Dear dimwit on the phone

No, I don't need to be at every one of your Little League games during the weekend tournament. It's not going to kill you to email me a couple scores (feel free to include highlights if you like). I caught some of the action, but 1) there are other tournaments going on as well, and 2) I don't need to be sitting at a tournament from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day.

Instead, I'll be at my daughter's birthday party with my laptop put away and my cell phone turned off

 

You thoughtless scum! How dare you don't think about all the kids of the area!

 

Have a similar situation coming up this week.
Was just informed today about a passing tournament in town that will be held the same day as my son's all-star game.
It's his final game of the year.
The game and tournament are at the same time, at opposite ends of town.
I'm a one-man shop.
I do appreciate the heads-up -- it came a couple days before the event -- but family wins out.

 

We had this happen too -- except it was our own circulation department. :

 

We had that happen, too. Couldn't get them to stop, either.

 

Dear Little League coach,
Looking forward to your call in a day or two wondering why we didn't publish the scores you called in the other day. Seems you got my colleague's voicemail, you didn't leave a return number, and our system doesn't record phone numbers.

 

I'm awaiting a similar call from the small-town in our area, which seems to be filled with cranky people.

Covered a pair of Little League tourneys involving teams from the area with the promise from both that they would supply additional details at the end of the weekend.

One team wins state, so I call up the coach to get details from their state championship win to go along with the gamer/photos I took earlier in the tourney. He can't seem to answer much of anything. The title game goes extra innings and is decided by a single run...the coach can't remember which kid scored the run...only the most glaring among multiple details.

I ask for his email and explain that maybe he can look at his book later that night and get back to me. I email him with specific answers I'm looking for. Crickets.

I'm sure my phone will have 4-5 messages by the end of tomorrow complaining about it. Typical for this town though...populace of morons.

 

What's that? I can't make out what you are saying on the phone. Oh...you're driving with the top down...excellent, good for you....Yeah, no, I love the sound of wind whipping and semis churning by...

Oh, good, ... A "national" high school track meet in our backyard...thanks for calling at 8:20 p.m. to ask if we want to cover it tomorrow morning.

 

I would think in the case of a state tournament (assuming this is something legit like Little League), there would be a state director with an official book or maybe a web site.

Just wondering.

 

1. Eff this guy.

2. Eff the 4 or 5 people who call to complain. Just because they are squeaky wheels doesn't mean their opinions outweigh the thousands of other readers who don't give a rat's ass.

3. The fact that there are so many coaches or parent volunteers or team moms who won't meet us halfway to help provide us with basic information is all the indication you need that citizen journalism will never work. Everyone thinks they want to be a sports writer until they have to actually have to sit down do the work in the proper timeframe.

 

"... Oh yeah, you betcha. We got teams from Cheboygan, Sheboygan and both Menominees!"

 

The rec commission went out of their way to make sure I know all about the 9-year-old Cal Ripken state tournament that will be here next weekend. But they dropped the ball on two regional tournaments they were hosting the week I went on vacation. The only reason that any mention got in the paper is that the news guy who covered the American Legion game one of those nights happened to drive by the other ball field.

When I came back, I wanted to tell him to not do that sort of thing because it allowed the organizers of those tournaments to get away with being lazy.

The only reason I'm going to know anything about what the 10 and 13 year old teams do at their state tournaments is because this state's Babe Ruth runs a very good web site.