Gaining the public's respect

No. He's not fair. He pretty much just rips and doesn't make calls and has been known to get people's names wrong who he rips. But if you are someone he likes, you are golden in his column.

It is just in these parts, people want to be thought of in the best light possible. People try to curry his favor for favorable mention and be sure to take and return his calls.

But that is a topic for another day.

 

If that's the case, then he's not respected. And you shouldn't be trying to emulate him.

 

Seriously, it's not that difficult. You do good work, you'll gain respect. You do crappy work, you won't. So many small-time reporters I run into seems to think respect and relationships with coaches are given. It needs to be EARNED!!! It's earned by QUALITY WORK!

 

stop worrying about the public and do your job. No future boss is going to be swayed one way or the other by parents who read your stuff.

 

Dude, if you're covering prep sports and that's your attitude toward it, no wonder no one "respects" you.
To them, you're a dick.
All you had to do to build some of the goodwill you crave was say something like, "Well, you did good. You earned it." You're congratulating the kid again, starting a conversation with him, and maybe the next time you talk to him after a meet or for a feature story he's a little nicer and more open to you. Or, the next time he drops a baton in a relay, he doesn't dread seeing you walk over to him and he doesn't mind answering a question about how it happened.
Instead, you looked down your nose at him and made his accomplishment seem meaningless. Just another day's work to you, and a small part of it at that. Prep sports is the low rung on the totem pole, sure. But to the people you cover it's a big part of their lives. If you treat them like shit -- and believe me, even if it's just in your attitude, it comes across -- they'll treat you the same way.
I'm not saying kiss everybody's ass. But good lord, man, learn to lighten up a little, shrug off the annoying parent calls and stop treating people like you're on some higher plane of existence than they are.

 

I get a lot of praise from parents for my coverage. They are glad to see their children's events covered and their names in the newspaper. My paper covers far more events and gets in far more names than the competition.

I had that conversation with said athlete after he completed his high school career.

 

The fact is that newspapers (especially small ones) are easy targets for irate parents. They can yell at us all they want, and we have to be polite and say "yes ma'am" and "yes sir." If you don't like people being mad at you, then you are in the wrong business. Thick skin is a job requirement, although a good SE will shield you from as much of that junk as possible.
The bottom line is that you are never doing as good or bad a job as people tell you, so it's best to be polite when talking to them, and ignore them after they hang up.

 

Part of it is that I want everything to be perfect. I know that can't happen but wish it could.

I treat every critic with respect, try to explain what happened that led to their criticism and solve the problem if possible.

I also have trouble with how sports have changed in this community since I grew up in it.

There used to be an anti-sports feeling. Now the essentially nationwide quest for college scholarships has nested itself here, although like just about everywhere else, almost none of the athletes come away with said scholarships.

Several of the high school teams were better in the anti-sports era than in today's scholarship frenzy era, so the increased emphasis on sports hasn't had much of a payoff.

More football players are getting scholarships, although the team's record is slightly worse than when I attended the high school. There's just more really good players, nearly all of whom live outside the community and attend as part of an integration program. I don't hear much from the parents of those players.

 

Buck said it all.

 

Here's another bit of advice that I heard from an oldtimer in my first few weeks in the business:

Thank the compliments, ignore the critics.

That's the only response you need to give, to either side. Don't try to "solve the problem" -- you can't win that fight; just a simple "thank you" will suffice to the compliments.

You don't need to explain yourself to anybody except yourself (and maybe your boss, sometimes).

 

As a wise man once told me: Fuck 'em. Feed 'em fish heads.