Why I drink ... phone calls.

Georgiaguy knows what fits in his section better than any of us do.

The last few grafs of his tale made me go cross-eyed until I realized that the event wasn't moved to the next Tuesday, but that the decision was made the Tuesday beforehand.

 

The GHSA also awards state championships in one-act play. Should that go in sports?

 

I got into it with a guy on the phone a few years ago about the time of day. This was a few years ago, so this is the condensed abridged version.

Caller is angry and condescending when I answer the phone. "You guys screwed up the TV listings again! The paper says the Cavaliers game is supposed to be on and they're showing (whatever)." I flip the TV to that channel and sure enough, the game isn't on. So I grab the paper and turn to the TV listings. Game started at 3:30. I look at the clock. It's 6:30.

Me: Oh, here's the problem. The game started three hours ago. (check the web), Yep, Cleveland won/lost eleventy-billion to six.
Guy: So you had the time wrong.
Me: No the game started at 3:30. It's now 6:30.
Guy: No it's not.
Me: Ummmm, it's 6:30.
Guy: Where are you?
Me: I'm in here in Bumblefuck.
Guy: Well, so am I and it's 3:30!
Me: (Flabbergasted silence)
Guy: Grumble, grumble, grumble, --click--

 

Yes, I would love to cover some well done one-act plays.

 

So, the take-away from this is that the people who rely on us for information -- so much so that they call when they think we got something wrong -- are so out of touch they can't even read a clock. Now hearing echoes of Nelson from The Simpsons and his famous line from a few years ago about newspapers:

"Ha-Ha ... your industry is dying!"

 

What about the junior varsity actors? They try hard too.

 

I always put them right next to the GHSA-sanctioned literary events and debate championships in the roundup.

 

I was gonna reference that, but I figured I would leave someone open to take a hack at me, so to speak.

Of course not, but I think competitive cheerleading is a lot closer to sports.

(Those activities are also not run out of the Athletic Department, which cheerleading is in everywhere I know of).

The play results, I assume, will go in the paper somewhere. They did at papers I was at. Same for cheerleading. As said, better if you can get news to do it. But I don't think you can criticize papers that use it in sports.

jlee: Yeah, it was held *before* it was scheduled. And he went out of his way to have someone there. He gets to bitch all he wants

 

One of the days I absolutely dread the most is the release of our all-city teams. I KNOW some mom or dad will be absolutely pissed that their brat didn't make it.

Today was one of those days, where what should have been a calm Sunday turned to the Apocalypse because Little Ajay didn't make the damn all-city team. And, yes, I actually had many say we're costing the kids scholarships because "coaches only care about kids on all-city teams."

Maybe the coaches on the unemployment line, Momma.

 

I never said the cheerleaders didn't get in the paper, but from that point forward I forwarded all cheerleading to the news side and I helped them out by covering city council meetings once a month.
Was the best trade I ever made.

 

Here's a fun one...

Sitting at a softball game and a dad calls me over...
"So when's Little Miss Susie going to get in the paper?"
Me: "Well we had her mentioned last week..."
Dad: "No, I mean when will we see a photo of her?"
Me: "I'm not sure, it's still early in the season, I'm here today and we'll probably see a few more games."
Dad: "There's $50 bucks in it for you."
Me: "Uh, that's not really how it works."
I walk away...

 

Had that happen years ago. Guy walks up, wanted a photo. Told the guy the same thing. It didn't deter him. He actually pulled his money out, in front of everyone at the game.

I looked at the money, and said, "Congrats. Now you just guaranteed I won't shoot your daughter for the rest of the season. I'm not having people question my integrity." And walked away.

Told my boss about it. Next day, he got a call from the guy's wife, apologizing. I later did get the girl in some celebration shots.