The new normal in sports media coverage

pennstatenews via flickr

I usually enjoyed chatting with John Fox when he was coach of the Carolina Panthers. He was always congenial in our conversations and occasionally thoughtful and articulate.

Fox was easy to like. But only when he was talking off the record.

On the record? Fox was one of the more difficult coaches to cover. He wasn't as belligerent as some. He wasn't a jerk like others. But Fox was deliberately and maddeningly vague, bland and unresponsive to even the most obvious questions one might ask a head coach of a major professional sports team. He said nothing. For years. He offered no insight to even the most banal questions. I think if I had asked Fox on the record what time it was, he would have said, "it is what it is."

So I can't say I'm particularly surprised by the restrictive new rules for media covering the Chicago Bears during training camp with Fox now in his first year there after stints with Carolina and Denver. According to reports out of the Bears camp, all interviews with players must be requested 24 hours in advance. And reporters aren't allowed to write about what they see in training camp -- even though fans are allowed to tweet whatever they want.

The excuse offered by the Bears is that this will somehow prevent scouts from learning about opponents. Hogwash. If coaches are motivated enough to learn another team's secrets, they don't need the media to help them. See Bill Belichick.

So this isn't about helping the team win. It's about controlling and limiting the media. And whether this was Fox's idea or not, I suspect he doesn't give a hoot if the media's job is suddenly a lot harder.

In Europe, it happens all the time, as The New York Times reported today. One professional soccer team even banned the local media because the owner didn't like the coverage received.

The phase out of independent media coverage of sports teams isn't quite that extensive in the U.S. But it is happening here. Chicago shouldn't be viewed as an aberration, but more likely a trendsetter.

It didn't use to be this way. For years, sports teams and leagues had a symbiotic relationship with the media. Teams needed media coverage for marketing to build interest and sell tickets. Newspapers needed the coverage to help drive readership. It was a win-win no matter what the tone of the coverage. Back in the day, the New York Giants used to provide travel arrangements for some reporters. When I covered the Hartford Whalers years ago, I occasionally took the team's charter flight and the Whalers routinely booked a hotel room for me on the road (the flight and hotel were paid for by the newspaper).

Of course, the internet changed all of that. Teams now create their own content for marketing and can bypass the media to reach directly to the fans. And they are increasingly limiting independent media in favor of their marketing partners like ESPN, Fox Sports, etc., where coverage is more friendly and controlled.

The media still needs sports content to drive readership. But teams and leagues now seemingly view independent media as parasites. So there is a pressure on reporters to build strong relationships with teams through positive coverage. Those who don't adhere to the company line will be increasingly cut out of access to athletes and coaches.

It's even happening in sports like Nascar, which used to be media friendly but has drastically reduced access to drivers in the last year or two. These days, stories need layers of public relations approval before interviews are even scheduled. And it's not unusual for PR reps to ignore emails from media deemed unfavorable.

This is the new normal.

Michael Sam, the media and that shower question

A reporter I respect immensely called the ESPN story on Michael Sam’s shower habits as “nothing more serious than the death of journalism as we know it.”

I hope somebody can explain that to me, because I’m not sure I understand the kerfuffle that has erupted over Tuesday's report from the St. Louis Rams training camp.

Here’s what I know: For years, the fear of a gay athlete in the locker room and shower has been at the center of arguments against acceptance of a gay teammate. It is such an important issue that out former football player and executive director of the You Can Play Project Wade Davis addresses it directly when he meets with teams.

And it’s enough of a question that the noted gay sports website Outsports.com ran a full column from a gay former football player explaining why straight athletes need not be concerned about gay teammates in the shower. That ran in February.

So now we finally have the arrival of Michael Sam, who is hoping to make the St. Louis Rams roster this season and become the first openly gay player in the NFL. The team has been in training camp for about a month, long enough for both Sam and his straight teammates to get comfortable around each other.

Isn’t it appropriate for a reporter to ask how it’s going? Isn’t it worth reporting that the fear surrounding the shower issue for so many years turned out to be completely unfounded? Isn’t it a good idea to let people know it’s a non-issue in the Rams training camp as several players indicated in that ESPN report?

Are we suddenly so evolved on this issue that has roiled sports for so long that it is now verboten to even ask about it? 

If the reporter hadn’t asked the question, then Rams teammate Chris Long never would have tweeted this:

And from now on, that single tweet is going to be referenced every time the issue of professionalism in the locker room comes up.

Here’s why I think that’s important: There are no doubt other gay football players who are watching and waiting to see how Sam is treated by his teammates, organization, fans and the league. If teammates come out in support of Sam, that sends a powerful message to those closeted athletes that they might be supported, too. And perhaps it is a step forward for those who would like to come out as well.

Shouting down the reporter for asking the question inhibits conversation rather than fosters it. And we need to keep talking about these issues. Because this isn’t over. Sam’s arrival is a beginning, not an ending. The more Chris Long’s who come forward to tell their teammates it’s not an issue, the more welcoming the locker room will be for gay athletes. And the sooner we will be done with this as an issue once and for all.

But we're not there yet. We're not even close.

When ESPN reporter Josina Anderson asked the question, she got the answer that every gay or straight person who cares about acceptance should have been thrilled to finally hear: The shower is not an issue.

So thanks for asking …

Nate Ryan's love-hate-love story

USA Today motorsports writer Nate Ryan is getting married in August. Have you heard the tale? It's your classic love story -- all except the part about Nate's fiancee once hating his guts. Oh, and that 16-year stretch when they didn't even talk to each other.

But maybe you have to love someone to hate them that much, don't you think? So that’s where we’ll start and end this little story that deserves to be told about two well known sportswriters who fell in, then out, then back in love again. We’ll get to all that messy stuff in a minute.

Nate met Jodie Valade of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland back when they were both journalism students at Northwestern University in the mid 1990s. Nate was a senior, Jodie a sophomore. He was her editor at The Daily Northwestern student newspaper and they had a class together as well. 

"I remember purposely missing class so I would have to call him to find out what happened that day,'' said Jodie, who mustered the courage to overcome her own shyness and asked Nate to her sorority spring formal in 1995.

That was the same spring Nate bought a brand new red Toyota Tercel, graduated from college and drove to California to take a job covering sports for the San Bernardino Sun. They dated for nearly two years while Jodie was still at Northwestern.

The distance was tough; their youth made it tougher. Couple the ambition to follow their own career paths with the realization that Jodie was on a fast track to a major metro while Nate was going to take longer to get there, and that was one too many obstacles to overcome.

Nate ended the relationship in 1997. Jodie couldn’t forgive him for the longest time.

"It broke my heart,'' she said. "I guess I thought he was my true love. Turns out, I was right."

But it would take years to get there.

Why Jimmie Johnson's surgery is news

Amy K. Marbach/Flickr

Six-time Nascar champion Jimmie Johnson revealed on Sunday that he underwent offseason surgery to repair three non-sports related hernias, a procedure that he acknowledged affected his preparation for the 2014 season.

New information on a popular public figure? By any measure -- in just about any newsroom in the country -- that would qualify as news. And yet, on Monday there was some dispute among fans, Johnson and even a few members of the media as to whether it should have been viewed that way.

Here's what Johnson told the media after he won the Sprint Cup race at Dover on Sunday: "I didn't realize it was one, a secret, or two, public information. Have you had any surgeries lately? Is there any procedures -- when did you have your teeth cleaned?"

To which I would answer ...

The wrath of Tony Stewart

Tony Stewart via flickr/AmyKay1974

Back when I was a hockey writer in Hartford, Conn., I once inspired an entire arena to laugh at me.

I was covering a minor-league championship on a night when I didn't have time to wait for players to get to the locker room for interviews following the game. As they lingered after the celebration was mostly over and my deadline quickly approached, I decided to go out onto the ice to talk to them.

You can probably imagine what happened next. I slipped and fell on my backside and the fans roared. 

Fortunately, a very kind player named Joe Day skated over and helped me back on my feet. I tracked Joe down recently to thank him once again and he actually thanked me back for treating him well during his professional career.

For some reason, his email made me smile and think of Tony Stewart.

Nascar joins the national conversation

 flickr/duane.schoon

Nothing I have written on jersey/slant has generated more page views, discussion, misunderstanding and utter vitriol than a post entitled, "Nascar's silence on Jason Collins says it all."

It was written last April, the day after N.B.A. veteran Jason Collins became the first professional athlete in one of the four major team sports to come out as gay. I wrote about the reaction to the news, including a phone call from President Barack Obama and tweet from First Lady Michelle Obama. But more specifically, I noted the sports world reaction, which included support from athletes in the N.B.A., N.F.L., Major League Baseball as well as other sports.

As I pointed out in the column, there was no public statement from Nascar or any of its drivers (although a Nascar official did respond to a request for comment). I wrote that it was a missed opportunity for the sport to join the national conversation and sent the wrong message to those within Nascar who are gay. For that, I was vilified.

Of course, gay rights remain a contentious, ever-evolving issue in this country. There continue to be opportunities to take a stand. And so it was on Wednesday when Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer announced she vetoed Senate Bill 1062, which would have allowed businesses to legally discriminate against gays in the state.

Brewer came under significant pressure from politicians on both sides of the aisle and business groups who were against the bill. There were also indications the N.F.L. would have considered moving the Super Bowl, slated to be played in Arizona in 2015, to another state if it became law.

When Brewer announced she had vetoed the bill, there were many who went public with their approval of the decision. Among them: Nascar. With the Sprint Cup series about to shift to Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday, spokesman David Higdon released this statement on Wednesday night:

"We are pleased with Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s veto of SB1062. Nascar actively strives to promote diversity and inclusion throughout the motorsports industry. Nascar has a zero tolerance policy against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, race, gender, national origin, age, color, disability, religion, or other factors which deny the essential humanity of all people."

Welcome to the conversation.

Daring the NFL to discriminate

University of Missouri

The NFL has too many immature, homophobic or religiously conservative players who can't handle a gay teammate in their locker room. The NFL has too many owners, general managers or coaches who don't want to deal with the media onslaught that will come from drafting someone who is gay.

The NFL just isn't ready for an out gay player.

That's not my assessment, mind you. That's the opinion of NFL general managers and others interviewed by Sports Illustrated following the decision by Missouri defensive end Michael Sam, projected to be taken as high as the third round by some, to come out as gay before the NFL draft. According to the article, many believe Sam made a mistake by coming out. They think he will plummet in the draft and will lose six or seven figures in salary as a result.

For those wondering why he would do this, why he would make this an issue -- why any person, for that matter, wants to come out and potentially make so many around them uncomfortable:

This boycott is for you NBC, GE, Coca-Cola, etc.

zoomar/flickr

Some people love the Summer Olympics. For me, it was always the Winter Games. Phil Mahre. Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner. Torville and Dean. Mike Eruzione. The best game I have watched in any sport in the last decade had to be the 2010 Olympic hockey final between the U.S. and Canada in Vancouver.

There is something about snow and ice that just warms me.

So it's going to be that much harder not to turn on the television and watch the Sochi Olympics, which begin on Feb. 6. But I can't watch. I won't. Not one second -- unless there is the kind of news many of us fear and none of us wants to see happen.

Sweet One/flickr

Barring that, I will not view, listen, tweet, post or otherwise support these Games in any way that can benefit NBC or sponsors such as General Electric, McDonald's, Coca-Cola or VISA. It's my little protest of all these companies that have turned their collective back on the human rights violations of Russia to make a buck by sponsoring these Olympic Games.

Why hit on them? After all, they didn't choose Sochi. That was the IOC's unfathomable decision. I don't know how Russia won the bid to host the 2014 Games, although it's hard not to wonder. But regardless, it's clear the IOC had its own agenda in placing these Games so close to a war zone. An actual war zone, for God's sake.

So we can't do anything about the IOC by ourselves. But we can send a message to the companies that support it. If enough of us boycott their telecasts and products and stain them all for buying into Sochi -- and believe me, I am not alone -- maybe they will in turn send a message to the IOC that will actually be heard. Maybe they can be the ones to make a difference.

And maybe this will be the last time the IOC chooses a host that threatens the lives of its own citizens, places so many needlessly in harm's way and even poisons stray dogs.

Maybe not. But I couldn't live with myself if I supported the Sochi Olympics in any way. Can you?

#Principle6 #StonewallSochi.

ESPN, suicide and a story I've never told before

I was once assigned to write a feature story on a high profile, nationally known professional athlete who kept getting into trouble. What was wrong with this guy? I talked to former coaches and anyone in his hometown who knew him back when the athlete was in high school.

Through that reporting, I learned a shocking family secret.

The athlete's mother had attempted suicide back around the time he was becoming a local star with a big future. Not only that, but it was the athlete who had actually found his mother following the attempt.

The information may have shed some light on why this athlete had been so troubled. It also turned what was going to be a good feature into a great story.

But before I published it I wanted to find out something about this woman who was not a public figure and was about to have her personal agony exposed. That was a problem because I was not able to interview her. The athlete was refusing all media requests at the time, too.

So I tracked down the brother of the athlete and I asked him the one question I needed an answer to before writing this story:

An NFL coach wants me dead

Anyone who has paid attention to the NFL this season should not be surprised by the Chris Kluwe column posted on Deadspin.com on Thursday. Kluwe described in detail a homophobic coach he claims ended his career as a punter with the Minnesota Vikings.

Clearly, the NFL has taken a step back while the rest of the country moves forward on gay issues. Or maybe the NFL is exactly where it always has been -- to the right of the mainstream with a streak of anti-gay through the core. How else to explain the sudden disappearance from the NFL of gay supporters and at least one athlete in his prime who was rumored to be gay? Just coincidences? Maybe. Maybe not.

Kluwe, a straight ally who was an outspoken supporter of gay marriage in Minnesota, is out of the NFL. So is Brendon Ayanbadejo, another supporter. Both saw their careers abruptly end. Too old? Not good enough? Or too gay-friendly?

What about those football players who were supposedly going to come out before this past season ... until they suddenly crept back into the closet? Or Kerry Rhodes, one of the better defensive backs in the game, who is suddenly out of the NFL after he was rumored to be gay?

And what to make of that bizarre Aaron Rodgers interview recently where he felt obligated to declare "I really, really like women" amid gay rumors?

A fitting postscript to 'The end of a career in journalism'

I received a lot of responses and retweets from yesterday's column on media companies that refuse to pay writers for their work or expertise, and why it would eventually mean the end of my journalism career. It was almost all very supportive and for that, I am grateful.

There was an interesting discussion on sportsjournalists.com -- a site populated by sports journalists, one presumes -- where many argued that the market had simply declared there was no value to our work. That is far too simple an explanation for the massive transformation within the industry, from the horrific decision years ago to give away the product for free to the inevitable decimation of independent media sports staffs that followed and the rise of journo-marketers at stakeholder sites from nfl.com to ESPN.com. There are a lot of reasons why the industry is where it is today and why it is forcing me out.

But perhaps the most telling response to my column came via a personal message that showed up in my Facebook inbox. A radio host named Dennis Michelsen from RaceTalkRadio wrote that he enjoyed my column on media outlets that refuse to pay people for their expertise, but he really liked another one I had written about fewer independent voices in Nascar. He wanted to talk about that column on his radio show and asked me to email him to set up a time for an interview.

I wrote back and asked what he would pay me to appear on his show.

His response: "Guests appear for free on our radio show to publicize their work ..."

The end of a career in journalism

Shortly after I wrote a jersey/slant column last July titled, "Nascar, Kyle Petty and the future of sports coverage," I received an email from an editor of a major metropolitan newspaper's editorial board. He wanted permission to reprint the column for the op-ed page. I responded, in part, with a request for information on the newspaper's compensation rate.

He quickly wrote back that they had chosen a different column instead. I've always wondered if it was because I dared to ask for money.

Not that I would be shocked if that was the reason. I've been asked too many times in my career to provide my work or expertise for free. And I'm hardly alone. Here's Tim Kreider's piece in The New York Times about the absurdity of this surprisingly commonplace practice. It's called "Slaves of the Internet, Unite!"

It would almost be funny if the truth wasn't killing my career.

#StonewallSochi #SingSochi

An athlete boycott of the Sochi Olympics was never going to happen. Let's be clear about that. Yes, Harvey Fierstein's op-ed piece in The New York Times comparing the anti-gay laws and ugly rhetoric in Russia to the anti-Semitic rants of the Nazi's before the 1936 Games was compelling.

As if a compelling argument actually mattered.

We all get what matters: Money. Obscene amounts of money have been made and will be made in these Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia in 2014. And that's why there won't be a national boycott. Money always trumps human dignity. But we already knew that, didn't we?

And hey, the IOC says Russia has assured everyone that it won't arrest athletes or fans during the Games. The real horror, brutality and inhumanity will be saved only for its own citizens. So there's really no need for the world to care or even notice. Move along, people, nothing to see here ...

So what are those of good conscience to do about these Games, which will be held in a frightening country where athletes will try to compete at their best while under the threat of jail or expulsion if they offer a statement of support to the oppressed?

Stakeholder journalism bias, Pete Prisco edition

Is it just me, or did Pete Prisco's CBSSports.com column on the $765 million concussion settlement with players read like an old NFL talking-points memo?

Prisco wrote that NFL players who sustained brain damage from the game shouldn't be compensated for their suffering because they knew what they were getting into when they agreed to play football. Of course, that doesn't mesh with the accusation that the league misled players about the danger of concussions. But that side of the lawsuit somehow wasn't mentioned in Prisco's column.

Look, if Prisco wants to announce to every player in the NFL that they get what they deserve for playing the game and shouldn't receive a dime in disability compensation, that's his prerogative. It's hard to believe players are going to have an ounce of respect for him after that column. But that's his choice.

Nor am I going to suggest Prisco might have brain damage, as Keith Olbermann did in his otherwise expert takedown of Prisco's relative indifference to the hardship and tragedy of former players like Junior Seau, who committed suicide like others who were found to really have brain damage.

I prefer to focus on the most obvious reason why Prisco would write such a conveniently dismissive, pro-NFL column about potentially thousands of irreparably damaged human beings:

A little piece of advice for Caroline Wozniacki

Dear Ms. Wozniacki,

We don't know each other, but as someone who has written about tennis, I feel I am perfectly within my rights to give you advice about your personal life. Even if it's none of my damn business.

I think it's time to say what everyone has been thinking for the last two years. C'mon, we all know what has happened to your game, why you have gone from No. 1 in the rankings in 2011 to No. 10 and without a title this season when you should be at the top of the tennis world.

It's the boyfriend. You spend too much time together. After every tennis tournament, you're off to some golf course to walk 18 holes instead of practicing. How selfish of Rory McIlroy to expect you to care about him and his career. As if he should matter.

Could gay accusation cost Kerry Rhodes NFL job?

The last time NFL free agent safety Kerry Rhodes was asked about his future, he told AL.com earlier in July that he was in the middle of negotiations and a decision on where he would play was coming soon.

"It's in the works," he said. "I can't talk about it in depth but there's a good four teams that I'm looking at. There are ongoing discussions. I'm trying to see which one will be the best fit for me. You will see me, though."

So far, we haven't.

Training camps opened throughout the NFL this week, with all signed veterans arriving by Saturday. Rhodes was not among them.

Maybe it's a negotiating ploy. Maybe Rhodes thinks he can wait until teams evaluate their rosters and possibly get a better deal later. Maybe at 30 he is hoping to skip the rigors of training camp and sign later in preseason.

Or is it possible an accusation that Rhodes is gay is costing him a chance to sign a lucrative contract, perhaps even preventing him from getting a job in the NFL?

The merry Jews of Nascar

Somebody with a sharp wit and way too much time on his hands created JewsWhoLikeNascar.com. Go ahead, click on it. You'll laugh.

Yes, Nascar was born in the Bible Belt South. And racing and religion are inseparable. Each weekly driver's meeting ends with a prayer and every pre-race ceremony includes an invocation.

Goyishe sport, right? Oy! Would you believe there are enough Jews in Nascar to fill an Adam Sandler song? And then some.

No, they're not the ones driving the racecars, so you're not going to read about them. But here's the thing: You probably will read them. That's because we're all in the press box and media center. It's one of the oddities of Nascar:

The locker-room debate revisited. Again and again.

I pushed the door open as if I belonged and tried to ignore the sudden discomfort the first time I ever walked into a locker room as a professional sportswriter. I felt empowered and nervous. I certainly wasn't the first woman ever to go into the New Jersey Devils locker room. And to their credit, they didn't seem to notice or care that I was in there.

I still feel that discomfort every time I go into a locker room. But I'm forever grateful for the opportunity as one of the many reporters who benefited from the battles in the 1970s and '80s to allow female sportswriters access to locker rooms. That story was retold in "Let Them Wear Towels," this week's installment of ESPN's excellent "Nine for IX" series on women and sports. Watch a replay if you can.

Equality won all those years ago. And because of that, I've been fortunate to have a career as a sportswriter with very few locker-room incidents involving athletes or coaches. The overwhelming majority I've encountered over the years have been professional, and most of my issues have been about what I wrote, not who I am. Fair enough.

The ugliness of judging beauty, Wimbledon edition

As Andy Murray held the Wimbledon trophy aloft, the first British man to win the singles title in 77 years, I can't imagine there was a single person in all of England who looked at him and said at that moment, "Good thing he can play tennis because, you know, he's not exactly a looker."

Who would ever mar the greatest moment in a tennis player's career with a nonsensical, irrelevant comment like that? And on television, no less?

And yet, it happened.

Nascar, Kyle Petty and the future of sports coverage

Back in May, while covering the Nascar All-Star race and Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway for The New York Times, I conducted a little independent study. I made a list of the reporters who asked questions of five-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson in a pair of press conferences held in the media center.

Of the 16 questions asked over the two weeks, 15 came from reporters or broadcasters who work for media outlets that have a financial relationship with Nascar, from the Motor Racing Network to Nascar.com. Only one question came from a reporter who works for an independent television station.

That's meant mostly as an observation and not a criticism of Nascar, which decides who gets to ask questions of drivers during press conferences. I think it's partly a function of who is in the media center these days. And why they are there.