The infamous all-area team

Both those options are out. There is no union, and the ME canned my column over a parent complaint last month. My reporting and judgement is solid, but those are low on the list of management's priorities. I work at a paper that was printing over five news corrections per week not long ago and corrections of corrections. The concern is not accuracy, but what will keep people complacent enough to keep subscribing.

If the SE doens't go with my selection, then I'm throwing the work to him because I don't want my name on it.

This is why quitting is a deadly serious option right now.

 

I would pick the baseball player as the player of the year, if he is clearly the best player.

This does show a flaw in your system. If only the player of the year gets a feature and a picture, why write about him again?

Can you do a compromise? Pick the baseball kid as player of the year with a short story and picture and maybe do a feature on some other deserving kid/position/well-represented team on the all-area team.

That way you not only do the right thing by the best player, you would give spare your readers another feature on the stud in a six-month period.

 

For some reason, those names almost made me spit up my Fruity Pebbles....

 

I hate to say it then, but you might have to eat it on this one. That's a bad option, because the person who gets hurt here is the baseball kid, who doesn't win an award that he deserves.

I like your suggestion of making your SE write it. If you're to the point where you don't fear losing your job, you might as well make a principled stand on the way out.

I'd try one last thing then:

Get the coaches and parents to stage a pre-emptive strike on your behalf. If the SE realizes he'll get more flack for not picking the baseball kid than by choosing some other kid, maybe he'll relent. Spread the word to the coaches and players you cover that the SE is planning on choosing an undeserving player and have them bombard him with calls and e-mails about how wrong the choice is.

In the meantime, start looking for a new gig because you don't want to be at a paper like this.

 

Well, thing is that this kid won't be the only featured player. I split the teams this year so that we have an 11-man squad and an 8-man squad, which will get its own player of the year. So it's not like the baseball player is getting senseless promotion.

 

Pick Mike Shula as the coach of your all-area team. He needs a job.

 

He said, "I just want to make sure we pick the best player."

He just answered both of your questions right there. He should keep his nose out of it.

I had a stud athlete that was Area Athlete of the Year in basketball (3x), cross country (3x) and track (2x) in a three-year span. She was easily the best athlete in every sport. She led all three teams to top-three state finishes and/or state titles.

I would be more afraid of what my readers might think had I not picked the obvious choice.

 

Now some of the soccer parents at your old paper are griping because there is no All-Area soccer team.

 

When the SE said, "I just want to make sure we pick the best player," he gave you an out to take this kid. You could use those words and argue against the SE to the ME when debating this. You point out that he's the best kid, the SE told you to take the best kid, so there's no argument to be had here.

It sounds like if you ever needed to speak your mind, this would be the time. I'm not saying to get fired, but any frustration about the SE might come out here. Stand up here and see what happens.