KY TV sportscaster sues local HS

You can also get clarifications on calls from the officials or the assistant coaches during quick breaks in the action, or get a better insight on why something did or didn't happen. Something you might not pick up from the press box, like a player not getting on the field in time, or someone running the wrong route that led to a sack or an interception. Like you said, it's not something you're going to quote directly but it does give you a better idea of what to ask about afterward.

I've even gotten a few news tips from being down there. Either from overhearing a snippet of conversation or one of the coaches or chain crew telling me something directly. Bottom line, it helps you to be a little more visible and that's never a bad thing.

 

In my neck of the woods, the state association issues media credentials that are optional in the regular season but easily recognizable, and closer to mandatory in earlier playoff rounds. There's another credential for the championships.

Sideline vs. press box: I walked sidelines for years (unless it rained) until I did some TV playcalling and realized that the view was better and thus yardage would be more accurate. Most schools are now artificial turf so the hash marks never disappear. I always e-mail ahead to assure a seat, especially at schools we rarely cover. As for the chatter, upstairs you can hear the assistants barking at their sideline peers, so you still know who blew a route or whatever. As for PA guys, pay them no attention except for defensive IDs no matter where you're located. In decades of this, I've only heard two who get the yardage correct every time, and one of those guys is retired.

Upstairs bonus: Sometimes there's something to drink or eat.

 

I definitely don't disagree with you! I've done a bunch of games from the press box as well, probably 50-50 vs. the sidelines. I'd also add - this is only for football. For soccer and lacrosse, I always want the aerial view if I can get it.

 

In my earlier years as a stringer, there were quite a few times when I had to keep the book and shoot photos at my event simultaneously. Being down on the floor or on the sideline never hampered me being able to do so. And there was a time or two later when I felt like being down there just for a change of pace.

The last time I covered Lehigh-Lafayette I did that -- got a sideline pass and just kept notes, because I knew the SIDs would have us covered for PBP and stats. I got a true read of how wildly the two teams were flying at the ball, what a volatile stage it was that day. It provided a great angle on the gamer.

 

I was probably 50-50 as well. Sometimes depended on the setup or how crazy the sideline was. I just followed the ball. Not that hard to do.

 

Another plus of the sideline: when the field is muddy, jersey numbers/yard markers (or what's left of them) are easier to see.

I've also asked assistant coaches or players not in the game for IDs on kids whose numbers aren't on the roster.

And ditto what jr/shotglass said about having to shoot photos and keep stats at the same time. Can't really do that in the press box.

 

I don't mind the press box at all — you can often hear some good gossip from the PA guys — but if it's not raining I still prefer the sideline. Old habits, I guess.
Still, most of the time I have to be down there to shoot photos anyway so it's a moot point for me.

 

Another good source of gossip -- along with a heavy side order of complaints -- is the chain gang. I generally would stand on the visitors' sideline (to make sure their coach/team didn't flee immediately after the game), and usually trailed the chain gang guys around.

Of course, once my son started playing high school football, I became part of the chain gang -- usually on the box. Tried to make sure there was no "fifth down" during the games!

 

Best place to cover high school football. Always has been, always will be.

Too often, too many yahoos in the press box per capita.

 

There's one occasion in the last decade or so I worked from the sidelines. A state semifinal where a client also wanted photos. No problem, except it was frigidly cold and the camera battery froze in the first quarter. Happily, I'd gotten what I needed for photos by then. The client needed one shot and got four to pick from. As it turned out, there was no room in the press box for me, a visitor, anyway. They had three seats or so in a little rattletrap, but a jumbotron scoreboard behind the end zone. Priorities, I guess.

 

Which is another reason I prefer the sideline. Half the time I do go up to the press box, even at some of the bigger schools, there's little to no room.

 

Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio by James… | Poetry Foundation


Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio
By James Wright
In the Shreve High football stadium,
I think of Polacks nursing long beers in Tiltonsville,
And gray faces of Negroes in the blast furnace at Benwood,
And the ruptured night watchman of Wheeling Steel,
Dreaming of heroes.

All the proud fathers are ashamed to go home,
Their women cluck like starved pullets,
Dying for love.

Therefore,
Their sons grow suicidally beautiful
At the beginning of October,
And gallop terribly against each other’s bodies.