Dear dimwit on the phone

Anyone ever have a parent flat out lie to you about where their kid was going so you'd run an incorrect story? That's happened to us before.

 

I've had people try, but not really aggressively. Oh, your daughter is getting looks from UConn basketball? That's so odd that she's a senior averaging 10 points a game in Rhode Island's Division II, and she's under six-feet tall...

 

In the case of Div. III or non-scholie schools, I always tell reporters to indicate that in the story. As for photos, just a matter of rewriting the cutline.

 

Coach notifies us his QB son is attending Podunk State, Div. I-AA level.
SE looks on school web site, sees no recruiting list, calls school and is told 'We don't give athletic scholarships, therefore we have no signings."
SE tells this to Coach.
Coach: "Can't you just say he signed?"

 

His appointment already came through? That kid works fast. Ours are all still in the midst of the zillion-step process.

Last year's West Pointer (a female thrower) didn't meet the physical requirements 'til April.

 

As predicted ...

"My son signed yesterday at the same time as Johnny Quarterback and Bobby Noseguard. Why didn't he get the same write up?"

Sir, Johnny Quarterback signed a National Letter of Intent with a Division-I program. Bobby Noseguard signed with a Division-II program.

"Yeah, Bobby signed with the same one my son did and he got four paragraphs to the one sentence my boy got. It's not fair."

Sir, your son told our reporter and I quote "The coaches didn't offer scholarships to any linebackers this year because they have eight on campus. But they said I could earn one next season." Bobby got a full ride. Your son did not. That's why he got four paragraphs to one sentence.

<And then it came. The phrase we all know and love. I had to hit the mute button on my phone because I chuckled.>

"My son worked just as hard as those other two and I think he should have gotten equal coverage."

 

I'm so glad we only had one kid sign D-I this year for football. We had a couple kids signing with D-I schools in several sports on the same day a few years ago, and it was hectic. Had one kid set to sign shortly after school started, only to find out they pushed it to later in the day -- so my boss had me drive up to another school in our coverage area where a kid was signing with Navy. Then, went back and covered the kid who was supposed to sign in the morning later in the afternoon.

That day sucked.

 

Then there's this all-time classic:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?id=3236039

 

We got a call one year from a mother who was just apoplectic that we hadn't gone nuts over her son, a basketball player who was being recruited hard by Gene Keady and Purdue - and this was when they were making deep tournament runs.

Turns out he played for one of those teams full of kids who were home-schooled and gathered together to form a team. It was the first of its kind in this area, so we sent out a guy to do a feature on the team. They played on a shorter-than-standard court at The Salvation Army, the floor was tile and not hardwood, the "crowd" sat in a single row of folding chairs along the sidelines, and this kid was a 5-10, 200-pound post player. The team wasn't even allowed to play state association high school teams. Turns out the kid went to basketball camp at Purdue one summer and got a "Good luck this season" card from Keady in the mail, which was interpreted as being "heavily recruited."

 

Try hearing that from your publisher -- in reference to two D-I signees vs. a juco softball signee.

 

Yeah, I did one of those about 20 years with a basketball player. We got some stuff from the local Army recruiter to use as props in the photo shoot. Good kid, couldn't play very well, but there weren't a lot of people in that town who got into West Point.

 

Signed WHAT?

This is why I don't do recruiting stories unless I can verify the stuff from the university. Most schools will post a list of signings on signing day.