most bizarre post-game encounter?

Well, maybe if her son wasn't drunk, he'd see more action....

 

I had another one at a track meet where a girl liked to touch my arm while I was interviewing her. I would try to kind of sidle away from her to make it so I was at least 4 feet from her, but she would get closer. She said to me more than once, "I can't believe you are 27. You look so much younger."
I was happy when track season ended. The whole exchange made me feel dirty.

 

To which I replied, "More cleavage, more coverage."

At which point she began to unbutton her blouse.

 

Mine actually was. What good times that was.

 

I don't know if any of these count as "bizarre", but here goes:

Years ago, Thomas Rongen pointedly asked me when I got my (nonexistent) coaching certificate when I asked about D.C. United's shitty midfield play after a loss. Before the next home match, John Haydon from The Washington Times comes up to me and tells me he thought Rongen's diatribe was uncalled for AND that I was right about the team's play in midfield.

Later that season, I asked the then Columbus Crew coach about his team's 12-match losing streak to D.C. United at RFK. He immediately responded with "I don't need to talk about it, you guys talk about it all the time." After United throttled Columbus in Game 3 of that series, the first thing he mentions is the streak was then 13 matches.

More recently, I asked Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen about his team's inability to run the ball in its win against Georgia Tech and he responded with, "you tried running the ball against them?" He then Belichicked me, but while he was answering the next question, looked back at me and said "they average 1.5 yards a carry against," to answer my question.

The first two times, I was working at a fan Web site. The more recent one, I was working at a community weekly.

 

The high school team I was covering 15 years ago was playing a road game against a school well known for its lack of discipline. It was the home team's homecoming game, and the school officials let the ceremony take place at halftime in a driving wind and rain. A lot of nice dresses were ruined that night.

Late in the game, when the team I'm covering is almost finished with a rout, players from the home team start bickering and yelling at each other. A couple of them on the field began shoving each other and were taken off by the coach. There's more yelling, shoving and some punches thrown - all by teammates against each other. The game ends and the home coach runs off the field without even going across the field to shake hands with the visiting coach or me getting a comment from him.

After the game, I go into an office under the stands to begin writing. Suddenly, the home team's head coach comes storming in, followed by an assistant coach. The HC is throwing chairs and papers off another desk, and slams his fist against a file cabinet. Then he charges toward the door, saying he was "going to teach those little bastards (his players) a lesson." He was ready to fight someone, and I didn't say a word while this was going on in this small office. The AC bravely stands in his way, encouraing him to cool off. The HC then goes on a lengthly profane rant about his players and their performance in the game. A lot of F-, GD-, SOB- and MF-bombs were dropped. And while he was ranting, I was writing it all down. I eliminated the profanities and used the censored version of his remarks as his post-game comments in the game story.

And there was the time I interviewed this girls basketball player at a rural small school. It was after a game where she, a senior, made plays in the final minutes to win the game. A few days later, I found out from a counselor at that school that the girl was interested in print journalism as a career. Arrangements was made for me to give her and a friend a tour of the newspaper. Before she left I gave her a copy of the AP Stylebook. The girl's team moves on to the state tournament, and I wound up covering her team. During pregame warmups, she spots me at courtside and rushes over to give me a big hug. The team lost (it wasn't expected to win, anyway), and she's crushed. After interviewing the coach, the girls come over and gives me another hug, and then surprises me with a quick kiss on my cheek. She's 17 at the time and I'm 30. Standing nearby is her mom, who seems OK with what's going on. To be honest, I was so glad the kid's season ended. Another game, two or three and the family would've been setting a place at the dinner table for me.

 

Local team wins state cross country championship a few years ago. A kid -- not their best runner, but decent -- helps seal the team victory by passing about seven guys on the homestretch. Afterwards his star teammate credits the kid with the team's win, then goes on to talk about how the kid's father had died before the season and how they'd dedicated the year to him. None of the reporters, including myself, knew anything about this.

The pack goes and interviews the kid's coach, who falls apart during the Q&A. It was very moving stuff, and I figure I've got a great feature story on my hands. So I go and interview the mom of the kid, who's standing nearby. About a minute into the interview, she proceeds to completely break down. And then I do too, big time.

The whole thing just got to me. I couldn't even talk. Both me and the widow were just standing there crying, the poor kid had to come over and comfort his mom.

Thank god no other reporters were around by that point, or I would never have heard the end of it. And luckily I was at a weekly, and could finish the interview over the phone the next day.

 

That's funny. It actually happened to me once at a high school hoop game. State tourney, girls hoop. One of the area's better players, who I had covered a few times during the regular season. She absolutely choked in the this game, including but not limited to missing both free throws with 10 seconds left that would have tied and forced OT.
OK, now let me say this girl was a real cutie, me being in college, just two years out of high school had a crush on this girl who was 18. I guess she thought I was her teddy bear, cause after the game when I went to talk to her I could see the tears forming as I asked a question and next thing you know she breaks down and wraps her arms around me and the head hits my chest. In shock I did the man pat on the back thing a couple times and gave her a few seconds to compose herself. She answered a couple questions still a little teary eyed and started to back away. Just then a dink from another paper (a weekly) comes walking past us, gives me a dirty look and tells her don't worry Betty I'll leave you alone tonight and give you a call at home tomorrow to talk.

 

Seems like someone with a clever/dirty mind could tie these two together really well.

 

That's pretty much like being asked to fill-in one game on last minute's notice to cover the Little League World Series and having the team you cover lose. Kids were crushed, of course, crying their eyes out. And here I am asking them about that seven-run last inning that brought their year crumbling down.

 

It'd be even more embarrassing if that 12-year-old knew EXACTLY what it implied. Just hope that kid had no idea...

 

12 points, not years. She was a sophomore in high school, and that is, sadly, old enough to know what she may have implied. But probably not exactly what it meant. I hope she didn't either.