British reporter learns the etiquette of interviewing naked athletes

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British sports reporters lack the distinctive privilege -- sorry, the wretched chore -- of interviewing athletes in their locker rooms perhaps because British sports leagues haven’t figured out it’s a great way to stir even more interest and make even more money, or perhaps because Premier League soccer players are such unconscionable divas that they might revolt, or perhaps because the sports authorities fret over the nation’s youth being subjected to a lifelong barrage of staggering cliches.

Or perhaps for none of those reasons.

But as the media blob waited outside the Chargers’ and Saints’ dressing rooms on Sunday underneath Wembley Stadium in London, an English reporter turned and sought a little advice from two Americans. He looked a tad skittish, unsure, maybe even timid, as he inquired as to the proper methodology for this utterly bizarre and yet completely routine American tradition.

An American kindly supplied guidance: If you see a guy who’s naked, just wait a few paces away and give him time to get dressed, then approach to ask questions.

Oh.

OK.

And so the reporters from the allegedly Puritanical culture did ease the fret for the reporter in bawdy London in a country that polls show to be majority atheist.

As Jeffrey said in ‘Blue Velvet,’ it’s a strange world.

-- Chuck Culpepper