Prep reporters, chime in please

Some press boxes in our area are amazingly nice, enclosed with a buffet, AC/heat and plenty of elbow room. At those places, I'm definitely in the press box, especially with our tight deadlines.

From the box, I can get a decent bit of my story written before the end of the game. If it's a blowout, I can get it all written, sans quotes. No way you can do that from the sideline. I much prefer the box, if for that reason alone.

If I were writing for a paper that either had very late deadlines or no Saturday paper, I'd almost certainly do the sidelines at your average stadium.

 

Press box. Mainly because the area I cover is football crazy and its hard to dodge 90 players standing along the sideline.

 

I like the pressbox in football for two reasons: First, I find it easier up there to get a look at the whole field and maybe some trends. You can see which lineman they're coming through every time, you can tell if the defence is cheating, etc. Second, I can keep much more scrupilous notes and if I have the luxury of a laptop I can write.

That said, most times, I'm content on the sidelines and I usually have to do my own photography there. The colour is definitely better and sometimes you can get different perspectives about what the team is concerned about, etc.

In hockey, I love to be up high and see the play develop when I can.

 

I've done both, and definitely prefer the booth. The space gives me room to whip out my laptop and write. Makes the end of the night go quicker.

 

I've never done the sideline thing. The last shop I worked at, all the guys went on the sidelines and swore by it. Maybe I will try it sometime when deadline isn't so tight. Had an hour last night from last whistle to file time. No way I could have done that if I hadn't been using my laptop for the boxscore and writing at halftime.

 

And you can be 100 percent sure the running back was down at the four, instead of the three from you vantage point at the 50-yard line in the box?


I don't think it's that hard to keep very accurate stats on the sideline. Clipboard with legal pad to keep play by play; double sided stat sheet on the back side.
Watch the play, write what happened, flip over and record the number on the stat sheet.

And the stat sheet I use allows you to keep running totals (hi slappy).

 

I never gave any thought to being in the press box when I first started. I always thought the sideline was the best place to be from the start. I've only been in a press box twice for a high school game: once for a night (7:30 p.m.) champsionship game at a state college and needed to file from there and the other was a couple of Thanksgivings ago when it just poured, making it impossible to take stats. Other than that, doesn't matter how cold it is, I'm on the sidelines and in my experience when a coach has seen me down there, he'll say stuff in between plays to me that adds insight.

 

You're making my case for the sidelines for me.

When I'm on the sidelines, I'm down at the line of scrimmage, so I can tell if its on the four or five.
From the pressbox, you can't tell where the nose of the ball is. And for those who above who mentioned they need meticulous stats, you could be a yard or two off in those situations.

 

Pressbox pressbox pressbox.

I can see the field much better. Watch the plays develop. On the sidelines I can never tell what's going on. I just look for who has the ball when he comes up. Not exactly the best way to report.

However I can't see the numbers.

Ah, I'm fucked.

BTW, I covered my first game at a school that had wireless access last night. It was heaven. I had a few extra minutes to proofread, and it was worth every second.

 

Always walked the sidelines when I did prep games, unless it was raining.

But yeah, watch out for anything. Someone on the chain crew could drop the sticks on you, something could happen behind the play (which happened to my brother last night, who had his leg snapped in two places when he got hit from behind while officiating a prep football game).

 

That's interesting about the wireless thing. I can't imagine that many schools have that for reporters' use.

Or am I wrong?

 

My paper is looking to get Verizon cards for laptops so we can live blog from games. Not sure what I think about that, since I prefer walking the sideline.