Dear dimwit on the phone

ESPN is usually pretty good about putting a scorebug up when the game that is supposed to be on starts. They also usually run a crawl that says what channel it is airing on.
But yes, even with all this...morons will exist.

 

Sometimes they will shift the start of a game to ESPN News or ESPNU, which, I suppose, is fine if you actually get those channels. It's less annoying than it used to be because now you can at least follow the game online.

Sometimes in the old days you might miss an entire quarter of an NFL game if an earlier game went long.

 

The crawl means nothing when you have people watching the 2013 Daytona 500 while the 2014 race was in rain delay and tweeting about it like it was the live event.

Had one caller complain that we had a tennis tournament listed on ESPN that wasn't on, even though we never listed it on ESPN to begin with because it was airing on another station.

The caller that has to take the cake though was when a regional cable stations was airing a college football game on delay, and some old guy called to complain that the ESPN ticker spoiled it for him.

 

Ohio just had its state wrestling tournament. The Ohio High School Athletic Association does a good job of keeping the non-media away at the state events I've covered by having you E-mail/fax in your request for a pass days in advance and having it waiting at a pass gate.
At wrestling, each of us received a color-coded pass — photographers, writers, coaches, student photographers, etc. — to wear around the neck as well as a wristband so the floor workers knew who belonged where. And they keep an eagle eye out, too. I've seen coaches and wrestlers, who were trying to watch a match after theirs was done, shooed off the floor.
It also helps that, except for the championship finals, parents and fans have no access to the competition floor. That way we can get interviews with the wrestlers and coaches.

 

Kentucky is the same way.

The KHSAA emails out stuff a few weeks before the winter championships are scheduled, and -- at least at wrestling -- they give you a colored name tag/badge to wear on you at all times. If you don't have that pass, or aren't working for the organization, GTFO.

 

Most state tournaments I have covered were that way. I never had any problems with it. As soon as we knew one of our teams was competing, I'd talk to the bosses and find out if they wanted me to go (normally they did). Then I'd make a polite call/email to the state activities association, telling them who I was and who I represented and they'd leave a pass for me at will-call, so as to avoid problems with the postal service.

 

In Oklahoma, earlier in the year, we submitted the usual applications for playoff passes, which is the process I was used to in New Mexico. A couple of weeks ago, the association sent us a pair of passes specifically for the wrestling tournament.

We didn't attend the tournament because we had other events taking place and not a lot of local wrestlers attending. But it was still good that the association was handling things professionally.

 

Yeah, I 've done the "call ahead to say I'm coming" thing in the past, which was met with "Good for you." Not a big deal anymore. It's only a clusterfuck for state wrestling. Never had a problem getting in for state hoops/baseball/football, etc.

 

Haven't covered state wrestling but the call and say I'm coming route works most of the time here. In fact once for the state golf finals they had accidentally put me on the pass list for the wrong class and when I showed up at the tournament I was covering they just grabbed a spare coach's pass, crossed out "coach" and wrote "press" in magic marker.

 

Did the call-ahead thing once when I had to drive 300 miles to a regional basketball game. When I got to the site, the people at the gate treated me suspiciously, even though I had not only my credential, but one from the state sportswriters association.

Before the game, as the AD was telling all the media we'd have to sit upstairs instead of courtside, he claimed I never called. Then as we all settled in, they passed around notices giving us the ID codes for the school wifi account, but warned it might not be secure.

The local writers let me know later that such treatment was typical for the school. Thank goodness I had an air card so I wouldn't contaminate any of their precious wifi.

 

I'm going to make up my own press pass. Today, the people working the pass gate didn't grasp the concept of being a freelancer and not having a pass from either of the two papers that have hired me for the weekend. I had to show them the emails from the sports editors to prove I wasn't some cheap bastard there to watch high school hoops for free.

If having a laminated piece of card stock makes me legit, I'll hit the OfficeMax in the morning. In fine print, it'll say, "Do you really think I'd come here without the promise of money?"

 

Just carry a clipboard and wave. Nobody will stop you.