Non-journalists cheering in press box. Should I say something?

Had to bump this due to more Bobby Hebert goodness from a recent Saints game:

 

What a meat head.

 

I was at the Saints-Jets game on Sunday and saw when he jumped up and started celebrating. My reaction was very similar to one of the guys sitting next to him. All I could do was bury my face into my hands and shake my head.

I think the problem these days is that so many of these radio/TV guys are, in essence, employees of the team they cover now. So they don't see themselves as journalists, per se.

 

Does anybody ever say anything to him?

 

Not that I'm aware of. He also uses "We" and "Us" when talking about the Saints on the radio. Of course, he played for the Saints, so I kind of give him a pass on that one.

 

At a conference basketball tournament, the hosts of the local drive-time sports show got drunk and, with their media passes on display, went down on the court in front of the fans and started cheerleading. They got escorted away and, in post-game discussions, I was the bad guy (I was SID at the time) becuase my argument was that they were an embarassment to our school. I was the only one holding that position. AD, marketing guy, ticket guy though they were showing the proper spirit.

 

Had to be at least 10 years ago. I was covering a Bengals-Raiders game from the second row of the press box when, a few minutes before kickoff, someone with a pass slides into the seat next to me with a friend in tow. Raiders get the kickoff and get a drive going (see kids, the Raiders did too had an offense), and the friend is cheeering after every first down. All I can think "no, not one of those guys." A couple of Bay Area writers look back in my area, and I nod my head toward the pair on my right, as if to say "It isn't me, it's them." This continues for another play or two until Ann Killion of the Mercury News gets up, and, with all the ferocity her 5 ft. frame could give, shouts back, "Hey! No cheering in the press box!" The rest of the game was much quieter.

 

I was covering a road game a few weeks ago and the governor of the state I was in decided to come up to the press box in the second half with a buddy of his. He was cheering, the PA guy said to stop cheering in the press box. A few minutes later, his team made a bonehead blunder that eventually cost it the game. He threw his napkins and hot dog wrapper in the air and left.

 

Went to an NFL game in Cincinnati a few years ago (when the Bengals were considered to be a rising team, and IIRC, were unbeaten at the time, as were the visiting Colts).

The put the visiting media next to the local TV people. One Cincy TV guy spends the entire game loudly b*tching about the Bengals, their defense, and pretty much everything else. Indy TV guy whirls around -- speaking for more than just himself -- and says "hey, you got money on this game? Because the rest of us are trying to work." I thought the Cincy guy was going to take a swing at him. The rest of the Cincinnati people calmed him down, and things were a bit quieter in our area the rest of the night.

 

An addendum to the "cheering Jake Plummer" thing...

What about the applause in the press room after Gundy's "I'm a man! I'm 40!" rant two yerars ago?

I found that a bit embarrassing too ...

 

I was watching the ESPN show on the Gretzky trade on Wednesday night and noticed that Gretzky got cheered after he withdrew from the press conference crying. Anyone know if the media were cheering, or was it just non-media?