Common mistake.

 

If you're a TV guy, watch how you wield your mic. Keep in mind that cute plastic thing with your station's logo on it has sharp edges.

At a college hoops game a few years back, a player hit a shot at the buzzer to win. The network covering the game (and it was a night game) got him first. We writers swarmed him when he got to the interview room.

Local TV guy was late to the party, and there was no place for him or his camera man to stand. So he tried to squeeze in next to me, but I had no place to go. So he yanks that goddamn mic back in disgust, and the corner of that plastic piece catches me a half-inch under my eye. No sorry, no nothing. Fucking dick. If you're in TV, don't be that guy.

 

Don't drag your dick in the postgame spread...