What have we all learned from last week's Ines Sainz affair?

Sainz, as you may or may not have heard, is the reporter at the center of the latest female-journalists-in-the-locker-room controversy. Sainz works for TV Azteca, the second largest television station in Mexico, and has been covering international sports for nearly a decade. She has covered six Super Bowls, the World Cup, multiple Champions League tournaments, four NBA championships and the Olympics.

Oh, Sainz also has a Master's degree in tax law, is married with three children, and is a black belt in taekwondo. She's smart, professional, has been around and knows how to take care of herself.

So when another reporter complained that the atmosphere in the New York Jets locker room constituted a hostile work environment towards Sainz, you can just imagine what happened.

Glenn Beck imagined what happened; he implied that Sainz had created the situation because she wanted the publicity. (I'll wait while you savor the irony....) Baby Beck apparently took no notice of the fact that Sainz wasn't the reporter who'd complained.

But he shared his opinion. On something he knew nothing about.

For which we're all, as ever, grateful.

Rush Limbaugh even chimed in with his typically clear, succinct and on point commentary. Rush thought hard on the matter and came to the conclusion that, in the end, Sainz was "boobalicious."

Can't make this stuff up.

Even Keith Olbermann, who I think has more brain cells in his in-grown toenail than Limbaugh and Beck combined, decided that the situation earned Sainz recognition as his third Worst Person in the World last Tuesday. Apparently, Olbermann felt Sainz got herself into this mess by dressing provocatively.

The old "she was asking for it" defense. Nice. Really nice.

Oh, and what did Sainz have to say? "It was definitely a joking tone, very amicable. I wasn't offended."

Huh.

So tempest in a teapot? Or is there really something there, there?

(And yes, Clinton Portis did chime in about how remarkable it actually was that Sainz managed to control herself, what with all the sexy studs in various stages of undress wandering around her. Luckily, absolutely nobody takes anything that comes out of Portis's mouth without about 37 grains of salt.)

As long as women want to be journalists, they're going to be afforded the same access their male counterparts get. And as long teams decide that journalists need access to players RIGHT NOW following games and practices, before they can get their heads fully wrapped around what just happened let alone towels wrapped around themselves, well, you're going to find yourself, interviewer and interviewee, in some weird situations.

(Aspiring cub reporter: "So, how did it feel to [fill in the blank?]" Star athlete: "How would it feel to get that mic out of my face long enough to let me put on my pants?")

But over the years, something amazing has happened. The journalists and the athletes they cover have, for the most part, figured this out. As a matter of fact, I'd be willing to bet that the incidents of hostile workplace complaints in the sports journalism world are pretty slim compared to most others.

So yes, it's a story but it's a story about itself; the primary parties have pretty much resolved the situation on their own, like adults, and moved on.

It's the rest of us who need to get a grip.

Little Bites

Reggie Bush gave up his Heisman trophy. But he's not admitting he's guilty of any wrongdoing. Uh huh….. And the kids who really get slammed because of this mess are the ones at SoCal now and for the next few years. None of whom actually played a down with Reggie Bush or had anything to do with any of this. And all the while, the University gets to keep the millions of dollars they made off of Bush and his achievements. Yup, sounds like the NCAA's right on top of this one.

A Mural of Sacramento Kings' Omri Casspi, who is Jewish and the only Israeli playing in the NBA, was defaced with a swastika in Sacramento twice in little more than a week. The Anti-Defamation League has announced a reward of $1,000 for information leading to an arrest; the team has offered to match the reward. I suggest a tour of, and lessons on, what remain of the camps at Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec and Chelmno. A little acknowledgement of what exactly that swastika represents might go quite a long way in curing this vandal of his or her ignorance.

What do we know, two weeks into the NFL season? We know the Redskins are going to be interesting to watch. We know the Cowboys will as well, though probably for the wrong reasons. (Think JJ would make both Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett walk the plank mid-season? If any owner has the stones, he does.) We know Brett Favre made a mistake coming back, and now he's stuck. We know the Jets are better than they looked in week one, and the Patriots are worse. We know McNabb still has plenty left in the tank. We know San Francisco isn't the darling people made them out to be. We know the Cardinals are passing around the collection plate to get Kurt Warner back. We know someone finally introduced Carlos Rogers to Stickum.

And we know DeAngelo Hall is still just MeAngelo Hall.