Track parent

This is correct. My guess is you're coming off as lazy/incompetent/meek when you ask the coach for results, so he/she feels like he/she is doing your job for you, ie doing you a favor, and therefore doesn't feel required to do it. You have to tell the coach that the only way results get in the paper is if he or she gets them to you by a certain time, and then tell the coach that you will tell any parents who complain that it is the coach's fault, not yours.

Then, you have to tell the parent the same thing, and tell them to ask the coach to cooperate with your deadlines. Coaches don't listen to reporters, but they listen to parents. You can't change deadline, but the coach can probably cut short his dinner engagement to get you results sooner. Make sure the parents know it is the coach's responsibility, not yours, and if they don't accept that and continue to say you're not doing your job, ask to see their journalism diploma because without one, they can't claim to know what your job is.

Also, do NOT tell them to speak to your supervisor. Supervisors only react one way to complaints about underlings. And trust me, it's not the way you want them to react.

 

This would seem to be in conflict with my thought that you should tell her to blow it out her ass; perhaps I should rethink that position.

 

Here in Florida we have two fantastic web sites who cover only track and they have a crap load of meets posted daily. While the dual meets don't get posted they do put up almost every single major invitational and classic meet.

http://fl.milesplit.us/

 

SF, my first thought is always to tell 'em to fuck off. In fact, that usually is what I'm thinking to myself while writing nice e-mail replies.
Fact is, if I tell 'em to fuck off and they go over my head -- even at a rather large, major market suburban paper -- it's my ass that's on the line.

 

Yeah, I know. Truth be told, I've never told a single high school parent to fuck off, and I've listened patiently to about 6 million of them over the years.

Simply a dream of mine.

 

At least in our area, www.athletic.net is pretty good about having updated results, both for track and cross country.

 

I think it would be satisfying to do a large story about the track team where you quote about half a dozen kids, just not hers.

 

A few leagues around here have Web sites that give results for each meet, though none of the leagues I cover have such a site. One league had a cross-country site with results, but I guess a lot of coaches didn't want to put results on it because they didn't want other coaches to see them and shuffle their lineups.
Coolrunning.com has most of the invitational, class and state meet results.

 

A-men.

 

We too have a site most coaches use (directathletics.com). At least in my area, the coaches post their results as soon as the meet is over so the media isn't hounding all the coaches. I think the coaches got tired of listening to parents after we told them to talk to their coach when results weren't in on time.

 

I'm not sure why faxes are treated as though they are sent from the very bowels of hell. I'd gladly take a fax versus listening to a coach try to fumble through all that crap over the phone.

Yeah, I'd rather have e-mails, too. And I do have some coaches doing that. But considering how long it took to convince most of these coaches to start faxing in the first place, I'm not in a mood to try to get them to learn how to use e-mail. Chances are they'd just make mistakes typing all of that in. At least with a fax, the stuff is all there and all they have to do is get a secretary to send it over.

 

Faxing in 2010 is f**king retarded.

Get with the times.

Unless you're calling me on a rotary phone, listening to that brand new Abba record you got, there's no F-N excuse for not emailing.

Email has been around (for me, anyway), since 1997. That's 13 years. It's not a new technology.