The to-do over the alleged harassment of Mexican television reporter Ines Sainz in the New York Jets locker room last week has reached the point where male sportswriters are suggesting, if not openly saying, that Sainz was asking for the hooting and catcalls by dressing inappropriately.
Sainz is admittedly more entertainment reporter than sports journalist in her work covering the NFL for TV Azteca. She calls herself "the hottest sports reporter in Mexico" and has famously measured a quarterback's biceps during an interview. And photos and video show her wearing tight jeans and a revealing top on the day she visited the Jets' practice facility.
"I think the people that are in charge of that kind of person should give that person limits in terms of their professional demeanor," Bob Wolfley, who covers sports media for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, said Tuesday on the Lucas and Lepay radio show on 1070 AM. "They need to hew to a certain kind of accepted dress code, for example."
A dress code for sports reporters is an interesting idea. I wonder if it would bar the ratty baseball caps, stained T-shirts and sweat pants I've seen some professional sportswriters wearing in Madison.
But what about a conduct code for players? Is it too much to expect that NFL players who benefit handsomely from the media coverage the league receives behave appropriately around members of the press?
NFL players are fined for writing messages on their shoes and engaging in excessive celebrations. Why not for acting like donkeys toward someone indirectly padding their already hefty wallets?
