Guess what? It's about access.

Had an SID give me some dirty looks the other day when I was talking to a kid who ran out of eligibility (read: will never graduate) after last season. The player caught on to the SID's looks and starting talking smack about him.

 

Leo, I feel for you, man. On my beat, whenever a kid transfers or leaves the program, there's a story done about him. I think that's pretty standard - it amounts to an exit interview with the newspaper.

But if there's one harsh word said about the school or the staff, you've just guaranteed yourself a stern lecture and talking-to the next time you see the SID, usually along the lines of "You're going to hurt our recruiting" or "Why would you give that person a platform?"

Recently, when a player left school early for the pros, one of the coach's henchmen ... er, SIDs ... tracked down a reporter after the press conference to scold him for asking a tough question, creating a tense, ugly little scene for a couple seconds because the writer had basically tired of having every question and every word he wrote critiqued by sports information.

And of course if you hit the fan boards, they practically set off fireworks in celebration when coaches and SIDs set "rules" for the media. Even though they lap up every quote, no matter how mundane, made by a player. They still want the coaches to restrict access.

What a bizarre culture.

Recently when two local college rivals played a big game, a relative who is a teacher told me how cute it was that all the kids were talking smack to each other and saying things like, "Team A rules, Team B drools!"

I told said person that I just could no longer find it within myself to find anything about obsessive and combative fandom cute any longer, even if it was by little kids.

And I've strayed far off the subject by now.

 

The kid no longer goes to school there.. fuck her.

 

He's still in school, just not on the team. But I like the advice-- to a certain, figurative degree.

 

OK, even if he's not on the team, what right does the SPORTS information director have to control access to a student who isn't playing a SPORT

 

Why the hell would you even ask the SID if the kid isn't on the team any longer?

Your bad.

 

Fuck the SID.

Track down that kid who left the team and stay on his ass to get the story.

SID gives you grief, tough shit. There's no "umbrella."

 

Dealt with a prick like this several years ago. I don't miss dealing with him.

 

I'd like to hear from the SIDs out there. When you are confronting the media in this way, are you doing it because you think it's what your bosses want and you're trying to save their ass; or because you're receiving orders from up on high? I'm just curious as to how much direct order-issuing there is from athletic departments.

 

Still trying to figure out that quote function, aren't you Palmetto?

 

I have had the SE quicly pooh-pooh suggestions that we do an end-around the SID department on several instances.

It's funny, to me. How often do you play by the rules, hoping, expecting to get the crumb thrown to you and it never comes?

Screw the crumbs.