Dear dimwit on the phone

How often do you guys get complaints about the lack of coverage from fans of sports that aren't really that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things? For the longest time, our local lacrosse faction has been bombarding us with how lacrosse is the fastest growing sport. More recently someone tried to convince us that we were a hotbed for squash.

And this just came to mind from a few years back. The Team USA women's basketball team was playing in some sort of tournament (it might've been FIBA) and we actually gave the game story quite a bit of space. However, because it was on the very back page, some lady called in to complain that we were disrespecting and short-changing the WNBA, even though it wasn't even a WNBA game. ???

Although when it comes to the WNBA, I suspect a lot of women who complain about the lack of coverage have non-sports reasons for doing so.

 

Dear junior high wrestling parents in the nearest big city,

Really? A half-page ad in our paper with a team photo after your spawn beat a team from our city? You must have a lot of disposable income, a lot of nerve, and, come to think of it, not much of a life, rubbing it in to a bunch of 11-13 year olds. And, while I do thank you for your contribution to my check, I have to say one thing: IT'S FREAKING JUNIOR HIGH WRESTLING!

 

Can you explain that last line?

 

Ain't that the worst? Parents who want the coach fired and want to use the paper/station as a middleman. Been caught in that shitstorm a couple of times and it was not fun.

Of course, no one ever wants to go on the record with anything, so it devolves into a "he said, she said" type of thing.

 

Typically, the lesser sports whine the loudest. I get that. They look at the amount of space devoted to football, basketball or whatever and feel slighted that their passion is getting short-changed. I get that. When you put your heart and soul into something, you want to do it to the best of your ability and want the world to know.

I always tried, as both a reporter and editor, to keep that in mind and be on the lookout for good stories in less known sports, local or national, to give some variety to the section. And I kept a tab each month on what sports we centerpieced and how often. I hated to go, say, 10 straight days, with football as the centerpiece.

 

It's like how there are people who want Tim Tebow to be a starter in the NFL for reasons that have nothing to do with football. The WNBA has been used as a symbol for lesbian activism, so we've gotten a few complaints from people who view us not giving the WNBA the same amount of coverage as the NFL or MLB as a slight on GLBT.

 

Oh boy, the whole 'sports as social status' argument again.

 

Holy crap! This is a voicemail we got the day after the Super Bowl.

I wonder if he knows the left tackle is black. : This racist jackass had a modest country or southern accent, sounded more senior citizen than late middle-aged.

 

But enough about Mark calling your paper ...

 

Damn it, Baron! Beat me to it.

 

Downhill skiing. I call it an entitlement sport, because mom and dad believe that because they've paid thousands of dollars over the years for lift tickets and gear that their children must be above the fold. One in particular has the revered status of being the only person I've told my email to divert anything from her to junk.

They had a USSA regional event at our local hill last month and because they got the local university to 'sponsor' it and because the contact within the university's fundraising arm was the publisher's wife, he thought we should treat it like the Olympics. Basically ordered to run a precede three weeks ahead of time. I think both sports and news both ran identical 'oh, because of this event, all the competitors are going to want to go to (Podunk U!) story."

One local competitor and she finished in the 20s. I hate skiing.

 

DEY TOOK ERR JERBS!!!!!!!