It was one of my editors.That was a very different time, a time when you didn’t mention things like that to your editor, or anyone else. But I did have to navigate some difficult moments.
The sexual harassment and verbal abuse of 15 former female employees of the Washington NFL team, as reported Thursday by The Washington Post, is appalling and unacceptable. Cooke eventually got the hint and I simply got firm handshakes.General manager Bobby Beathard made it clear early on that he didn’t want a woman covering his team.
One of the player's buddies on the team stopped me one day and said that if the player's wife ever asked, I had called their house to interview him. In the 1980s, you had to do it that way. www.christinebrennan.com He shook all the male reporters’ hands but leaned in for a kiss with me.
It helped make me the journalist I am today, and for that, I will always be grateful to The Post and to Gibbs and many of his players.
"I had about a dozen players ask me out. Both times, I was able to turn my head and take it on the cheek. I politely stood my ground. Cooke laughed and answered half of them.Twice, Cooke kissed me. "They have nothing better to talk about. I think we had the last laugh.Another player asked me once to stop talking to him as I passed by his locker.This was my first year on the beat, so I asked him why this was happening. Christine Brennan Columnist Christine Brennan writes columns on national and international sports issues for USA Today. Twitter Facebook
he asked.He pressed the issue. It was a time when you tried to ignore the harassment and the sexism and keep right on going, which is exactly what I did.Now, however, terrible behavior like that is eventually reported. "Do you stay at the same hotel as the team?" Those were the days when the team actually won games, and Super Bowls. Men lose their jobs. USA TODAY.
Christine Brennan (born May 14, 1958, in Toledo, Ohio) is an American sports columnist, TV and radio commentator, best-selling author, and nationally known speaker.