Dear dimwit on the phone

Already tried the, "Have them call me route," but it was during summer and went nowhere. As we close in on school, I hope to make another push.

Edit: thanks all for the advice.

 

That's when you add, "Have them call me...today if they would like to get covered"

 

this, an exact deadline is often necessary. For some reason people don't get it. If I had a nickel for every week-old return message I got expecting to get put into the paper...

 

I gotta say, this is the first thread I go to whenever I come here.

As far as coach's numbers, they are not usually that hard to find.

Or, depending on your gig, swing by practice and get the number from them.

ADs should be making our lives easier, but we cannot let the lack of help stop us.

 

By the way, dirtybird, what is the nature of the beat? D-I college? High school? T-Ball? At a lower level -- say, small D-II and below or high school -- I've found that teachers, refs, fellow coaches in other sports and even the scoreboard guys have very useful contact info.

 

High school. Small one. Summer made it a problem, along with a lot of coaching turnover.

 

Dear Nice Lady Who Sent Me A Press Release;

Heron Brook Haven sounds like a lovely place, and honestly, learning to dance around a fire during a full moon will be interesting to some of my readers. Heck, it's interesting to me.

What town are you in?
What's your address?

We in the newspaper business just need to know these things.

Sincerely,

Me

 

Don't forget how much is costs.

 

Heron Brook Haven 432 Kelley Hill Rd, Pawlet, VT. 05761
Ph: (802) 325-3880 Email: jana@heronbrookhaven.com

Google, it searches the Interwebz 4 U

 

Almost all of them.

Our executive editor sent all our athletic directors a formal request for coach contact information before the spring season, attaching a spreadsheet to fill in. We got maybe a third of them back, and two ADs provided something beyond school phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

We're going to try again once fall practice starts. I am not particularly optimistic.

 

Most schools have a master list that the athletic department uses for all of its coaches from sub-varsity to varsity. See if you can get a copy of that.

 

Not to threadjack this away from the ever-popular discussion of ADs and coaches who won't cooperate to give us basic information -- because believe me I love that conversation -- but back to Dear Dimwits for a moment:

Dear father who called to tell me about how your daughter was selected to the all-star team at her soccer camp:

Hang up the phone. Tell your wife. Call your parents. Tell them. Call your wife's parents. Tell them. Post it on your Facebook page.

You've now informed everyone who cares. Look forward to hearing from you again when she makes the JV team at her high school. FYI, we won't be covering her until she's on varsity. And I guess by not printing her camp all-star selection, I've probably cost her a scholarship already. The sky has fallen.

Take care now.