Charissa Thompson, who will anchor Fox Sports 1's signature nightly news and highlights show, Fox Sports Live, says women's restrooms are hard to come by in her line of work.
"Any woman who goes on the road with an NFL team or is on the sidelines will tell you that you'll be putting on your mascara next to a urinal in the men's bathroom [because there won't be a women's room on the field]," she says.
VIDEO: Fox Sports' Erin Andrews, Charissa Thompson Cut Loose
"I was in Charlotte, N.C., when they launched the NBA team there, the Charlotte Hornets. And the first guy to roll into town was Carolina native Michael Jordan. I was young and didn't really like going into the locker room. But of course I did because I had to make deadline," says Storm, host of ESPN's SportsCenter. "And he treated me, the only woman covering the franchise, with such dignity. The fans weren't as accepting. They sent me hate mail.
"I was in Charlotte, N.C., when they launched the NBA team there, the Charlotte Hornets. And the first guy to roll into town was Carolina native Michael Jordan. I was young and didn't really like going into the locker room. But of course I did because I had to make deadline," says Storm, host of ESPN's SportsCenter. "And he treated me, the only woman covering the franchise, with such dignity. When Michael Jordan, a guy whom everybody looks up to, basically says I'm going to treat this young lady who is just doing her job with respect, well, he set the tone, I think, for the entire NBA."
FoxSports 1's Erin Andrews and Charissa Thompson both say they grew up wanting to work in sports media.
"I knew I wanted to be a sportscaster since I was a little girl," says Thompson.
"Same here. I grew up a daddy's girl and our way of bonding was watching NBA on TV," adds Andrews, host of Fox Sports 1's Fox College Saturday.
Fox Sports 1's Erin Andrews and Charissa Thompson both say they grew up wanting to work in sports media.
"I knew I wanted to be a sportscaster since I was a little girl," says Thompson.
"Same here. I grew up a daddy's girl and our way of bonding was watching NBA on TV," adds Andrews, host of Fox Sports 1's Fox College Saturday.
VIDEO: Fox Sports' Erin Andrews, Charissa Thompson Cut Loose
"I used to see Erin [Andrews] at NFL games and other events, but we weren't close," Thompson says. "And then I got to ESPN. My very first day [in 2011], I remember walking from the parking lot in Bristol, Conn., past these little windows that I now know was a conference room. I was wearing my best pair of shoes; they were my first Christian Louboutins.
My very first day [at ESPN, in 2011], I remember walking from the parking lot in Bristol, Conn., past these little windows that I now know was a conference room. I was wearing my best pair of shoes; they were my first Christian Louboutins. And Erin must have seen me, because when I got into the lobby, she came running out and gave me a big hug and said, 'I am so happy you are here!' Then she looked down at my shoes, and said, 'Oh God, they're going to hate you.' And she said, 'We don't wear shoes like that here.'"
VIDEO: Fox Sports' Erin Andrews, Charissa Thompson Cut Loose
"I came along right when the Internet was blowing up, right when the sports blogs started," says Andrews. "So I was baptized into this world where these sports blogs dubbed me the "Sideline Barbie," the "Sideline Princess." And I was not only worrying about the questions I was asking, but then I had men on these blogs critiquing what I was wearing."
VIDEO: Fox Sports' Erin Andrews, Charissa Thompson Cut Loose
"The sidelines aren't as glamorous as everyone thinks," says Andrews. "When halftime happens, you do the interview, and then you've got to grab a coach or a player. You don't even have time to go to the bathroom. So I'm having a hot dog on the sideline, and people are taking photos and submitting them to the sports blogs. And it's like, 'How does she look eating a hot dog?' It wasn't about my reporting, it was, 'What is she wearing, who is she dating?'"
VIDEO: Fox Sports' Erin Andrews, Charissa Thompson Cut Loose
CBS Sports' Lesley Visser (The NFL Today), the only woman enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was the first female to handle the Super Bowl trophy presentation.
"We all have scar tissue," says Visser. "I always tell the young women coming up, 'You can have a long career, but you better have a tough skin.'"
CBS Sports' Lesley Visser (The NFL Today), the only woman enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was the first female to handle the Super Bowl trophy presentation.
"We all have scar tissue," says Visser. "I always tell the young women coming up, 'You can have a long career, but you better have a tough skin.'"
When Mary Carillo — who won the 1977 French Open mixed doubles championship with her playing partner John McEnroe — segued from the court to the broadcasting booth in 1980, the United States Tennis Association would not allow her to cover men's tennis, only the women's matches. Says Carillo, "That was when I first realized that it might not be easy to be a woman in this profession."
Michele Tafoya, sideline reporter for NBC Sports' Sunday Night Football, says Bobby Knight (then Indiana University coach), wouldn't make eye contact with her ahead of a TV interview in his office in 1995.
In 1995, Michele Tafoya, now sideline reporter for NBC Sports' Sunday Night Football, was assigned to interview then-Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight. "He said, 'Well, are you any good at this?' And I said, 'Well, coach, I like to think I'm good at it. That's why I got this assignment to talk to you,' " recalls Tafoya. "He said, 'Because you know there are a lot of women who do this who stink at it.' So I took a moment and said: 'True. And there are a lot of men who do this who stink at it, too.' And he finally made eye contact and said, 'We're going to get along.' "
"It's definitely a business where if you're self-conscious at all, you either grow a thick skin or at least fake like you have one," says Michelle Beadle, host of NBC Sports Network's The Crossover. "It's stupid to make women feel awkward for doing a job that a dozen men are doing at the exact same time. But I don't think anyone should be in the locker room. That's where I stand. I did several years for the NBA. So I was in locker rooms. I would always make sure that my cameraman went first and that I looked down until he said it was OK to look up. There's got to be a better way to grab players."
"A male colleague of mine once called San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore 'Al Gore' on TV," recalls Rachel Nichols, CNN, Turner Sports anchor. "Everyone laughed; it was treated as what it was — a slip of the tongue. I am pretty sure if a woman had done that, there would have been several negative blog items the next day about how she clearly didn't know football.
"A male colleague of mine once called San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore 'Al Gore' on TV," recalls Rachel Nichols, CNN and Turner Sports anchor. "Everyone laughed; it was treated as what it was — a slip of the tongue. I am pretty sure if a woman had done that, there would have been several negative blog items the next day about how she clearly didn't know football. And when a female sports journalist gets a great story, you can almost set your watch by how quickly whispers start that she must have slept with the player to get it."
Rebecca Lowe — who in March joined NBC Sports from ESPN and in 2012 became the first woman to present the FA Cup Final from Wembley Stadium — has had hot dogs thrown at her by the U.K.'s infamous football hooligans.
"I've had my backside pinched, I've had people screaming at me and using terrible words," says Lowe.
"There's was something about football — they looked like gladiators, the toughness of it — I just loved all of that. That feeling was apparent through my whole career," says ESPN's Suzy Kolber of her childhood love of the sport. "And that's why I never felt out of place. It was where I wanted to be. It was natural for me. I would be at a press conference, there were 250 men and I was the only woman. I was in the front row and I asked the first question."