New FWAA president is mad as heck

I agree in theory... Unfortunately, sometimes reality sets in and you have to play by their ridiculous rules. You might not obey all of them, but you pick your battles...

 

Ace, your points are well taken. Perhaps the paycheck statement would be over the top, but damn, I'd want to say something (in a pleasant manner) to let them know I won't be cowed. But actions do speak louder than words.

Bottom line, I don't envy you sportswriters. I'm out of the news business now. This may sound crazy, but I'd much rather deal with a street sergeant at a homicide scene than be in a post-game locker room. Heck, I'd rather deal with a cop than some of the psycopaths that populate straight corporate america, where I toil today.

 

Thanks. Once Ace outlined his reasons he disagreed with my approach to handling a college beat, he did make me rethink my stance. I definitely would do what I had to do. As I said earlier, I never really aspired to be a sportswriter. Still I enjoy reading what you guys write.

 

Picking your battles is the key. Rules are meant to be broken, but make sure you're breaking them for a good reason and not because the backup guard on the women's basketball team sprained her ankle.

 

profunk,

I think you have the right idea. And telling them straight out may be the righteous way to go. But some of these dudes are so paranoid, I'd rather not feed it if I don't have to.

And, frankly, it's getting to the point at some schools where they don't even have any more leverage over beat writers. Access to coaches and players is so bad, what more can they do to punish you?

 

Ace, what prompted my initial stance was P-Dub's questioning-by-city desk scenario early on in this thread. It sounded as if coaches and SIDs had total control over sportswriters, and I confess that got my goat a little bit. I was feeling that sort of a "let me cover a college beat. I'll show 'em" mentality. A male ego, thing, if you will.

You, Mizzou and Dude with Popano explained the reality of your situations and you convinced me I would have been hasty in my approach. Good luck to all of you.

 

Access on all levels peaked years ago. The only question now is how bad will it get before it levels off. I applaud the FWAA president for trying to change things, I'm just not hopeful it will happen.

 

I cover a college team that wins a lot and has great access. The coach is helpful most of the time. The assistants are helpful all the time. Call em, get what you need, done deal.

I'm in SEC country. This ain't St. John's, Minn., or anything.

 

Hey guys, this is Ron Higgins, the FWAA president. I'm dead serious about what I wrote in the newsletter. I've already talked with the NCAA Football Committee and plan to be at the BCS meetings and COSIDA convention. I'm not backing down an inch on this. I'm tired of writers being treated like garbage by these multi-million dollar coaches who look at us as navel lint. I'm tired of being told "you can't." I've been in this business 30 years and the access gets worse every year. It's time to stop this stuff. I've already had 20 e-mails from writers coast-to-coast about their horror stories on access. Feel free to e-mail me at rhiggins@commercialappeal.com. I want to hear all of them.` Honestly, I'm tired of all of us being shoved around. I want to hear from you.

 

Thanks, Moddy. We want to meet in the middle with coaches, but I want to make sure they understand that we need more access. We're not asking for the world. But I don't want anymore closed scrimmages. And I'd like to talk to freshmen or assistant coaches. I understand that coaches have become more paranoid than ever because of the Internet. But they have swung so far to one side that they have built a huge wall. The e-mails from writers I've received already. . .some are absolutely incredible. . .such as a sports information department screening interview requests for players by asking writers to give them the nature of the story they are writing.

 

Oh, so the Alabama beat guys have weighed in.

God bless them all. Seriously.