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Unless you’ve been there, it’s hard to imagine the pain of losing in the college football national championship game. That pain was exacerbated this season when you considered the new 12-team playoff made for the longest season in the sport’s history. But Notre Dame Fighting Irish players and coaches came under fire on Monday night for the way they reportedly handled the loss when speaking to media members after the game.
USA Today columnist Dan Wolken tweeted that there were “Bizarre scenes from the Notre Dame locker room, players yelling at reporters, coaches warning people not to ask certain questions. Amateur hour.”
Now, on one hand, you’d expect players to be emotional. They’re young. They just lost a championship game at the end of a grueling season. That’s difficult. But also college football is more or less a professional sport these days according to the NLRB. So you sort of just have to suck it up and face the music.
USA Today Columnist Responds To Notre Dame’s Postgame Locker Room Behavior
A fan then asked Wolken if he feels he has the right to an answer from players. He replied by stating that if the locker room is open to media, then media members shouldn’t face backlash for simply asking questions.
“I think that if the locker room is open, which it is for the CFP, reporters should be able to go in there and respectfully ask questions without being sworn at. If a player doesn’t want to talk, that’s fine,” Wolken wrote.
Now, there are two schools of thought. On one hand, Wolken has a point. Media members shouldn’t be berated simply for existing after a difficult loss. That’s life and athletes need to learn how to deal with it. But there are some who feel that it’s unfair for them to have access to players immediately after games.
Most Notre Dame fans appear to fall on the side of the latter. But hey, if we’re gonna pay college athletes and call them pros, then that’s going to include having to do things you don’t want to sometimes.