Pearlman: 'Press conferences suck'

This.

 

Hell yes. The first person I ever call "coach" will either have the first name of Coach, or -- and there actually are a few of them upon looking it up -- the last name of Coach.

In 48 years of living I have yet to run across that person.

 

This is the only part I disagreed with. Who cares? Report. Write. None of it has to do with who gets to be the cool kids at the lunch table.

It's amazing how we can rail against a pack mentality and then worry about our street cred with other reporters. And yes, I'm guilty of it, too.

 

The Doctor probably thinks it sucks to put his finger up somebody's Recktum - but you know what he does it anyway. Becuase its part of his Job.

 

Love ya, Shock, but this is bullshit. I'm a 25-plus-year journalist and I call coaches "coach" all the time, not to suck up to anyone or because I'm worried about being reprimanded. Mostly it's because I'm awful with names. It comes in very handy when I want to get the attention of, say, the running backs coach whose name escapes me. I can say, "Coach, have you got a minute?" and look up the name later. Hell, I wish I could do it with players -- "Hey, running back, you got a minute?" -- because I have more than once called a player the wrong name, knowing full well who I meant. I often call my boss "coach." I call my friends "Ace" or "Hoss" or "Max" or whatever pops into my head at the time.

I don't think calling someone "coach" means you think they're better than you. It's like calling a doctor "doc" or a left-hander "lefty." It's what he is. No more, no less.

As an aside, I remember once interviewing Johnny Orr, the former Michigan and Iowa State basketball coach, and he kept calling me "coach" through the entire interview. When I called the SID later to confirm that Orr had called me, I told him about the "coach" thing and asked if Orr perhaps was misled and thought he was talking to someone other than a reporter. SID said no, don't sweat it. Orr calls everyone "coach."

What matters is the work, no? If you're reporting and doing your job, it doesn't matter if you call the coach "Rumplestiltskin." I've had pissed-off coaches call me at 7 a.m. and coaches say they would refuse to answer my questions because I wrote stuff they didn't like. I've been confronted by coaches many times and haven't backed down yet. Bet they didn't think I was sucking up by calling them "coach."

So go ahead, chide me and mock me and laugh or whatever. I couldn't care less, coach.

 

Not necessarily disagreeing, per se, although I figured "always" indicated something more than not wanting to tip off one's competitors. I've simply seen reporters get in the habit of feeling entitled to a 1-person presser after the official presser. To which I've sometimes thought, well, let's make that a two-person presser and see how it goes.

 

hey, whatever floats your boat. sorry i hit such a nerve.

it's not my concern that the coach thinks you're sucking up. it's MY opinion that reporters who do that are either sucking up or are mocked/belittled by their peers as either sucking up or treating the coach as some sort of deity.

if having the respect of your peers doesn't matter to you, that's cool. i'm sure many reporters, such as yourself, use 'coach' in their interviews or questions during pressers and still do a great job for a looong time. i dunno how you could possibly be so bad with names you can't remember the name of the coach you're interviewing or covering but if that's your 'defense,' so be it.

what do you do when talking to a player? or a baseball manager? do you call the unknown player 'player?' the forgotten manager 'manager or skip'?

it's simply an unnecessary tool. hey,we all forget names. which is how, 'bud,' 'pal,' etc. become the cover-ups. nothing i say in a rant here is going to change how everyone handles their business.

i just like to think i'm doing reporters who use 'coach' a window into what many of their peers think about. please, go right on not caring and right on doing a bang-up job.

and i'd love to learn who you are 'cause it sounds like you'd be the first 'coach-user' i'd hold in high regard. haven't met one yet.

 

i agree totally, alma. reporters who rush for one of these 'private' post-presser sessions without a new question to ask -- in essence just to show off that they can -- are a joke, too. that's just called wasting everybody's time.

at the same time, any reporters who try to get in on the private session better give the first reporter the courtesy of asking his question privately. i mean, that's why the guy waited in the first place, right?

same goes for locker-room etiquette (except in post-game deadline situations) -- if a player is alone at his locker and i begin an interview with him, please keep your distance. or expect me to stop my line of questioning and defer to you.

it's just about courtesy.

 

Can't believe I found this, but here's an older discussion on the 'Coach' debate:

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/63590/

 

Then I'd say that's your problem, not mine. Forgive me if I don't worry that my peers might somehow think I'm sucking up to some deity by using the word "coach," or might -- gasp! -- belittle me for doing it. Those who know me know better than that, and if they don't, well, I'll manage to survive.

The name issue is not an "excuse," it's a fact. As I said, I have called people by the wrong name and I try to avoid using names at all if I can. But regardless of that, I don't have a problem with any reporter calling a coach "coach." As I said, it's no different than "doc" or "lefty."

And you are free to respect or disrespect whoever you like.

 

thank you. and you are certainly free to kiss the ring of any 'coach' you'd like.

listen, your style has worked well enough to help you to a looong career. and if you've also asked these coaches the tough questions after a painful loss, congrats. you are truly a master who serves his readership well. bravo.

 

Oh come on, no grown man calls another grown man "coach"

Please.