There are guards by hotel elevator doors where the Washington Redskins stay. They’re protecting the 300-pound behemoths not from thieves and murderers, but 100-pounders whose best punch wouldn’t bruise a player.
You wonder how players repeatedly find themselves involved in scandals like Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was recently accused of rape. However, athletes aren’t any different than politicians, CEOs and other prominent men — where there’s money and power, there’s temptation. The NFL has a mandatory three-day rookie seminar largely devoted to recognizing and defusing compromising situations.
During the Redskins’ triple Super Bowl titles under Joe Gibbs, players told me prostitutes and female fans freely roamed hotel hallways, knocking on each door until someone answered. One married player said he was afraid to respond knowing the temptation that awaited.
Women are often around hotel lobbies, parking lots and bars trying to catch an athlete. Some are professionals. Some are simply fans. There are even opportunists looking for a rich husband or baby daddy with large child support payments. I even remember women lost outside Frostburg dorms during training camp searching for players they said flew them in for the Saturday night off.
The Redskins press corp once regularly traveled with the team, so I saw first-hand what it was like for players. It was like traveling with rock stars. Let’s just say some took adoring fan status to a whole new level.
There were even a couple fights in a Frostburg bar during training camps back in the late 1990s. It involved women. This was before TMZ and cell phone cameras so reporters could keep some things in-house. Still, even rural outposts like Frostburg present problems to players.
I learned first-hand how seemingly innocent situations can quickly heighten. At a Phoenix hotel one night before a Redskins game, a woman yelled my name when crossing the lobby. I stopped thinking I might know her, but fans also recognize writers. She asked a few very personal questions before I backed away. She then asked for a photo together, slipping her arm around my waist as the shutter clicked. I kept thinking black mail photos were heading to my mailbox because I’m not exactly a babe magnet. Today, those photos could be on the Internet in minutes and my wife on the phone soon afterwards.
Players used to think adoring fans were a perk. Nowadays, they’re too often a problem.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com or
e-mail [email protected].
