Lori

Free coupon, hell. I have $120 worth of Lot 1 parking passes left, which means Ken has three times as much, with no warning that they were going to start changing stuff up after we'd already paid for them. I emphasized that in a discussion on Jeremy White's Facebook page, and he conceded it was a fair point. ------------------------- Thanks, John.

First time I ever smelled pot smoke (or at least realized that's what it was): upper deck, 1984 home opener. Ah, memories... http://users.penn.com/~lori.chase/index.html

True. And as JW notes, the shot-pourers -- including at least one member of this board -- card anyone who looks like they might be under 25, and don't serve people who look like they've already imbibed one too many beverages that morning. Insanity works for me. Alternate answer: it's part of a fun, goofy act, just like the slime on Nickelodeon. Haven's "cover each other" reply convinces me that he has never, in fact, witnessed the ketchup ceremony, where everything is scripted ahead of time and Kenny is the only target. Whatever. Each to his own. And I've disliked Cowherd for a long time. Why stop now?

Dead wrong. As usual, Sally Jenkins has an intelligent take: Women in locker rooms: a controversy only to those uninvolved And from her Washington Post colleague (and a Buffalo guy, IIRC), Dan Steinberg: A few words on women in NFL locker rooms

The part of the NFL media policy pertaining to locker-room access (courtesy of the latest PFWA newsletter):

It's a valid question, but the trouble with that? Deadlines, as John noted, and even moreso now that the 24-hour news cycle has usurped the previous way of life. Everyone wants info and they want it NOW. Should the entire open locker room procedure be reexamined? Perhaps, although he's given several compelling reasons for keeping it the way it is. (And he's your go-to guy on this, remember, certainly not me. This is stuff I'm not dealing with at the preps/local-sports level.) To be honest, most reporters probably wouldn't mind avoiding the eau de locker -- I've heard that hockey dressing rooms are the worst of them all -- but not at the expense of missing out on potential stories. And to reiterate: if Clinton Portis thinks for a second that someone like Sally Jenkins or Christine Brennan is in there to check him out, he's sadly mistaken. Just because he apparently can't conduct himself in a professional manner doesn't mean that other people don't.

You knew I'd have something to say about this, right? But it might not be what you're expecting... Obvious lack of professionalism on both sides here. First, as JW notes: at certain times, NFL locker rooms are designated as open to the media. That's a league rule. So is their equal-access policy, established in the early 1980s -- in other words, well before the Lisa Olson incident which made me a Patriots-hater for life. Next, for those of you asking about women's high-level sports, the answer is yes: the WNBA has the same rules as the NBA, and the women's basketball Final Four and World Cup soccer also have locker-room availability for both male and female reporters. Obviously, those standards change in most amateur sports. (Read: younger athletes.) Many colleges set up separate interview rooms -- believe that's what St. Bonaventure's basketball team does, though JW can correct me if I'm wrong -- and I think we all agree that NONE of us belong in any high school locker room. I see the Killion column has already been linked. She makes some valid points, but don't be fooled into thinking Sainz has the unconditional support of female sportswriters everywhere. As a friend e-mailed me with some disdain, "Every time something like this happens to someone like her, it makes the job harder for the rest of us." Here's an insightful take from Jemele Hill: The Jets, Ines Sainz and sharing blame I agree with most of her conclusions. As I told her, my only quibble regarded her disappointment with the Association for Women in Sports Media. (Disclosure: I'm a member. Not sure if Jemele is -- don't see her name in my copy of the directory -- and I can pretty much guarantee that Sainz is not.) As much as I dislike Sainz's pose-and-flirt brand of "journalism," the fact remains that the Jets did give her a press pass -- "the most important thing she wore," tweeted ESPNNewYork's Jane McManus, who has covered the Jets for several years -- which more or less forced AWSM's hand. Much like the ACLU on free-speech issues, we can only defend it for all if "all" includes people whose speech makes us feel like punching them in the nose. The official AWSM response by president Amy Moritz: Equal access supported by law One more thought: Clinton Portis is an idiot. Would he also like to extend that "inspecting packages" theory to male reporters, and ask everyone who enters the locker room with a notepad/recorder whether they're straight or gay? From Dan Wetzel, one of the best columnists going right now: Portis voices misguided ugliness in NFL culture

As Philster notes (and Kenny told me after the game, since I was over at our own tailgate when this all went down), he was apparently affiliated with the league. I wanted a name -- and badge number, since I wasn't aware the NFL had acquired arresting powers -- but no such luck. Guess they think we've actually been showing up to watch their crappy brand of football for the last decade instead of wanting to socialize with our friends. Kenny will have an official announcement regarding his new location before the next home game. The quasi-official TBD tailgate may also be moving; Jack will keep you updated on the Tailgate East board.

If anyone needed further explanation as to why I stopped posting here, parts of this thread should provide more than enough proof. Disagreeing with a column is fine; everyone's entitled to an opinion. But that doesn't mean I'm obligated to stick around to read personal attacks on someone most of you have never met. Courtesy of a friend, my sig says it all: "People here can't or won't separate the reporter from the person, coverage from character. It's juvenile and gets to be too much." Two notes: When I gave Mike the link, he was especially amused by the "This writer is a moron and I would guess that he won't last in this town much longer" line, considering he's a Canisius grad who's been working for The News since 1987. As for JW covering the Dolphins, I present the lede from his 2007 gamer: One more thing before I go: condolences to the News sports department on the loss of longtime writer and editor Bob Summers, who passed away late Saturday night.

Gone from the homepage, but still available: http://www.google.com/pacman/

Bad idea? I think it's a GREAT idea. Muhahahahaha.

http://www.google.com/ Click "insert coin." Enjoy.

No problem with running the name in that situation, although I do know some people who would disagree. (Thankfully, very few of them are in our business.) Just saying that although I'm not writing any "the kids tried real hard and we're still proud of them even though they lost 56-0" stories, I'm also not going to torch a kid in print the same way I would, say, McKelvin after the fumble against New England. And the superintendent's voicemail rant aside, I think most high school kids are more resilient than we give them credit for.

Sorry to hear, KRC. And I'm glad you sought out all these players, allowing them to tell their stories while they still could.

One of these days, I'm going to hit the "Close this topic" button just to watch y'all freak out.

Leave it to crayonz to lend the proper perspective.

To be honest, because we just got a new ME a couple of weeks ago, I'm not sure how our cityside would handle it. (The one who left to jump to a 100k as a reporter once quoted the phrase "s*** list" in a Page 1 hed -- without the asterisks -- so I'm guessing he wouldn't have had a problem running the name.) That said, we're a chain of small-town weeklies that definitely tend toward the "community paper" side of the line. No pompom-waving boosterism -- not in my copy, anyway -- but I do tend to tread lightly where prep athletes are concerned. As in, not printing a beatdown on a 15-year-old kid from either team for bricking a free throw or booting a ground ball. If the police had been called, it would have been logged in our blotter even if charges weren't filed (and I note that Bristol's original piece was written by their cops-and-courts reporter), but I honestly don't think I would have sought out this story. Of course, if the star QB/point guard/home run hitter gets himself suspended, you have to explain it somehow. I ran into that last year when one of Hometown High's team captains got tossed out of a game, which means an automatic one-game vacation in our state. Fortunately, I had several people I could lean on for advice -- hat tips to Pollock, Graham, and TBN's Budd Bailey, among others -- and we agreed there was no need to go all Woodward and Bernstein on the kid. High school coaches, on the other hand, are supposed to know better. This is the top of today's OTH sports front: Baseball coach benched at A-L

True. Goes back to, if the kid had thought twice before acting -- or thought about it the first time, as the case may be -- there wouldn't have been any story to print. You only cover our team when we do something stupid!

Indeed. Personally? Doubt I would've run it, but I think he makes a logical argument to support his reasoning. I'm not sure the suggestion that the kid was possibly suicidal because of the story belonged in the public discussion, though. That's dangerous ground.

Ah, to be young and stupid again... Related question: what do you guys think about the BHC printing his name? That's created its own stir: http://www2.tricities.com/tri/news/opinion...ds_by_it/46249/ (Full disclosure: I know Jim Sacco, the new SE there, but the story and the decision to run the name came from news, not sports.)

At this point, I'm thinking Les Glorieux may not score again till next season. Eh, at least you got this trip out of it. Enjoy your stay, and make sure your car isn't parked anywhere near Ste.-Catherine. Oh yeah -- I warned Bruce Arthur you were on your way.

No coincidence that "the last two years" also includes the Toronto venture. People were tired of watching mediocre-to-bad football, but worried that if they stopped supporting the team, the Mayflower moving vans would show up the next night. Easy to get frustrated, feel taken advantage of, with that combo.

Not so much in the last few years, because they've been mostly successful ever since Favre showed up. But back in their less-successful days ... http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...,943030,00.html

It can. Tim and John have said as much here, I've heard the same from at least four other writers who regularly share the RWS pressbox with him, and I saw it in person at a conference we both attended last year. They may not always agree with Jerry, but they do respect him -- as do the sports editors who have voted on his various New York State AP awards (in the largest circulation category, head-to-head with the guys at the NYC papers) and APSE Top-10 finishes through the years.

"Joy in possibility" has been Felser's philosophy all along. Here's how Chuck Pollock described it in 2001: POLLOCK: Tribute to a friend is well deserved (Don't think I qualify as "young," but I'll gladly count myself as one of the many writers to whom Chuck has forwarded Larry's message over the years.)