But they work so hard!!!!!

Ya know, Starman, it's the same way in the classroom.

There are kids who excel, but don't work hard. There are kids who work their tails off, but still cannot get to the level of those other kids.

 

Currently do right now. As I've written already, my experience is different. I'm sorry, but the absolute thinking that is found throughout this thread is a bit disturbing.

I agree, we cover what deserves to be covered. However, that decision is based on what best serves our market--not some misguided notion of "awarding" (which is what the first poster I responded to said--award, not deserve) certain athletes over others.

 

I heard the same from a parent about not running enough mugshots from his kid's baseball team. Never mind the fact they were a small school (250 kids) and finished something like 3-23. It was our fault colleges weren't coming after these crappy players.

 

You know what I find disturbing? You conveniently missing that I said coverage of varsity being a reward was poor word choice.

Look, you want to cover JV sports, that's fine. I think it's a dumb decision. The only people who care about JV athletes are their parents. Know why? They're on JV because they can't hack it on varsity. Period. That might "disturb" you or "disgust" you or whatever, but it's the truth. Something newsworthy is something exceptional. Playing for the scrub team that doesn't have cuts isn't exceptional.

 

Let me pose this question, then, DG.


When a JV kid brutally screws up and costs his team the game, are you going to name him and explain that in the paper?

What would be the point? The games don't matter, right?

That's as much why you don't cover JV as anything else. Just like you don't cover intramurals. It's all for fun and development.

When they put on a varsity jersey, then they get covered in the paper -- with an understanding that the reporter will say what happens, good or bad.

 

Amen Zeke.

 

Why are you guys always looking for something negative to write about? These kids work so hard and you should be writing positive stories about them!

 

Pressboxer,
Have you been sneaking into my voicemail messages? that one was waiting for me almost word-for-word earlier this week.

 

Ask the JV parent who wants coverage if they're going to attend the games next year when their kid is on varsity.
I bet you 99 % of the time, the answer is no. That's what I asked a JV parent one time a few years back.
Shut her ass up real quick.

 

We are all missing part of what the others are saying, don't you think?

Where I cover, the JV team is a u-16 team. It isn't a "scrub" team. It's the best athletes under the age of 16.

I cover junior high school sports the same way I cover senior high school sports--by focusing on the personalities and stories rather than the scoreboard. I appreciate that may of you will find that worthy of scorn, but the truth is we shouldn't be focusing on the screw-ups of any high school athlete.

Why?

They are in high school.

Also, where I work, high school sports aren't taken as seriously as they are in the places that many of you work. It's not even close. Our senior high school teams draw about 200 people to their games. The junior teams get a similar number--more than the senior teams in cases where they are more successful.

 

This goes back to another thread where I said that at some point, publishers and/or EEs are going to realize that they can cover high school and community sports with coach and reader submissions. That way they a) save money and b) oil the squeaky wheels [or more accurately, given the wheels the capacity to oil themselves]. Maybe you edit for grammar, maybe not. If Mama Soccer wants a 50-inch opus about the superduperawesomeness of the Grant High JV team after they lost 4-0, so be it. She's the boss now. She can write it, and we just run it and shut up. Whomever of us there are, since more reader submissions = fewer staffers.

No hurt feelings. No sad news. Nothing but sunshiny flowers and happy bees and Pixie Sticks with honey and yay! Everyone wins! Well, everyone except the people reading this thread, since they're the ones standing in the way of progress with their God damned "objectivity" and "reporting the whole truth", the fucking child-haters. I hope they die!

 

Maybe, DG, you could have just said, "I don't cover JV, I cover U-16."

I've got no problem with occasional event coverage of a bantam hockey team or even a LL team that makes a regional final or something like that.

Every game would seem a bit much, but hey, it's your rag.

And I actually agree with you about covering HS kids. But the problem is, when the readership and management demands coverage of the local HS team day in and day out, there's no way to avoid writing about HS kids' screwups.

You can bang out four solid features during the week, but on Friday night, if the running back fumbles on the goal line on the last play of the game, well, that's what's gotta be in the paper Saturday morning. And that's what people are going to read.