Category Archives: Sportswriters

Flashback: Recalling impact of Dick Young, who changed everything for sportswriters

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I only heard Dick Young speak only once. During my first World Series in 1986, I squeezed into the back of the room during the baseball writers’ meeting at Fenway Park.

I recall Young gave a speech in which he implored writers to continue to fight for their turf. To not give to the bastards, etc.

The fiery New York sports columnist could see where things were going in regards to sportswriters, and he didn’t like it.

It turned out to be Young’s last speech to the writers in a World Series. He died in 1987 at the age of 69.

If you never heard of Young, or need a refresher on what he meant to the business, you must read this 1985 profile written by Ross Wetzseon for Sport Magazine. Deadspin posted the piece on its site this week.

Wetzseon writes:

In the evolution of sportswriting from adolescent mythologizing to tell-it-like-it-is honesty, Dick Young was arguably the single most important transitional figure. There’s a better way to describe the arc of Dick Young’s career than to say he was a street-smart kid who rose to patron saint who degenerated into crotchety old man. And that’s to say that while his politics may be as reactionary as Louis XIV’s, his professional role has been as radical as Robespierre’s. What his detractors fail to understand is that there are many battles they don’t have to fight because Dick Young has already fought them—and won.

There’s this exchange:

“Gimme a beer,” says Dick Young. “Whadda ya wanna know?”

Some of your younger colleagues think. . .

“Shit, those young guys. They don’t work hard enough, they don’t work the phones, they don’t have any respect for themselves as professionals. I remember when the New York Times started giving days off in spring training! They’re in Florida, for Christ’s sake, and they want a day off! Me? I only write five columns a week these days. Piece of cake.”

Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News says. . .

“Mike Lupica? He’s a newspaper version of a spoiled-brat ballplayer,” Dick Young snaps. “He writes bullshit based on his lack of experience.”

Dick Young’s not an off-the-record guy. Skipping all over the place, talking just like his Friday column, “Clubhouse Confidential,” a sentence, three dots, on to something else, three dots, on to something else. Next question?

Murray Chass of the New York Times? “He’d sell his soul for access.” Maury Allen of the New York Post? “Careless with facts and quotes.” Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times? “Just a gagster.” Dick Young is the same with nearly all his colleagues. Not angry, not even sarcastic, just matter-of-fact rat-tat-tat. Next question.

Howard Cosell? “Howie the Shill? A fraud. An ass. A pompous ass. Those are the good things I can say about him. Now what about the other side?”

Then there’s this rant about sportswriters. Remember, this is 1985:

“Today’s writers don’t have enough guts,” he says. “They let themselves be pushed around. The players give them all that crap and they accept it”—it’s hard to tell who ticks him off the most, the players or the press. “They even have ropes around the batting cage in spring training! Jesus Christ, how’m I supposed to do my job?”

After reading it you can’t but wonder if things would be better if Young still were around.

 

 

No thanks: Lisa Olson declines to be interviewed for ESPN film on women sportswriters

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Lisa Olson declined to be interviewed in the definitive film about women sportswriters.

The directors of Let Them Wear Towels, which airs tonight on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET, used archive interviews with Olson (left in photo) to help tell the story of the infamous locker room incident involving the New England Patriots.

Olson passed when approached by directors Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern.

You can understand why. The backlash was so harsh again Olson, she eventually went to Australia to try to escape some of the madness. Clearly, she isn’t eager to revisit an extremely painful part of her life.

Last month, Olson was given the Association for Women in Sports Media’s Mary Garber Pioneer Award. Paola Boivin of the Arizona Republic did a column on Olson.

Boivin writes:

They broke into her apartment. Slashed her tires. Spit on her at games. The torment was incessant. When her employer, News Corp., offered her an opportunity to work overseas, she jumped at the chance. She intended to remain in Australia for six months. She stayed for six years.

The incident was a watershed moment for women in sports journalism. Even though the NFL had enacted an equal-access policy five years earlier, women in the business were still scrutinized, chastised and ridiculed. The story prompted conversation and inspired teams to take a closer look at the behavior of players.

Australia, meanwhile, suited her well.

“I used to hate the ‘things happen for a reason’ (saying), but … they did,” she said. “I left Boston very sad, not knowing what my career was going to be like. It took me a month there to realize you make of it what you want to make of it, and that there was a whole other world than covering sports in Boston.”

AWSM has the write-up on Olson’s acceptance speech (that’s AWSM’s Meri-Jo Borzilleri on right).

In her acceptance speech, Olson covered highlights — and lowlights — of her career, from being a high school sports editor to her first job and to her time as the first female sports columnist in Australia.

“Live like someone is watching but don’t compromise yourself,” Olson said. “Be kind to each other. Lift each other up. Treat your critics with kindness and remember all who came before you.

“I was so blessed to have this incredible army of women behind me — they’re still behind me.”

 

Barriers: New ESPN documentary shows how bad it was for early women sportswriters

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After watching ESPN’s new documentary, Let Them Wear Towels (Tuesday, 8 p.m.), I realized just how clueless I was about the early struggles of women sportswriters.

To be fair, I didn’t start working the pro and college locker rooms until the mid-80s. Some of the women issues were resolved by then, and I also was very naive about most things.

Now I know. It was bad for pioneer women sportswriters. Much worse than I thought.

It all is documented in a terrific new film that is part of ESPN Nine for IX summer series highlighting women and sports. As I wrote previously, you need to make a point about watching this documentary.

Directed by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern, Let Them Wear Towels focuses mainly on the early struggles of women sportswriters trying to break into the male-dominated world of men’s sports.

Chuck Culpepper of Sports on Earth, a long-time colleague, had the same reaction I did after watching the film.

Hearing the stories of thickheaded restrictions and anecdotal humiliation from forerunners such as Melissa Ludtke, Lawrie Mifflin, Jane Gross, Betty Cuniberti, Robin Herman, Claire Smith and Lesley Visser, made me mull how eras can seem lunatic upon reflection.

The push back was considerable. Ludtke, a Sports Illustrated writer, had to sue baseball to gain access to the locker room.

“(Bowie Kuhn’s way) of handling it was to bar the door. Don’t let it happen on our watch,” Ludke said.

Many male sportswriters also weren’t welcoming of women.

There’s a vintage clip featuring long-time New York baseball writer Maury Allen. He said the presence of women sportswriters in locker room “would diminish the joys of sports. It would diminish the joy of the athletes. The athletes would become more isolated.”

I’m sure Allen would like to have that one back.

As a result of the ridiculous mindset, the early women sportswriters were forced to endure one humiliation after another. Ludtke told the story of being forced to wait outside the Yankee locker room after Reggie Jackson’s three homer World Series game in 1977. When he finally emerged, Reggie, who had done numerous interviews with the press at his locker, told Ludtke he was too tired to talk. Hence, the need for the lawsuit.

Other women sportswriters had similar experiences, leaving them frustrated about not being able to do their jobs.

Finally, common sense eventually prevailed and women gained access to the locker room. However, problems remained. The ugly incident involving the New England Patriots and Lisa Olson gets the full treatment. (More later on why Olson didn’t give a current interview for the film).

Women sportswriters, though, didn’t give in. They kept fighting to gain access and status. The Association for Women in Sports Media recently is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. It is a testament to perseverance.

Today, nobody gives a second thought about seeing women in the press box. Many of them of bright and young, eager to dive into the fray. They likely had no idea what their predecessors went through.

It goes without saying that this is a must-watch film for them. I know I will be showing it in my journalism classes for many years to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really, a feel-good story about Twitter sparked by Richard Deitsch

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Master tweeter Richard Deitsch usually is at his best when he is feuding with Darren Rovell or going on off on something, which is all the time. However, the SI.com sports media columnist hit on something this week, and it could be big.

At least it was big enough to merit a write-up on CNN.com.

Also want to give a shout out to Steve Bennett of Sports-Casters (wearing Yale cap), who inspired the idea.

From CNN’s Dorrine Mendoza:

Richard Deitsch was perusing Twitter when one photo made him stop. At first glance it’s unremarkable, not much different from any other victory photo. It’s a bit grainy and shows three young men smiling and hugging.

One of the men had just won an NCAA hockey championship at Yale.

Deitsch said he was struck by something more than just the photo. He knew the man who posted it, Steven Bennett, host of a Buffalo-based sports podcast. Bennett is in the picture celebrating his younger brother’s victory, despite having just spent more than six weeks in the hospital.

“You gotta come now,” Bennett remembers his younger brother, Anthony Day, telling him over the phone. Bennett made it for the semifinal, which his brother’s team won in overtime. For the final game, Bennett was joined by 23 family members, one of whom snapped the photo of all three brothers embracing.

“I thought to myself how remarkable it was to have an image of what was clearly one of the best moments of Steven’s life,” Deitsch said. “I wondered: How many others have a similar image? So I took to Twitter and asked,” he said. He credited @Sports_Casters, one of Bennett’s accounts, for the idea in his tweet.

And just like that, the heart of the Internet broke wide open.

“I could never have expected what came next,” he said.

And this is what came next:

Hundreds of photos have been shared with both accounts, and continue coming in, Deitsch said. Scrolling through his newsfeed, one finds photos of a child’s first day of school and high school graduations. A child meeting a sibling for the first time and a baby recovering from open-heart surgery. But there are also unexpected moments of joy witnessed, like a long-married couple exchanging a final goodbye, hard-earned sports victories, and the day a woman opens her eyes after undergoing a heart and double-lung transplant.

CNN has a rundown of some of the pictures people sent in. Definitely worth a look.

 

 

Hanging with Obama: Frank Deford honored in White House ceremony

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Just when you didn’t think it could get any better for Frank Deford, it does.

Yesterday, Deford received the National Humanities Medal from President Obama during a ceremony at the White House.

Judging by the picture, Deford shared a light moment with the President.

Here is the citation read by Obama:

Frank Deford, sports writer, for transforming how we think about sports. A dedicated writer and storyteller, Mr. Deford has offered a consistent, compelling voice in print and on radio, reaching beyond scores and statistics to reveal the humanity woven into the games we love.

But then you already knew that.

Prior to the ceremony, Deford, 74, told his hometown paper, the Westport (Conn.) News, that he was stunned by the news.

“Obviously I was astonished. This isn’t something you expect or that anybody expects. It came completely out of the blue. I was taken aback,” Deford said. “We were in the process of moving from Westport at that time and the house was a mess. The trauma of moving and everything, it was an extraordinary moment.”

Congratulations, Frank. Well deserved.

Q/A: Former Sun-Times sportswriter’s book being made into movie about epic high school winning streak

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Neil Hayes is living the dream of nearly every author. His book is being made into a movie.

In 2002, Hayes wrote, When the Game Stands Tall: The Story of the De La Salle Spartans and Football’s Longest Winning Streak. The high school in Concord, Calif. had an epic 151-game winning streak that stretched over 13 years.

It took almost as long for the book to be made into a movie. But after many twists, turns, and seemingly roadblocks, the film actually just completed shooting in New Orleans. The cast includes Jim Caviezel as coach Bob Ladouceur, Laura Dern as his wife, and Michael Chiklis as De La Salle’s defensive coordinator.

Thomas Carter (Coach Carter) is the director, and Scott Marshall Smith adapted the screenplay from Hayes’ book. The film is slated for release in fall, 2014.

Hayes left his job at the Chicago Sun-Times so he could be a consultant during the filming of the movie. Here’s my Q/A with him about the entire experience.

You wrote this book in 2002. Did you ever dream it would be a movie?

I never dreamed this big. I just wanted to write something that fully explained the most unique football program and coach I have ever encountered. Big publishers wouldn’t touch it. They said it was too regional of a subject so I went with a local publisher. I was convinced this story would resonate. It’s very gratifying to know my instincts were correct.

As far as the movie goes, it has taken 10 years and two different producers to get to this point. I never allowed myself to believe it would happen until it actually did.

How much input did you have on the script?

Although I didn’t write the script, I was included from the very beginning and felt my voice was heard and that I impacted the script throughout the process.

What has it been like to be in New Orleans to watch the film get made? What have you learned about making a movie?

Surreal. That’s the only way to describe watching actors such as Jim Caviezel, Laura Dern and Michael Chiklis play characters I know so well.

As far as the actual making of the movie, it’s as grueling as it is rewarding. We are working a minimum of 12 hours a day while switching back and forth from day shoots to all-nighters. You film all these short scenes, from three or four different angles, and not even in chronological order. Then it all gets pieced together in post-production. It’s an amazing creative process to watch unfold.

How much interaction have you had with the actors?

Tons. I spent a lot of time with Jim early in the process to help him understand his character. Chiklis is from Boston and is a huge Bruins fan, which has made the Stanley Cup Finals interesting. Laura’s one of the most approachable people you could meet and is a bright light whenever she walks on set. The young actors playing football players are terrific guys and terrific actors who have been a blast to be around.

Why did you decide to leave the Sun-Times?

Being on set during the making of a movie based on my book is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

Short version: What made the DeLaSalle story so special? Why has this story resonated through the years?

Here’s the quote from Bob Ladouceur that convinced me this story had to be told.

“Kids respect true humility and that you stand for something more than winning. They’ll fight for you and your program if you stand for more than that. It boils down to what you believe in as a person, and I’m talking about how life should be lived and how people should be treated. Kids see all that. It’s a whole package of things that has nothing to do with standing in front of a team with a piece of chalk. You can know who to block and what play to call, but it has no meaning unless the kids know who you are. Our kids aren’t fighting for wins. They’re fighting for a belief in what we stand for.”

 

 

Chicago Tribune’s Dan Pompei to be honored in Canton: Named 2013 winner of McCann Award

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Congratulations to old colleague, Dan Pompei. A much deserved honor to a great guy.

From Brad Biggs in the Tribune:

Dan Pompei, a Chicago Bears/NFL columnist for the Chicago Tribune, has been selected as the 2013 winner of the prestigious Dick McCann Memorial Award for distinguished reporting and will be honored during enshrinement week ceremonies in August at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The award is named after Dick McCann, the first director of the Hall of Fame from 1962-67 who was a former reporter and general manager of the Washington Redskins, and has been presented by the Pro Football Writers of America annually since 1969. The first award was given to the Tribune’s George Strickler and Pompei is the fourth Tribune writer to be honored, also following Cooper Rollow (1985) and Don Pierson (1994), who Pompei calls the “gold standard in the industry.”

“I am blessed and humbled to be recognized with the highest award someone in my position can be given,” Pompei said.  “I feel so honored to be considered in a class with Don Pierson, Cooper Rollow, George Strickler and all the other great football writers who have won this award, and so honored to be chosen over the other worthy candidates.”

And some praise:

“Dan was always professional ever since he started as a journalist,” said Hall of Fame Bears linebacker Mike Singletary, an assistant coach for the Vikings. “He’s one of those guys that I always trusted and I always knew if he told me something, that’s the way it was. That’s worth a lot in this day and time.”

His ability to manage relationships with some of the biggest names in the game has enabled Pompei to weigh in on breaking news or trends in the sport with information and analysis that sets his work apart. When linebacker Brian Urlacher and the Bears parted ways in March, Pompei was able to quickly reach Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers for his perspective. During the season, Pompei’s film breakdown after each Bears game is a staple of the sports section. His depth of knowledge and understanding of personnel make him one of the authorities in the business, and his annual draft coverage is considered among the most thorough and accurate in the nation because of his wealth of contacts.

“Dan is very deserving of this award,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “He is well respected within our league, professional in his approach and works hard to understand the game. I have known Dan for a number of years and wish to congratulate him on this honor.”

 

 

Awesome: AWSM celebrates 25 years of working to advance women in sports media

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A significant landmark takes place this week in Arizona. The Association for Women in Sports Media, aka “Awesome,” will celebrate its 25th anniversary at its annual convention.

AWSM has championed advancement of women in a male dominated profession since 1988. It also has been a strong voice about locker room access as recently as earlier this spring. More importantly, the association has a scholarship/internship program that has affected the lives of 127 young women through the years.

Awesome, indeed.

I did a column on AWSM for the National Sports Journalism Site. I believe it is a must-read if you are a woman in this business and for anyone who cares about the profession for that matter.

From the post:

When the Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM) held its first convention in 1988, the joke was that they hoped to put themselves out of business as soon as possible.

“We thought if we could resolve all the issues with women in sports media, our work would be done,” said Christine Brennan, AWSM’s first president.

Ah, to be young and naive. Obviously, there still are many miles to go. However, thanks in part to AWSM, women have come a considerable way in breaking the barriers and establishing high-profile voices in sports media.

AWSM, known as “awesome” by its members and others in the industry, will celebrate its 25th anniversary this week. Nearly 200 women, some veterans in the business and many just breaking in, will travel to Scottsdale for the annual convention. Note: Bring sunscreen and drink plenty of water.

Hitting the big 2-5 is a landmark achievement considering AWSM officials couldn’t be confident that there would be a second anniversary. The association was co-founded by Kristin Huckshorn, Michele Himmelberg, Nancy Cooney, and Susan Fornoff.

Back then the notion of women working in sports media still was somewhat of a novelty. A sports staff would have a token woman, maybe two. While leagues finally consented to open the locker rooms during the mid-80s, they still weren’t a friendly place for female reporters.

“I thought about how women in sports media were so scattered — few and far between in less enlightened parts of the country — and did not have anywhere to turn for support,” said Fornoff, a long-time Bay Area reporter in an interview on the AWSM site. “I guess my motivation was to pay it forward, and to help create a network for all women in sports media.”

Lisa Olson receives AWSM’s Mary Garber Pioneer Award this year. Brennan talks about AWSM’s quick and firm response to the infamous locker room incident involving the New England Patriots.

The first major test came in 1990. Lisa Olson, working for the Boston Herald, found herself being harassed in the locker room by members of the New England Patriots. The controversy became a national story, putting AWSM in the middle of the storm.

“It was a low point in terms of what happened,” said Brennan, now a columnist for USA Today. “It also validated the existence of AWSM. Because we had a network in place, it allowed us to rally around Lisa immediately. (AWSM) members went on every TV and radio show we could to speak out about what happened. We were prepared. We knew exactly what to do.”

Olson will be on hand this week to receive AWSM’s Mary Garber Pioneer Award. Thankfully, because of the intense reaction, the incident helped reform players’ and coaches’ attitudes toward female sports reporters. Yet the issue hasn’t completely gone away. This spring, AWSM was forced to speak out again, denouncing NHL analyst Don Cherry’s ridiculous statements about women in the locker room.

Meanwhile AWSM has a complete package about its 25th anniversary on its site, including Q/As with its founders.

Brennan also wrote a post about the anniversary. She writes about the scholarship/internship program:

We awarded our first scholarship/internship in 1990. From those humble beginnings, AWSM has given out 127 scholarship/internships and will honor another six students this year. It’s the best thing AWSM does, and it’s a tremendous credit to the generosity and leadership of this organization that this program not only continues, but thrives.

During those early years of the program, I had the pleasure of calling our recipients to let them know that they had won. The second year, I ended up talking for quite a while to our winner, a Princeton electrical engineering student, after she expressed some concern about heading into sports journalism. I did my best to convince her that a terrific adventure awaited. I was so pleased when I heard she had decided to become a sports writer.

Five years later, as I was leaving The Washington Post, that young woman, Amy Shipley, replaced me as The Post’s Olympics writer. She and I still smile about that.

If you are a woman in sports media, especially someone just entering the profession, membership should be a no-brainer. However, AWSM isn’t just limited to women.

I now am a proud member. Hopefully, my small contribution will impact a young woman who wants to break into the business through the AWSM scholarship/internship program.

Here is the link to join.

Again, congratulations to AWSM. Here’s to another 25 years and more.

 

 

 

New York Post lays off horse racing writers on the eve of Belmont

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Talk about horrible timing. Wonder if the Post would have done this if a horse was bidding for a Triple Crown today?

From the Daily Racing Form:

The New York Post, one of three major dailies in the New York area, fired its racing reporters effective immediately on Friday, one day prior to the state’s biggest race, the Belmont Stakes, and the paper will no longer cover racing in-house, its lead racing reporter said.

Ed Fountaine, the Post’s lead racing reporter since 1998 and a former Daily Racing Form reporter, said he was informed in a letter on Friday that he was being fired immediately along with analysts John DaSilva and Anthony Affrunti. Fountaine, 60, said the letter cited a “transition period” for the Post because of the planned spin-off of the newspaper properties of the Post’s parent company, News Corp.

The paper will not have any in-house coverage of the Belmont Stakes, Fountaine said.