Kids reporting scores

Calls I hate:

"Hi, I'm calling in for the Dipshit High/Bumblefuck East basketball game"

Me: "O.K. sir, what was the score?"

Caller: "I'm not calling in the game. I'm calling you to find out who won."

Me: "Oh. We haven't received that result yet, sir."

Caller: "Well, why not? I know we're 2-10, but the kids work hard."

 

^^^^^Response: Apparently not as hard as the 10 teams they lost to.

 

I remember the season the local girls college team had the freshman from Columbia, who was just learning english, call in the stats every night. Fun times.

Another fav:
Me: Sports, can I help you?
Caller: GIRLS TENNIS!
Me: What about girls tennis?

This is pretty consistantly the same type of coach who calls in his/her scores as, "2-6, 6-2, 2-6"

 

Speaking for us, uh-uh. And we're not ABOUT to open that can of worms.

 

"They work hard? OK. So in other words, they just suck?"

 

Their heart goes much further than their athletic talent, and that's why you should be at their battle-for-last-place season finale, watching high school infielders throw the ball wildly around the field like a pee-wee team. The hell with all the other teams who can actually play.

 

I was on the other end at times, as a high school baseball coach. I know that being a desk jockey isn't what the slacker answering phones aspired to do when he was in college, but how about a little courtesy on the phone? I can't tell you the number of times the person answering phones at the local paper was downright surly and a nightmare to deal with. I wish that newspapers would give the people answering phones at the local paper a sports quiz, so the coaches or kids calling in scores don't have to give a sports lesson while on the phone. The call-in experience from a coach's perspective often got to the point where you had to debate if you wanted to deal with the underpaid a-hole answering the phones at the local paper, or deal with parents asking why the scores weren't in the paper.

Blaming the paper would have been the easy way to go, but in the end, the most important thing was getting the kids names in the paper.

 

Careful there. This board isn't always amenable to the other side of the coin.

 

other. side. of. coin.?

 

Speaking of the other side of the coin, here's a nod to one of the best people our office ever dealt with for prep-score/calls purposes. She was 16 years old, and so good, I still remember her name.

This was probably 10 years ago now. A member of a local girls' tennis team, Danielle played No. 2 doubles. She also was tabbed occasionally by her coach to call in match results.

It didn't take long to realize why.

After a few laborious calls -- each lasting more than 10 minutes -- during which we had to walk the coach through the information we wanted, stumble through various pronunciations and spellings and wade through key highlights each and every time he called, Danielle happened to phone in for the first time.

I asked, step by step, for what we needed, how we needed it, and she came through easily, information obviously at the ready.

The next time she called, she identified herself with her full name and gave a clear indication of her sport and school, and provided the final score, all without being asked. That done, she proceeded to give full, accurate and complete scores, providing both teams' players' first and last names teams and spelling out any tough or questionable ones -- phonetically, if there were letters that might be misheard over the phone, and gave both teams' updated records, overall and in league play -- all without prompting.

After that, she gave details on the key result -- a tie-breaker match won by the team's No. 3 singles player over the opponent's No. 1. In a matter of seconds and without problem or complaint, she then went through the score book and counted up the highlighted player's season record (which wasn't very good and put perspective on her upset victory). And just for good measure, she mentioned that the team's victory was its ninth in a row.

We were off the phone in less than five minutes.

Feeling like a proud parent, and almost giddy with the ease of it, I let Danielle know we appreciated her efforts and told her to call again -- anytime -- and she agreed, saying she'd be sure to call if she knew the coach wasn't going to do so.

Oh, and then she gave her phone number, ''in case you ever need it.'' Needless to say, I added it into our contacts' phones list.

She called several more times on behalf of the coach during the regular season, the differences in their information and effectiveness glaringly noticeable each time.

When the playoffs rolled around, we hadn't heard from the coach and needed a result after a match. So we we gave chase to the coach, trying him, without success, at a couple of different phone numbers, a couple of different times, that night.

Finally, I called Danielle to see if she could help. ''Did she know any results/details well enough to be able to give us some highlights, even if not a full box?,'' I asked.

She did, and gave them, with full explanation, right off the top of her head but without any hesitation.

I had complete confidence in her.

She was better than some of the people we had answering the phones, and we'd built up enough trust that, for the rest of the playoffs, we just went straight to her and didn't even bother with the coach.

Worked out fine for all concerned.

Just so you all know that not every kid calling in a score is going to be a disaster. There is hope, everyone.

 

Unfortunately, Danielle is the exception to the rule.

 

I wonder if Danielle had aspirations to go into broadcasting or whatnot. If she was that good at 16, I'd love to see what she's doing for her career now.