Dear dimwit on the phone

[Justin_Rice]

You didn't call in one game all season, and you wonder why we haven't covered your private school soccer team?

 

[spikechiquet]

Dimwit update, or sportsjournalists.com karma strikes again: Team that didn't report individual results Thursday loses in semis today.

Huzzah!

 

[HejiraHenry]

You didn't call in one game all season, and you wonder why we haven't covered your private school soccer team?

Nothing shuts up the complaining parent quite so quickly.

 

[Spartan Squad]

I was talking with an AD after a kid did a college signing and I asked him about two other kids I'm sure will be moving on to play in college. He says, "Honestly, I have no idea. They don't tell me what's going on. And then parents get mad when they see other kids getting recognized, but I tell them, you have to let me know! A light doesn't go off in my office that says a kid just got accepted."

I was tempted to direct him to this thread.

 

[MNgremlin]

I was talking with an AD after a kid did a college signing and I asked him about two other kids I'm sure will be moving on to play in college. He says, "Honestly, I have no idea. They don't tell me what's going on. And then parents get mad when they see other kids getting recognized, but I tell them, you have to let me know! A light doesn't go off in my office that says a kid just got accepted."

I was tempted to direct him to this thread.

How do you respond to someone who believes "since we didn't do a story about this signing we didn't know about, we can't do one about the one we got a heads up about."

 

[HanSenSE]

Nothing shuts up the complaining parent quite so quickly.

It's further back in this thread (or, in honor of my Lon Simmons avatar, way back, way back ...), but I'm reminded of someone calling and wondering why their school is never in the paper despite having a great season.
"Well, your coach or representative hasn't been sending in results."
"I see Podunk and Podunk West in there all the time"
"That's because they're sending in results. Podunk East hasn't been."
"Even Tiny Christian is getting in and they had a big picture today."
"Well, they've been sending in results ..."

 

[Spartan Squad]

How do you respond to someone who believes "since we didn't do a story about this signing we didn't know about, we can't do one about the one we got a heads up about."

I'd say it's the fault of the family who told you their kid was signing that a different kid's family didn't want it publicized, so go ahead and write the story. And usually when people see these kinds of things in the paper, they tend to ask how they can get in the paper, to which you simply reply, "let me know."

 

[MNgremlin]

I'd say it's the fault of the family who told you their kid was signing that a different kid's family didn't want it publicized, so go ahead and write the story. And usually when people see these kinds of things in the paper, they tend to ask how they can get in the paper, to which you simply reply, "let me know."

Except it was someone in the newsroom with the initial reasoning

 

[Spartan Squad]

I should have broken those sentences up into different grafs. I meant that as two different trains of thought. But the logic still stands for newsroom person, if we publicize more of these, there is a higher likelihood that more people will let us know about the signings. And it doesn't have to be signings, it can be anything that we find interesting to put in the paper.

 

[Bradley Guire]

Ad dimwit ...

Guy writes in wanting his youth soccer league tryout info in our calendar but would be willing to buy an ad, too. Initial email went to an ad person. Ad person forwards to news, thinking it's a hot scoop we want. Never occurred to the ad sales staff to sell an ad. And folks in the newsroom wonder why they haven't received a raise in 10 years.

 

[dirtybird]

Ad dimwit ...

Guy writes in wanting his youth soccer league tryout info in our calendar but would be willing to buy an ad, too. Initial email went to an ad person. Ad person forwards to news, thinking it's a hot scoop we want. Never occurred to the ad sales staff to sell an ad. And folks in the newsroom wonder why they haven't received a raise in 10 years.

/Burns down office.

 

[dirtybird]

I've heard that one too, and there is some validity to it. A lot of coaches will go on MaxPreps to get an idea of who other teams' key players are. Especially for regular season games that you just sort of show up and play, it could give one team or another some sort of small edge. If you're going into a playoff series, though, any coach worth his salt is working the phones to get more detailed information. Talent plus coaching should always win out in the end, too. Good programs don't give a shirt because they'll show up and beat the snot out of you no matter what.
A more common complaint I've heard is that the kids see it in the paper and they start obsessing over it, which causes them to go into a slump because they're more focused on stats than just playing well.

In the first case, that seems so silly. Most coaches worth their salt will be out scouting opponents who matter, at least know something about those who don't (especially a country club sport like tennis where all the good local coaches are involved with kids playing in summer anyway). The vast majority of these damn regular season games are almost decided before you show up, and the fact a .214-hitting kid in the eight hole drove in two key runs against your No. 3 arm probably didn't have much to do with the fact he knew the kid's ERA and strikeout numbers. (We had one basketball team that posted nothing online, and we always just figured he was saying, sure you can scout us, just gotta drive to the end of the world to do it.)

I've dealt first hand with a coach in the "kids obsess school," but he didn't let his baseball team see their batting averages ever. He'd share any other stat, but not averages. Granted I was writing about a kid who was apparently slumping, but it applied all around. Coach was actually pretty good despite being dull, so it worked out.