49ers reporter accused of hugging players in locker room

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan hasn’t always been the biggest fan of Grant Cohn’s questions, but that’s part of life on the beat.

According to Cohn, David Lombardi didn’t get that memo.

“I can’t stand David Lombardi,” said Cohn, a reporter for 49ers On SI, on his postgame livestream last Sunday. “It’s bad enough that he’s a fan of the team that he covers, but he thinks he’s on the team. So, for example, after a game, you might hear some of us interviewing players and the coach at the postgame press conference. You know who never asks a question? Dave Lombardi. You know why? Because he’s not in there. You know why? Because he’s in the locker room. You know what he’s doing? Hugging the players!”

Cohn said that Lombardi, who covers the 49ers for the San Francisco Standard, celebrates with the 49ers “as if they won together” and grew increasingly visibly irritated at Lombardi’s alleged behavior.

“It does bother me,” Cohn said. “They say before you go in the locker room, ‘If you’re not in here conducting interviews, you have to leave.’ He’s hugging the players! […] You’re a player on the 49ers. You just won, [and] you’re celebrating with your brothers. Here comes this freaking guy to give you a hug as if you guys accomplished something together. Who the f*ck are you?”

As any journalist knows — or should know, though lines are blurrier than ever in sports media now — “it’s not your job to bro out with the players,” Cohn said.

Cohn conceded that he would hug 49ers All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner if he ran into him at San Francisco International Airport in the offseason. He’d even hug Shanahan at the annual NFL league meeting. But he said there must be a “professional distance” during the season.

“I don’t give Kyle a hug in the locker room after the game and say, ‘How’d it feel? How’s it feel to be 5-0?’ Man, f*ck that!” Cohn said. “I’m sorry, dude. I do disapprove of fans covering teams, but still, Brian Nemhauser is a fan of the Seahawks. He does a great job, even though he’s a fan of the team. He doesn’t think he’s on the team, and he holds their team accountable. This f*cking guy pretends to be a journalist and takes shilling to the next level.”

Alex Simon of SFGATE reached out to the San Francisco Standard for comment on Cohn’s allegations, but editor-in-chief Kevin Delaney declined. Neither Cohn nor Lombardi responded to Simon’s request for comment.