Dear dimwit on the phone

Sheeeeeet, why didn't I think of that?

 

They don't issue you a pass?

When I was freelancing, I always made a point for whoever I was working for to get me a pass. Didn't seem like too much to ask. It wasn't like I was making a fortune for the assignment. The least you can do is help make the experience pain-free.

 

Nice pull.

 

I do similar for HS games. In fact I've gotten so that I don't even pay any attention to the people working at gates, unless it's one of the regular schools I cover. Can't get away with a clipboard though, I've got a laptop bag and camera bag.

 

Dear dimwits running Section basketball finals: ONE surge protector for print and broadcast to share?

 

This is the first year (started covering sports in '06) I've ever encountered issues with getting into tournaments. Guess the association is running a tighter ship mow. Come baseball and softball state in May, I'll either call ahead for a pass or do as you're suggesting. Or make my own credentials.

 

Update: A couple of hours later, our reporter let us know they did provide more outlets. Still told him to prepare something to send along to the Section office.

This is the same Section that, at this event last year, had some, one come up to me before the game and tell me they'd get the sources I need after the game, spent the whole game doing a Sudoku puzzle, then tell me the players I wanted didn't want to talk. Fortunately, I have a good relationship with the team I was covering and heard them calling my name as I was leaving the area outside the locker room and I got my interviews, plus apologies from the AD.

This event is one of the best-run I go to each year, but sometimes ya wonder ...

 

Yeah, sometimes the state tournaments have different rules for media access. If they don't want me to go into the locker room, I can usually get what I need outside the locker room. Even if it's a strange team (say, a small school on the fringes of the coverage area that happens to be good but that we didn't staff during the regular season), I'll try to introduce myself to the coach beforehand if possible.

 

Thankfully Rhode Island is small enough that every August we just apply for an RIIL credential and, boom, we can get into anything for the entire school year.
Hell, this year the pass is yellow and I still had my pass from 2010-2011 which was also yellow. I never even bothered to get a new one and just use this one everytime I go to an event. I've never had an issue despite the fact that I just crossed off the name of my old shop and replaced it with the school photography company I occasionally shoot for instead.
I love Rhode Island.

 

This is they time of year I really feel for local sports staffs. Between college tourneys, high school baseball and various levels of prep basketball and wrestling tournaments, it must be a nightmare getting people where you need them.

 

Our SE recently left for another job, making me a one-man staff. I've been telling people, as I ask them to be patient with me and call stuff in, that this rivals preseason football as our busiest time of year. Depending on how good your basketball teams are, in our state you could conceivably have playoff games five nights a week for the better part of a month.
Last year one of our schools won a state title, three others went deep into the playoffs, and we also have a big 10K run at the beginning of March. My SE was ready to drive into a bridge abutment by the time things calmed down.

 

Yep and yep. Got two basketball teams in SoCals this week and, sure enough, first thing I see in email when I stopped at the office to drop off a comptuer was from a softball dad: "Please write a story about our game next week so we can get a big crowd out there." Sorry, but March hoops so trumps March softball in terms of previews. And I'm sooooo looking forward to costing your players scholarships.