Prep reporters, chime in please

Hey 805atHeart,
Wait till you get older. I'm 36 and not long ago had a nice-looking mom of a player I had written about, offer to...how should I put this..Sharpen my Pencil (if you know what I mean) to thank me for writting about him. I couldn't help but write about him, he had two picks, recovered a fumble and had two sacks, was clearly the difference maker in the game. I had to turn her down, I'm married. However, if she had offered that a few years back when I was single, I think I would have went for it.

 

Ahhh...22. That awkward age when you're still young enough to look at a high school cheerleader and go "Damn!", yet old enough to catch yourself a minute later and go, "Damn."

And Ron, I too once had a hot mom flirting with me. As I was doing the interview with her son. Dude was a pole vaulter and his school didn't have a pit, so his rich mom and dad set one up on their farm. The mom kept asking me to come into the barn and see her chickens, and later on invited me over for dinner several times. I politely declined, although the photog snapped a picture of me and a goat, sharing a tender moment, that was quite a hit in the newsroom...

 

What's really fun is when it's the no-so-hot moms of the offensive linemen wanting to show their appreciation.

 

Longtimers at a Michigan daily (not THE Michigan Daily, but right near by) will remember one parttime guy who, unknown to anyone else on staff, bartered a player's spot on the all-area football team for a date with the player's sister -- also a high school student.
The parttimer is now and has been for years a high school basketball official, which makes one wonder exactly which team is getting the calls.

 

At one high school football game about a decade ago, I was walking back to the press box and a cheerleader jumped on my back. Then she got off and said "I'm sorry, I thought you were somebody else."

 

Getting back to the thread, I covered a prep game from the sideline for the first time in about two years last night. I only did it because it was a well-lit, artificial turf facility with a poor press box and the temperature even at 10 p.m. was in the 70s, but it was a pleasant experience. I'm getting better at shuffling all my stat sheets on one clipboard without having to sit down and spread everything out.

I still think I'll work from the press box at the junior college game this afternoon since it'll be hot as hell and it's a much bigger, nicer box.

 

2 questions:

- Don't you have to keep comprehensive stats the whole game? How you write during it?

- Where are you that the prep football "looks like art"?

 

Obviously, though, it would be OK if he just lusted after them in his heart like Jimmy Carter...

 

A few notes...

Newspaper photog tells official that an extra 10 seconds ran off the clocker after a player ran out of bounds and nearly drilled the photog. Official angrily rumbled, "You do your job; I'll do mine." I have no idea why the photog said this. I will talk with officials, but I never call them out for mistakes.

I covered my most recent three games from the box at a Division I-AA college stadium. I had a horrible time reading jersey numbers. One team had a 33, 38 and 39 running the ball, and I rarely could tell which it was. My rushing stats for one player were off by more than 20 yards from what another paper's reporter wrote. In a college game, I repeatedly had to ask other people who ran the ball.

I enjoy sitting on my fat ass, but I feel completely detached from the game.

 

I'm a pressbox guy — even for preps.

I like to describe certain plays, how they develop, who got the block, etc.

I feel you miss a lot of that from the sideline point of view.

 

I always do it on the sidelines unless they're playing in a freaking hail storm.

I do it because 7 out of every 10 Prep football games are blowouts and I interview players in that final quarter.

Press box sucks and you see more of what's going on in my opinion on the sidelines. You see just how long fourth and two is when the game is on the line. The ambiance is the best down there, with the coaches hollering.

I remember one close game nearing halftime. Hometown High got the ball with 1 minute to go, down by a point. They drive to the 50 on a neat pass play, then option puts them out of bounds at the Away 40.

"Kelly Kicker, where are you," Hometown coach yelled.

he calls the play in. QB can't find anyone open and rushes for 7 yards. Hometown calls timeout.

"Kelly Kicker, where the f- is Kelly Kicker?"

Hometown coaches call plays, talk to QB. Kelly Kicker shows up.

"Right here, coach."

"Kelly, stick to me like glue," he says, holllering at his staff, other players.

QB connects on cross route with tight end for first down at the 28.

"Where do you want the ball, Kelly Kicker?" coach asks.

"Right there's fine."

"Kelly Kicker says inside the 30, coach," Hometown coach barks at assistant.

QB runs draw play, gets pushed back to the 34.

"G-dmit, call timeout. Kelly Kicker, how's that?"

"That'll work."

"Kelly says he can make it, coach," Hometown coach says to assistants.

QB runs fade route to the sidelines, first and goal from Away team's 11 with 20 seconds left in half.

Hometown coach calls in another pass play.

"Kelly, we're going for it all now. Jesus H-freaking Christ, holy shit. I didn't think those m-f'in linebackers would let us get that close."

"That's cool, coach."

QB gets sacked at the 20 on a rollout.

"G-dmit. Call timeout! Kelly, stick to me like glue."

"I ain't goin' nowhere, coach."

"Now where do you need the ball?"

"Right there's fine, but I don't like kicking from the right hash."

Hometown coach calls in fade pass to endzone. QB gets sacked at the 34 with 3 seconds left.

"Call timeout, call timeout, g-dmit. Can't buy a g-d block. We can't move it to the middle for you, son, you're just gonna hafta make it from there, g-dmit."

"That's cool," Kelly Kicker says and trots out on the field and nails a 51 yarder that's got five, eight yards to spare.

That kick turned out to be the game winner. I thought the calmness of that kicker was excellent. Later in the season, vs. Archrival High, that kicker hit like three sky kicks to the sideline that were all three muffs and all three were recovered by Hometown High. They scored all of their TDs off those muffs and Kelly Kicker nailed a 52 yarder for the game winner in that one.

Kelly Kicker got drafted two years ago, and that's my little sideline story about that dude.

 

Press Box...That's just how I was trained.