Nail in the coffin

IS IT THE SHOES!?!?!?

Oh, and as far as the threadjack goes, include the offending coach's name in the brief - but only if you try to contact the person at least twice and get no response. All you have to do is call another paper or check the wire for the score, then here is your brief:

Podunk High beat Nowheresville, 7-4, on Tuesday in Bumblefuck softball league action. Podunk High head softball coach Jackass McGhee did not return multiple phone messages from The Newspaper seeking further information.

Presto! Pissed off parents are calling the school's AD in the morning to bitch, as opposed to the paper. Pissed off AD then calls jackass coach. Jackass coach apologizes and begins to call in results ... at least for the next game.

I've done this more than once, with the blessing of the ME, and it's worked every time.

 

How the hell did Scott Skiles have more dunks than Penny and Spoon?

Were they all on Bradley?

 

When I was a cheerleader (shut up) in high school, we used to make the "run throughs"-- those huge paper signs the football team busts through when it takes the field.

We started getting really creative with them. In fact, sometimes we'd do two-- a big one and a little one. For example, we'd pull up the little one which said, "Friday October 11, 1988...." Then we'd pull up the huge one which said, "Riverdale's FRIGHT NIGHT !!!" (Imagine the football team's confusion the first time we did that-- they busted through the big one only to find another one ... You should have seen the looks on their faces-- Ha! -- They momentarily didn't know what to do. ;D )

Anyway.... as I was saying, we got very creative.

So one run-through was just a single huge sign that said, "KILL." The 'I' was a knife with blood dripping from it.

The parents were pretty taken aback, so the principal had to tell us to tone it down, and I think actually considered submitting us for psychiatric evaluation.

 

bad taste... great... can we go back to this cheerleader thing?

 

Sorry, Lugz, but I have to say it...

TTIUWP

 

Umm, who is having Bradley shoot 3s?

 

Six schools total? Yeah, I'd call and complain too if certain results weren't in the paper. Our circulation is only about 7-10K more not much of a bigger staff, but we have about 23 more high schools. Try getting calls from parents in 30+ schools. If we only had six schools to deal with, you better believe all six schools will have their results in the paper.

 

The key is are you a morning or afternoon newspaper. If you're an afternoon paper, then you should have a little more wiggle room in getting ahold of people. I'm in the same situation, but in the morning, and with a deadline of 11:30, if they don't call by 9, I'm not their stinking babysitter. When the parents call, I pass them on to the coach. It usually works. But I don't lie awake worrying either way.

 

You've seen one blood-crazed psychotic cheerleader, you've seen them all.

 

It is a cliche. It is also an inaccurately quoted one.
Something is said to be the "LAST nail in the coffin," which is to say, the end of things. To say something is "the nail in the coffin" is meaningless, since coffins have/had dozens of nails.

 

No offence, I hate this thinking. The more you get "outsiders/parents/vounteers" to do work, the more management doesn't think it needs PAID REPORTERS.

I'll gladly run the box scores and briefs if the coach, as per our agreement and working relationship, CALLS THEM IN.

If you get a parent to do it, they usually ramble on, get every kid's name in the paper, use cliches and thusly create MORE WORK for me and you.

 

That's why you only take the information in box score form. The parents aren't writing stories or providing photographs. They're simply calling in and saying who won the game, what the score was and who scored the goals/baskets/runs etc. I never suggested having a parent write the story or even give you information for briefs. I was talking about box scores only. How many schools do you have in your coverage area? We've got 85 plus. If a parent takes the stats from the coach and calls them in, would you suggest I tell that parent to hang up, give the stats back to the coach, and then let him call them back in? What is it that you hate so much about that particular approach?

The parent/volunteer would be the middle man between the paper and the coach. Parents are more reliable.