Dear dimwit on the phone

Some people are like that. I feel that way about the NBA and NASCAR, but will run them if the news value warrants.

 

Got an email from someone suggesting we write a story about an 8-year-old wrestler who is ranked No. 2 in the country and is raising funds to go to nationals in Vegas and a chance at the "Trinity Cup." Old management would have made me do this, I fear, but went to the new ME and she shot it down (thank you very much), noting, among other things, there was no account set up for the funds. I told her I'd write a tactful rejection letter.

My version: "Sorry, we can't do a story. We wish Little Jimmy all the luck in the world, but we can't do a story."

The SportsJournalists.com version: "An 8-year-old? Are you effing kidding? Who ranks the wrestlers, AP, the BCS or the coaches poll? Is there any accountability for the funds, especially considering the destination? And your family not being able to afford to go is not news. And, yes, I am looking forward to you not getting a scholarship in about 10 years as a result!"

 

And I'm sure you are looking forward to the "you hate wrestling! and children!" response.

 

Dear area amateur baseball dimwits,

How do you expect us to cover your team when we don't know you're playing until after the fact (and after deadline)? We aren't mind readers!

Thanks to the wonderful invention of Twitter, we found out the final scores from your three area games we didn't know were being played tonight shortly after deadline. Had you told us, maybe you would've gotten covered....or at least a phone call.

Sincerely,
Podunk Daily

 

It's a bit of a slippery slope in the making. Already did a story this week on some youth boxers, and tomorrow have an advancer on the Cal Ripken regional that starts Friday. But if someone calls and wonders why we're doing these kids and not that kid, it's an easy answer: They're not holding their hands out.

 

Dear numbskull who can't apparently open a paper,

I don't know why I need to double check that a photo I told you ran on B2 of the last edition in fact ran on B2 of the last edition. By the sure fact that after the paper came out I told you what page to find it on should have been enough of a clue that it ran.

 

Had a similar call end up on my desk the other day, someone wanting the number of a columnist he was reading. I found it ... on the tagline of the column!

 

I love the ones where someone calls and asks for Joe Schmoe. You tell them you don't have a Joe Schmoe working for the paper, but they insist because they're reading an article written by Joe Schmoe. So you look at the paper only to find they're reading an AP article and you have to explain to the person what the AP.

 

Lot of readers have no idea how a newspaper works. They assume we at The Podunk Press have a staff of 100 churning out articles on the World Cup, Major League Baseball, Wimbledon and everything else they read and the only reason we don't cover their son's kick boxing tournament is because we're out to get him.

 

@ Gremlin...just had the same scenario with some martial arts event...not sure we would have covered it had we known, but telling us a week after the fact does no one any good.

Ran into a Little League commish, who apologized up and down when he saw me at a championship game last night. He felt bad for not giving me notice on the early-round games and explained they had a new website director. Enough googling gave me a championship game time just a few hours before our deadline.

 

Probably the reason we just run "The Associated Press" or the paper's name in our bylines.

 

I think I started doing that after getting such a phone call. I also got into trouble running syndicated columns put out by the corporate office to fill space on the opinion page. That one is harder to fudge than the wire services.