New revenue stream - angry parents

Back in the day, we had a parent upset at having their soccer result included in the roundup (they usually lost, but fortunately got to play an even worse team and lucked up and won). We led the roundup with the big game of the night, of course.

So in the course of the letter to the editor, the parent proceeds to write the story of the game as we should have published it. It was full of flowery junk, like "the quick, nimble, shifty forward turned on a dime and raced past the slower, awkward defender and scored on a beautifully placed perfect shot ..." You get the idea.

Anyway, we ran the letter verbatim, and the other parents were so pissed at the parent who wrote it, they told him, "Never again." Said it made them all look like idiots.

Which is what we hoped against hope would happen. Karma's a bitch.

 

My kid's shiftier than your kid!

 

where do they get this shit?

 

Yeah, but my kid is quick, nimble and shifty! In your face and SCOREBOARD!

 

you rule, inky.

 

Please post the ad when it runs. Please.

 

We had a football dad so pissed at us because we put his son's team's playoff win on page 3, that he not only bought full-page ad ripping the paper, he also bought a set of billboards that ripped our prep football beat writer by name. Said writer thought it was the funniest thing. Ever.

Other parents were pissed at us, too, but that dad's action actually embarrassed them, and there were letters and phone calls apologizing to us.

 

I've found tennis parents to be the most ornery in my brief time in this business.

 

i missed this the first time around ... sonsabitches.

 

So what are you wearing to the Bucs game?

 

Fixed. [/secondattemptatoldSportsJournalists.comstory]