Press Box ejections

The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff McLane was ejected from the press box at the Eagles/Cowboys game this afternoon. Based on accounts (that so far lack comment from McLane or the Eagles), the Eagles' decision appears to be, at best, questionable.

Eagles beat writer Jeff McLane ejected from press box during game

Question for the group: Has anyone been ejected from an event you were covering, and how did you handle it?

 

As a 17-year-old college freshman I was ejected from the Big East Tournament at MSG. I was doing something I was not supposed to be doing -- taking pictures from the side as opposed to under the basket, because there was no room under the basket. Got caught and told not to do it again. I did, had credential taken away and escorted from building. Lesson learned.

 

I was ejected from the table as an SID many years ago.

 

I asked Marcus on Twitter how old the person was that yelled. I don't know Jeff personally but everything I've read and heard suggests he is a professional human being.

There are some people who get in certain jobs and think "Look at me. I'm important!" and then go and do bush-league stuff like this.

I hope the Inky and DN give the Eagles plenty of negative publicity on Monday.

 

I was never thrown out, but once I received a technical foul in an old Eastern League game when Bay State Bombardier coach and coke addict Johnny Neumann screamed an obscenity at a ref. He'd been told by the owner he'd be fined some serious dough if he got another technical (he set some kind of record) so he pointed at me, minding my own business on the bench pretending to be an assistant, and said "He said it, not me!" Ref believed him, or maybe just knew how much money the coach to lose.

 

What was the obscenity?

 

I've never been ejected from a press box or anything that matter. I can't imagine doing something stupid enough to get thrown out of a ballgame, much less how I would explain it to my bosses.

 

I've covered some shitty high school games that made me wish I had gotten thrown out by the time they were over.

 

Never been thrown out, but did have a ref threaten to do it at a high school football game once.
It had been kind of a weird game. Some goofy trick plays, bad or odd officiating calls, things like that. Then, at the start of the fourth quarter, a circuit breaker goes off and the lights on the visitors' side of the stadium go out. There's a brief delay, word comes that the lights will be back on soon and the home side is still on, so they resume play.

First play, there's an offsides penalty on the defense -- only there isn't. It's wiped out because the officials weren't ready. Seems a member of the crew was either an electrician or worked for the local electric company and he was up on the light pole trying to help them reset the circuit breaker.
After overhearing the explanation I just started laughing, mostly to myself, because of the absurdity of it.
At that point, one of the other officials comes over to me and yells at me, "IF I HEAR ONE MORE WORD FROM YOU, YOU'RE OUTTA HERE!"
I hadn't said anything to the guy all night, or done anything that I knew of. I guess he was just frustrated at the situation. Seeing as I was on the visitors' sideline (our local team), though, I figured I'd better keep my mouth shut. The last thing I needed was to have the coach pissed at me for getting him an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in a close rivalry game. Even if I wasn't directly affiliated with the team, I doubt the official would've cared.

 

I've never been ejected from a press box personally. I like to think that I'd have made the Eagles eject me too (I know my boss would've supported me on that), but who knows if I'm as forward about it when I'm faced with the situation.

 

I've never been ejected from one. Whenever possible, I made it a point to not even go into one in the first place.

I always, always preferred being closer to the field.

 

I actually got ejected TO the press box once.
I was at an SEC game and for some reason decided to go down to the field during pregame. While I was down there, I realized I'd never really been at field level to witness everything in the flow of the game. Just the milling around near the end. I didn't even think about the possibility of violating credential terms or mucking up security or game day operations by being on the field.
So I stuck around for about half of the first quarter, taking in the atmosphere, until the school's SID showed up out of nowhere and firmly said, "We have a seat for you in the press box. Please use it."
I did.

While on the field, though, I did witness something that made it worth it. The two schools' cheerleaders were in the same corner of the stadium and engaged in a turf war. One of them dropped their flag and it draped over my head. Once I got out from under it I saw the two squads engaged in a brawl/slap fight that was one of the most hilarious, surreal things I've ever witnessed.