Dear dimwit on the phone

Got a news release at noon today saying that Local High was folding its ice hockey program due to lack of interest, etc ...

I type it up and throw it on the Web and give it to the paginator to put in the section.

Another email comes in at 3:30, asking us to embargo the release until tomorrow afternoon.

I call the AD and tell him I can hold off on print, and I can yank it from the Web if absolutely necessary, but it's already been out there for a few hours.

He said he didn't have a problem with it being online, but if we could hold off until Wednesday's paper for print, he'd appreciate it.

On the whole, this really wasn't a problem at all. But why would you send a release out and then try to embargo it 3 1/2 hours later?

 

Arm-twisting by parents, alums, boosters, etc.

Maybe someone promised to raise some cash in 24 hours and now the AD will look like a moron for cancelling a program and then reviving it. Or maybe someone is in town whom he/she prefer not read that news in black and white.

There's a story here should you choose to pursue it.

 

Unless there's a major reason (like wartime troop movements, etc), there's little reason for an embargo unless a source is trying to help you out by giving you information prior to when they would normally release it. Like if they wanted to give you time to write the story, but they don't want the story released yet. That should be agreed upon ahead of them giving you the info, not 3 1/2 hours after they send it.

If nothing else, I'd check with the source about any updated info, write a story about the first release, and then follow up afterward.

 

Yeah, sounds like something's up. Pursue it and keep us updated, please, as my curiousity is definitely piqued.

 

We deal with embargoed stories all the time, and there are still many editors who want to pull stories off the web and wait to republish after an after-the-release embargo is agreed upon.

 

Re: Stats inconsistencies

The M(ichigan)HSAA allows eighth-graders at small schools to compete in some sports, like basketball, but their stats from that year don't count for records purposes since other players may not have had the same opportunity. A colleague of mine got called a racist in Nimrod Nation (small school with a large Native American population) for saying someone wasn't (by the book) a 1,000-point scorer when he was by the numbers.

 

It's weird they allow 8th-graders in some sports and not in others, but at least they're consistent with the not allowing their 8th-grade stats to count towards records. That does level the playing field. Is it just the smaller classifications that are allowed to do that and what sports do they get to do it in?

 

An eighth-grader can compete in Michigan if his or her high school has an enrollment of less than 100 in any sport except for football, hockey and wrestling (and if it's under 50, seventh-graders can play, too).

 

Michigan has high schools that have less than 50 people? Holy smokes. Are these public schools or all private? There are some schools down here that are that small, but they're all private.

 

Oh, I know of some public micro-districts that probably qualify for that.

 

Montana was the same. Some places are sooo rural that they just don't have many people and busing to another city is impractical because they are so geographically isolated. Thus the joy known as 6-man football.

 

That would make sense in someplace like Montana, where there's a lot more geographical isolation. I don't see Michigan as being that isolated, but I confess I'm not that familiar with the geography of the UP and places like that.