PAINTER: Being respectful to female reporters has nothing to do with hemline

Several years ago as I walked into the visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium, a crass nickname was yelled in my direction from across the room.

The anonymous athlete figured my only purpose must have been to check him and his teammates out.

Laugh. Out. Loud.

If that was my intent, I would stay home and watch HBO.

Judging by the absurd comments from Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis on his weekly radio show Tuesday, it might as well have been Portis spewing such nonsense.

Portis spoke about the way TV Azteca reporter Ines Sainz was treated while covering the New York Jets last weekend and acted as though she should expect such harassment because of her gender. In the wacky world of Portis, men in a locker room can't possibly behave respectfully when a female reporter is working.

"And I mean, you put a woman and you give her a choice of 53 athletes, somebody got to be appealing to her," he said. "Somebody got to spark her interest, or she's gonna want somebody. I don't know what kind of woman won't, if you get to go and look at 53 men's (bodies)."

Portis has no clue.

Reporters are there to do a job and conduct interviews. Portis' ego is too big to understand. He apologized later Tuesday, and the NFL denounced his comments, but the damage had been done. We know how he feels. He can't take that back.

Most athletes I've interviewed in 15 years as a professional sports journalist, including the past 10 with the Daily News, are courteous and respectful. I'm usually treated like any other reporter.

But there are incidents every now and again, and the Sainz situation is a painful reminder that female reporters aren't always treated like their counterparts.

I don't care what Sainz was wearing. She shouldn't be harassed for it, either.

Really, this isn't about what Sainz was wearing. This is about discipline, respect and behaving like a professional in the workplace.

When New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan gets in on the act, allegedly throwing a football in her direction, you can see why those under his tutelage believe inappropriate behavior is OK.

Ryan has shown little discipline. HBO's reality show, Hard Knocks, is basically football with his voiceover of cuss words.

His undisciplined Jets were flagged 14 times for 125 yards in penalties in a 10-9 loss to Baltimore on Monday.

A little restraint is called for in many areas.

Jets defensive backs coach Dennis Thurman, an ex-USC assistant coach, was allegedly hurling footballs in Sainz's direction, too.

These things happened on a football field and in the locker room.

Sexual harassment can occur at a tax office, coffee shop or clothing store.

It's never OK.

I can understand why Sainz isn't taken seriously when her neckline is plunging to her boots, but that's her shtick. She's not delivering serious news. That's not her job, especially when her company promotes her on its website with pictures of her in a bikini.

She works for TV Azteca, which prides itself on parading around sex symbols with microphones.

"I never imagined that something I didn't participate in -- because I didn't denounce it -- could cause such a big distraction," Sainz told Hoy, a Spanish-language newspaper in Los Angeles. "The media is impressive here in the U.S."

Sainz probably has learned to live with catcalls and lewd remarks.

She tweeted her embarrassment over the incident. That doesn't make it OK.

The Association of Women in Sports Media has done an excellent job helping enforce equal access since 1977. It's the law.

"If Jets players, coaches and staff allegedly involved in the incident are found to have acted in unprofessional and harassing behavior toward Ms. Sainz, we expect and demand reprimand and punishment by the NFL and Jets," AWSM said in a statement posted on its website.

The annual AWSM convention was in Los Angeles this summer, and I was delighted I didn't hear one mention of harassment. We're making real progress, I thought.

And then the Jets happened.

Some figured it was OK to participate in unprofessional behavior because of the way Sainz was dressed. I cringe when reporters aren't dressed professionally, whether it's a male wearing an old T-shirt, tattered shorts and flip flops to a game or a woman wearing a tight, short dress and high heels to Andre Ethier's lunch visit to the Union Rescue Mission.

Just my opinion. There is no dress code. Reporters can wear whatever they want. It doesn't give anyone the right to harass them.

It's like saying a woman wearing a short skirt at a bar deserves something bad to happen to her. No way.

Jimmy Kimmel's sidekick, Guillermo, asks silly questions of athletes and gets them to do ridiculous things. He's not harassed. We don't take Guillermo seriously. He's there for entertainment. So is Sainz. It doesn't give the Jets the right to act like they're in a bar.

On her morning talk-show circuit in New York, Sainz said she didn't think her attire was unprofessional and that everyone has his or her own style. She didn't deserve to be treated with anything less than respect, whether she's wearing a sweatshirt or button-down blouse.

Karen Crouse, a reporter for the New York Times, covered the Jets from 2005-07, but Herm Edwards and Eric Mangini coached during that time frame, not Ryan.

"If you credential someone, you need to treat them with the utmost respect," Crouse said. "That's the bottom line."

It has nothing to do with the hemline.

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