Dear dimwit on the phone

Ah yes, the wonderful nicknames parents want included.

Uh, no thanks. Give me Junior's full name, or we don't run it.

 

Loved the holes in one that would come in with nicknames only.

No, Mr. Golf Pro, we can't "just run it like that" because the only name they gave you was "Smelly" McGee and you don't have any idea about his real first name.

 

Doesn't see what the problem is:

 

While I agree, at virtually every shop where I've worked we've had a player with what I thought was an unusual name turn out to be a nickname they've had all their lives. One of them I didn't learn the truth until he was arrested on felony charges.

 

Anthony "Booger" McFarland would always drive me crazy. The writers constantly call him Booger McFarland, and I'd change it every damn time.

 

Covered former Florida State and Buffalo Bills fullback Clarence "Pooh Bear" Williams throughout the high school to which he has returned as an assistant coach. We're just now getting away from "Pooh Bear."

 

Some native American names are, um, unique.

 

We do teams for football, volleyball, boys and girls basketball, baseball and softball.

The first comment about different classes is interesting, because we upset an AD in girls basketball by picking a small-school girl over the one from the bigger school. Both were on state runner-up teams. And the bigger school is in the town the paper is located. But the small schooler's stats were way better (24/10 vs 14/6)

 

More all-area shenanigans today.
One of our baseball coaches texted me to ask who our POY was (the team hasn't run yet), so I told him. One of his guys was in the running. The kid, from a Class 1A school, had a great year and a great story -- came back from an ACL tear, broke into the lineup when another player tore up his knee, and led a division championship team in hitting. As a bonus, his team played a lot of bigger schools in non-district games, so he succeeded against tough competition.
I went, however, with a kid from the 6A school who signed with a JUCO, hit .400 and was also a stud pitcher for a 20-win playoff team.
Tough call, but the 6A kid was a better all-around player against tougher all-around competition.

So, anyway, today the 1A kid's mom comes to the office with both guy's stats written on a piece of paper and trying to lobby for her son's cause, or at least to make him a co-player of the year. I explained my logic and she went away, probably unhappy but not grumbling. Still have a feeling this isn't the end of it, and it's going to be a long week or two until this thing runs.

 

From an email yesterday: "How much does it cost to send in a press release?"

I'm resisting the temptation to write back "How much does your ISP charge per month?"

 

Why release that news before publication?

 

Agreed.