Dear dimwit on the phone

The only thing worse than getting this letter is having it brought over to you by the Publisher/GM/ME with a pithy, "This will make a great Sunday piece for you."

 

I've always felt that if a kid has talent and will apply his/herself, they will be discovered, no matter what we write.

 

I agree. If the kid is talented enough to play on the collegiate level, they'll get found.

 

True enough. But isn't spotlighting players who excel a part of what we as journalists do?

I suppose I would feel if a kid goes through four years of high school and excels enough to get a college scholarship and our paper never got around to doing a story on them, we overlooked something. That, of course, is less true if you're a major metro with dozens of signees. But if you're a small or mid-size market that commits substantial resources to high school coverage, maybe it's more of a point of emphasis.

 

Agreed.

 

Is there a link to the story you wrote? And a photo gallery?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Sounds like a phone call our SE got from a guy who wanted to start at National Marching Band League. He was quite serious.

 

Can't speak for other small dailies, but if a kid signs D-1, we go all out with coverage of the signing. Even if it's to a small D-1 school like Murray State or Western Kentucky.

 

To which you respond to the Publisher/GM/ME with a nice little, "Marching band is not sports, and besides, we have two other games to cover, take 50 high school and college results and lay out the section with just three people since you guys laid off two others and didn't replace the guy who took the PR job. Have fun writing that great Sunday piece!"

 

I'd suggest that the band dad apply for your job since he seems to know how to do it so well. The guy is making it easy on you, basically leading you to a Pulitzer step-by-step.

Or this could be an opportunity to make some extra cash.
"Well sir, our paper isn't interested in the story, but I would be able to cover it for you personally if you'd like to hire a reporter for the day. The internet has a wide audience, and you can start up your own publication on blog spot. We can run the band piece there and people from around the world would have the opportunity to read about your son and his tremendous impact. My fee is $500 for the day. Let me know if you'd like to hire a photographer, as well. The going rate for one of those is $750 a day. If you'd like a web designer, I can put you in touch there as well, they typically run $600 per project.
I hope to hear back from you, so we can get the word out on this exciting, and often overlooked, impact of band and orchestra."

Be just as ridiculous and see if he bites.

 

Dear High School Coach Who Also Makes A Bajillion dollars a year running summer league basketball tournaments,

Don't call me all pissed off because I wrote a COLUMN about the local summer baseball program having drastically reduced enrollment numbers in which I wondered if kids were playing too many other sports, including basketball. I never once mentioned your organization by name on purpose. I wrote the column after I saw kids actually leaving during the middle of the baseball game to make a basketball game of your organization scheduled during the summer months. I'm sorry if I wrote something which may have hit a little too close to home, but my SE, ME and publisher all backed me.

Your dramatic gesture of cancelling your subscription only reinforces my point.
Sincerely,
CharBroiled

 

At least that's one less basketball camp brief that will be turned in to you during the summer.

 

Oh, we never get information on the tournaments/leagues during the summer from this organization. Yet here in Kansas it's a major player when it comes to amateur basketball and was started by the local who is now the head basketball coach at our high school.

But I write one column about where the kids are during the summer other than the baseball field and I've offended him as if I peed in his Cheerios.