Associated Press
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican TV reporter Ines Sainz said Monday she has received an apology from New York Jets team owner Woody Johnson for the way players and coaches treated her during a visit to the team's practice. Sainz, a reporter for Mexico's TV Azteca, said in an interview with The Associated Press from New York that she had received the apology in a telephone call from Johnson.
"I don't want to make it a bigger deal," said Sainz, who said she talked Sunday with NFL officials. "I have confidence in the NFL and the Jets' management and I know that this will serve as a precedent so that this does not happen to another women."
Sainz also hit the network morning shows on Tuesday, but spent part of those interviews defending herself from charges that she dresses provocatively when covering sporting events. She admitted that her employer TV Azetica features photos of her in a bikini on its website, but said that "has nothing to do" with her job as a reporter.
"It's my style," the 32-year-old Sainz told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "Good Morning America." She also said she has no plans to change. "I'm not trying to provoke anything," she told Meredith Vieira on NBC's "Today" show this morning. "I don't think I need to change. They are going to change."
Sainz said on Twitter that she felt "very uncomfortable" in the Jets' locker room following a practice Saturday during which a coach appeared to throw footballs in her direction and players called out to her.
During defensive back drills on Saturday, Jets assistant coach Dennis Thurman seemed to deliberately throw to players near where Sainz was standing on the sideline. Even linebacker Jason Taylor, who normally doesn't participate in those position drills, went out for a pass.
At the end of the drill, head coach Rex Ryan threw a pass to Thurman, who caught it, ran toward Sainz and appeared to speak to her very briefly.
The Association for Women in Sports Media said a board member spoke to Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum on Sunday about the reports.
"Of course you feel it when you are being stared at and when you are being spoken of in a certain way," Sainz said in the telephone interview. "I opted to ignore it ... I tried to not even pay attention."
She said waiting in the locker room to interview quarterback Mark Sanchez may have been the most uncomfortable. She tweeted in Spanish on Saturday night that she tried "not to look anywhere!!"
"It was an uncomfortable moment because you are in the team's dressing room and they are obviously changing clothes, showering — doing what they do every day in the locker room," Sainz said. "So being a woman, obviously it was a bit uncomfortable."
TV Azteca promotes Sainz both as a journalist and as a model. The network's website includes photo collections of Sainz and has an article in its "Bad Girls" section headlined, "Inez> Sainz, the perfect woman." The article describes her as intelligent and having a good sense of humor, and is accompanied by a photo of her in a bikini.
She has covered the NFL before, including several Super Bowls. At a media event before the Super Bowl in 2009, she measured the bicep of Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Steve Breaston. The year before, she asked Patriots quarterback Tom Brady what it would take for New England to beat the Jets. The Pats actually were playing the Giants.
The Jets, meanwhile, were preparing to open their season against the Baltimore Ravens in their first regular-season game at the new Meadowlands Stadium on Monday night.
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AP Sports Writer Dennis Waszak Jr. in New York contributed to this report.