What does a 5-foot-nothin’, 100-pound-nothin’ woman know about football?

Rachel Baribeau says she knows a lot.

But the sports-talk-radio host used to be able to prove it only with her words on air. Now, she can show people her bruises, or run a post route with precision.

On a dare from her co-host, and to quiet all the doubters out there who proclaim that female sports journalists couldn’t possibly know anything about football since they’ve never played it, Baribeau decided to attend training camp for the Columbus Lions, an American Indoor Football Association League team based in Columbus, Georgia.

“I’m a real student of the game,” Baribeau said. “But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, ‘Missy, what do you know about football? You’re a woman.’ Those are mostly old, antiquated men who say that, but I still wanted to break that stereotype and prove something.”

Baribeau’s challenge was to complete a week of two-a-day (noncontact) practices, which she wrapped up Monday despite suffering a pulled hip flexor and quad muscle.

She is the first woman to participate in an indoor professional football training camp.

“It was just an amazing experience,” Baribeau said. “I have bruises all up and down my arms, but I wear them like a badge of honor. This has been one of the all-time best experiences of my life.”

Baribeau, who works for the ESPN Sports Radio affiliate in Columbus (WEAM 1580-AM), practiced mostly with the wide receivers and defensive backs.

She says that on her first day of practice, which involved heavy doses of running and conditioning drills, her main goal was simply not to pass out and fall down.

“I consider myself to be very fit,” Baribeau said. “But practice was way more than I expected. There’s pretty much nothing you can do to get yourself ready for it. By the end, my knees were like jelly and I just kept praying, ‘Lord, don’t let me be the one who falls down.’ “

But if she had fallen down — by the way, she didn’t — Baribeau is convinced she would have had 30 guys rushing to pick her up.

Just as she was surprised by the intensity of the practices, Baribeau says she never expected the guys to take to her like they did.

After completing two-a-days, she returned to camp just to say hello to all of her “teammates,” and they begged her to go out and eat dinner with them.

“I couldn’t believe that,” Baribeau said. “When I first thought about doing this, I figured the guys would probably just look at me like a joke. But that’s not how it was at all. Other than the fact that they were a little afraid to pat me on the butt after a play, they treated me like one of the guys. They got physical with me, they went hard in the drills and they cheered me on.”

At first, there wasn’t much to cheer. Baribeau says that she didn’t catch a single pass on her first day of practice.

“Everybody was telling me to wear these gloves … and I wasn’t catching a thing,” Baribeau said. “So I took the gloves off, and I started catching passes. It was amazing.

“The best thing was that my teammates wanted me to succeed so badly. If I didn’t catch a pass, they’d be like, ‘Ohhhhhhhhh!’ But if I did, they’d be yelling and cheering and slapping my helmet. Now I kind of understand why they call football a fraternity.”

And if anything, that’s the one way Baribeau — a self-described football fanatic who has been reporting on the game for eight years — has become more knowledgeable about the game.

She says she didn’t realize how close football players are.

“You know, football is such a team game, and every guy is important, and when you bleed and sweat together, you just become really close,” Baribeau said. “I really learned how deep the emotions run in this game.”

So does that make Baribeau a better sports journalist?

“Maybe,” she said. “But I still don’t think you need to play football to be able to know it and report on it. I know a lot about the game just from watching it for years and doing a lot of research on it.

“The only difference is that now I’m able to relate to it a little more. I can not only describe a play, I can go out and run it. And I also understand the emotions behind the game a lot more.”

The 411: To see pictures of Baribeau at training camp, visit: www.rachelbaribeau.com

Friday, Feb 22, 2008

Troy Johnson

She’s seeing sport up close

This was supposed to have been a workout for skill players, but the diminutive wide receiver in the mud-spackled No. 5 jersey didn’t display a trace of know-how Thursday morning.

The will and the want-to were there, of course, but No. 5 didn’t catch a single pass during the Columbus Lions’ workout at A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium.

The passes thrown in No. 5′s direction did many things, but they never rested comfortably in the grasp of the aspiring wide receiver. They squirted between the hands and ricocheted off the face mask. They skimmed off the tips of outstretched fingers and skittered along the muddy turf.

And those routes?

Choppy, tentative, halting steps that didn’t allow for separation from a defensive back or necessarily send No. 5 in the direction prescribed inside the huddle.

“You’re going to catch one,” Columbus Lions coach Jason Gibson told No. 5 after practice.

How can Gibson be so reassuring toward some guy who can’t catch?

Well, the he is actually a she.

Rachel Baribeau may spend most of her days talking the game with Mike Venafro on “In the Zone,” which airs locally on WEAM-AM 1580, but she may soon stand apart from other female broadcasters for playing the game. Or trying to, rather, since there’s no chance of Baribeau showing up on the Lions’ roster in time for their American Indoor Football Association season.

Gibson wants to win games, after all, but he wanted Baribeau to be able to obtain an insider’s perspective about the sport by going through two-a-day practices with the team.

“They caught me on radio one day and put me on the spot,” Gibson said. “She’s learning. I’m not doing anything different with her than I am with anyone else.”

That may be the case, but Baribeau is taking on the sort of challenge few broadcasters (or sports columnists) — male or female — would dare attempt. She stands a half-foot shorter and weighs in a linebacker shy of most of the Lions, but received a welcome-to-football bump or two during Thursday’s non-contact practice in a 48-degree chill and persistent rain.

“It’s just as tough as I thought it would be,” said Baribeau, 28, who studied broadcast journalism at Auburn. “I knew it was going to be tough. I expected to be puking on the sidelines. I’m concentrating on staying upright.

“They haven’t been afraid to hit me. They’ve knocked me down, obviously a little bit less than they would (another player).”

They have, however, resisted applying friendly pats on the rear. Even so, she built a sense of camaraderie with the team when Gibson introduced her in a team meeting and explained her presence.

“She addressed them and let them know that she is a hard worker and that she just desires to be the best in broadcasting, just like they want to be the best in football,” Gibson said. “She wanted them to understand that this is not a joke and not a gimmick. She’s trying to understand the game better.”

Baribeau would eventually like to find work as a TV sideline reporter, a role she developed an affinity for while seeing Southeastern Conference football from just outside the chalk lines. It certainly beat covering house fires and car accidents.

“I love the sidelines, the crunch of the helmets, the speed of the game,” she said. “I was completely seduced the first time I worked the sideline for an Auburn game. It was addictive. I was down there early and stayed late.”

Going the extra step and running through two-a-day practices with a pro football team provides a stamp of credibility that female sideline reporters so often struggle to obtain. The common perception is that those jobs are landed by great heads of hair, blindingly white teeth and ample cleavage. While male TV viewers may initially be drawn to those superficial qualities, serious sports fans will eventually look elsewhere if a sideline reporter has nothing worthwhile to say.

The thought of a woman reporting on football may have been a novelty when former Miss America Phyllis George joined “The NFL Today” gang in 1975, but that’s no longer the case. So many of those who followed, including Lesley Visser, Michelle Tafoya, Bonnie Bernstein and Erin Andrews, have succeeded by working hard and being well-informed.

Chances are, however, that none of them ever ran a fade route against press coverage, as Baribeau tried to do against Damian Daniels, last season’s World Indoor Football League co-defensive player of the year. Gibson and wide receiver Silas Daniels spent portions of practice reminding her of the little details she’ll need in order to make that first reception.

Hands out in front in a diamond pattern as the ball arrives. Asorb the ball is if you’re catching an egg.

“I’m trying to think about where to turn, how to cut,” Baribeau said. “There’s so much to think about — what route am I running? Where am I supposed to break? Are my hands in the right place? Where’s the defender?”

And, later, there was one more question that female sportscasters don’t typically get to ask in the line of duty:

Where’s the ice bag for my aching quad muscle?

Contact Troy Johnson at 706-320-4432 or johnsont@ledger-enquirer.com

Wow…where do I begin, well it was amazing and I am way too tired to even type right now. Soo….you’ll have to listen to the audio from this morning and I promise to post the audio from tonight (in the morning) and pictures from my gal Marissa. Let me just say this….I have a NEW FOUND respect for football players!

Click Here to Download The Day One Audio

Hello, hello…I hope this post finds everyone blessed and healthy. I am a little behind, but if you have gone through what I have gone through…you would too! This audio is from the pre-practice meeting we had with the coaches and players. Coach is an amazing guy and if I were actually playing the season he is the kind of coach that I would like to play for. He took the Lions to the championship and it was their first year in existence ! Wow! Anyhoo…listen for the chuckles from the players. Enjoy and God Bless!

Click the caption above the picture to listen to the audio.

Hello all, just two days and counting until I start training camp and I am nervous as heck! I won’t even get into how much sleep I got last night! I talked to the Coach and found out that there will be SOME contact. WHAT….I thought I was wearing a non-contact jersey!! I’m not particulary fast but I’m tough as nails, so I’m hoping this helps me through this venture. The picture above is from an interview with the 1985 Heisman Trophy winner, Bo Jackson. I ran a golf tournment for him to benefit St. Jude Children’s Hospital for 4 years and it was a joy every step of the way. If you were wondering, he is still built like a BRICK HOUSE and can swing a golf club!