Eating at high school games

That statement goes so perfectly with your avatar, it's uncanny.

 

"That boy is a P-I-G pig."

 

Yeah, the funny thing about raffles is, sometimes you win.

When I was a stringer just out of college, I bought a ticket for a halftime prize drawing. They called my number, but little did I realize I would have to go onto the court and make a layup, free throw, 3-pointer and half-court shot in 30 seconds to win the jackpot.

After the layup, I think I clanked about 7 or 8 free-throw attempts. No jackpot, no case of Turtle Wax, no year's supply of Rice-a-Roni. You don't even get a lousy copy of our home game.

Heard a whole lot of "that's why you're covering the game" after that one.

 

From last night's Auburn Placer-Salinas NorCal bowl game:

 

I don't do the raffles.

 

Make sure you buy something to eat (and expense it, of course) every time you’re on assignment together whether you’re hungry or not.

 

One time, I was covering a high school hockey game where they have"Chuck-A-Puck", where everyone buys a numbered puck, then throws them on the ice. The puck closest to the center faceoff dot wins.

So a couple of times, I buy a puck just for the fun of throwing it on the ice. However, I had one big advantage. While everyone else was on the one side in the stands (frankly, it's amazing that nobody got brained by a puck). I was on the other side in the penalty box, so I could shoot photos.

So one time, I throw the puck and sure enough, I win the grand prize of a hockey stick. A bunch of fans looked pissed off because of my little penalty box advantage.

 

Can you blame them? You were in the box. You should have felt shame.

 

Yeah, but those fans didn't have to worry about getting hit by pucks, sticks or players while they were shooting pictures during the game!

 

This is why we can't have nice readers.

 

A couple of our schools would give away prizes to the person who bought a program with the coach's signature. For example, the coach would sign the page with the Joe's Burger ad and whoever had that program would win a free burger.

The program sellers would check that page before giving a reporter a free program.

The booster club president at one school worked in our office (not editorial) and one of our reporters thought it would be funny to forge the coach's name and show it to her. She was not amused.

Another time, I did have the signed program, but I paid for it and had no problem claiming the prize.

 

I think if I ever bought a raffle ticket or did one of those promotions, I would probably just give my ticket to a random kid and let him reap the rewards of a possible win. (at least, that's what I'm telling myself I would do)