Disciplinary issues in prep football

I'm just a few months into a gig at a daily in Texas. There is a HS QB who was benched last week for some reason, I've heard from our message board and through parents that he got caught "doing it" aka "fornicating" in the lockerroom. I asked the coach about why he sat, if he was injured, and got no solid answer; just that the backup played well. What is the best way to handle such things? He's a big part of the team obviously, but he's at a 1A school in a town of about 1200 people. I just don't want my likeness hung in effigy after just getting a gig.

 

If the player won't say, the coach won't say and there is no police report, you need to ask the coach on the record why he did not play. If he says he was suspended for violating team policies or won't say at all, go with that.

You do not want to be going with message board gossip. I doubt that you want to waste a bunch of your time chasing down whether the guy is still a virgin or not.

 

And if hes a minor, you might as well forget it.

 

When I was covering prep track, a girl who had turned in some good times/distances in various events was missing in the most recent results. I asked the coach why the girl didn't compete and was told, "She won't be doing any more track and field. She's pregnant."

Didn't use it.

 

lot of girls come down with nine-month flu.
You have to handle suspensions on a case-by-case basis, but most of the time you'll get a violation of team rules policy. Without a police report, sometimes its hard to get the facts on the record.

 

Is there a synonym for sex that makes it sound less like fun than "fornicate" does?
Seriously. It sounds like something you do to your shrubbery.

 

Hey, don't knock it 'til you've tried it.

 

the funky cold medina, the wild thing, hopping on the good foot and doing the bad thing, gettin busy, f*ckin', banging, hittin the skins, the list could probably go on for a while,

 

And all of them sound like more fun than "fornicating" does.

 

I don't know, but I think I suddenly like yard work a whole lot better.

 

That would be a great way to stop a sexual encounter in its tracks, if you so chose.

"Oh shit! You're so hot! I'm going to fornicate you like you've never been fornicated before!"

 

So many coaches over the past decade are suspicious of my intentions whenever I either ask them about why a player is not playing or if they expect any players to miss a game.

"Whatchew wanna know that fer?"

I've never wanted to bust a kid in the paper, but I want to give readers a reason why so-and-so will not play. Usually I've always left it that the player will not play with no reason, unless one is readily available like "Joe Quarterback (1,385 yards, 10 TDs) is out for the season after breaking his arm against Podunk on Oct. 2."

Recently, several main players at Hometown High were all arrested at school for a misdemeaner (sic) offense committed over the previous weekend. They were all suspended for two quarters of the upcoming game, and nobody mentioned it to me when I talked to the coaches for an advance article. And of course, I wrote that they'd all "start" against Podunk that week. I even used that word or some conjugation of the verb, starting, starters...

But it's pointless to follow up on it. My ME, as other ME's in the past at small papers, they'd just say let's not burn bridges and screw our salespeople. And then there's the oddball ME that'd rip me over the coals for not reporting it and demanding that I call the coach to ask them about it only to get hung up on. And two, three weeks later that oddball ME would ask, "why aren't we getting good info anymore on Hometown High's team?"

And the cops down here, they'd protect the players from the press in a heartbeat. I could picture a deputy telling a football playing perp, "You gonna fry, bo-ah. But before ya do, yer gonna go beat the hell outta Podunk."