Quick parent rant

Got a call today from a soccer mom. She wanted to know why the "feature" story on her kid's team wasn't in the paper yet. I was dumbfounded, so I asked her who told her to submit a story. "Oh, I talked to one of the editors in the news department and he said to e-mail it to you. You know, I'm a journalist too." Yes, well, we don't accept unsolicited stories or photos. "... oh."
(And sweetie, writing up gamers for the local weekly shopper doesn't make you a journo.)
And now I have to hunt down a news editor and beat the crap out of him.

 

Or Bill and Ted.

WYLD STALLIONS!

 

Could have been worse... could have been an ad rep...

 

We get this a ton in my neck o'. Would it be racist to ask if this is something black-dominated schools do more than white-dominated ones? Probably so, but what the fuck. I'll do it anyway. I only ask because it seems like it's the inner-city schools that do this, in my area at least. The private schools and the more rural ones, I've never heard it. And it seems like the little bit of HBCU football I've seen, their bands played during the game too. But I could definitely be wrong on that. I'm FAR from an HBCU football expert.

Anyway ... yeah, almost every week this season, one or both of the bands of the teams I've been covering have played LOUDLY pretty much the entire game. They take the occasional break here and there, but it's basically like watching a game with a deafening soundtrack. I've always thought this should be against the rules since they truly can affect the game. Also, I can't hear the P.A. guy, and he's literally sitting 5 feet away from me. There's just this massive wall of sound that would make Phil Specter jealous for 2+ hours, and it drives me insane.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has to deal with this.

 

My school in question leans toward the whiter sider.

 

I think marching band parents have a form letter they send to newspapers. This is what I got tonight:

Newsroom person who verifies the letters wanted to know if I wanted to run this as a sports letter; I told her that if I ran this, it would be followed by a not-so-nice editor's note.

All those sports teams were competing in state playoffs, so they warranted the coverage. And it sounds like our community editor dropped the ball (or nobody told her).

I'm lucky that my state association clearly classifies band as an activity.

 

If the halftime shows last 35-40 because of the band, bitch to the state association, who probably has a rule regulating teir length. If so, that nonsense will end quick.

 

I'm at the point where I'm more amused than anything by parents. As the years go by, it's different sets of parents with the same jealousies and complaints. Took a call yesterday from a field hockey parent at school X. School X is pretty successful, but the coaches and parents are paranoid toward school Y, especially the coach. He'll say off the wall things just because he knows it'll piss off the other school. The purpose of the parent's call was to ask if the all-something team had been picked. I told him I didn't know, but I would check with some coaches. He immediately asked me not to check with School Y coach "because he'll give it to you wrong" and that it's well-known that this newspaper favors Y over X, "so you might not even put our players' names in the paper."

 

My wife roped me into watching something on TV called 'Texas Cheerleader Moms' last night, and all I could think about were the various threads like this that have popped up. I told her of some of the stories I've read here and a few that have happened to me, because the moms on the show were exactly the kind of people that get made fun of in these threads.

 

Had a good one Friday night, visiting team brings their band, and they want to perform at halftime, so there goes the 20-min break. Well the PA guy announces the 50-50 number while the visiting band is playing. Some band nerd comes up like a bat out of hell saying how rude it was to make an announcement during their performance (which I can see his point). But I used the opportunity to add, you mean the same way you play while the game is going on? That shut him up real fast.

 

Visiting bands allowed to play? That's horseshit ... CFL stadiums allow the other team's dance squad to perform. Horseshit. Leave your cheerleaders at home. This is my barn.

 

I love parents, and their overjoy at even the slightest accomplishments.
[/quote]

ahhh.. yes... nothing is better than this email... seriously...
(this is just a copy paste job on my part... I had nothing to do with the spelling)

have som concerns about toadys article about volleyball. Why would you NOT
mention qhy little miss Markie was absent from the team? Dave would have you
didn;t have to say eneigable you could have said disiplinary reasons and you
better not interview angie and markie as muchfor basketball as you do for
volleyball becasue that should be the seniors jobs!!Now i relize that this
years volleyball seniorsreal are not a big part of the team bu the
basketball ones will be. Alos I know of a few people that are going to be
signing letter of intents on Nov 14 will you be there to take thier pictures
with thier coaches,parents, and athletic Director? also you should wright an
article about them along with the pic to change it up from what Dave did.
Just a few suggestions.I didn;t mean to be mean about volleyball but they
are interviewed in about every article. also basketball starts soon maybe
you should wright an article about the boys and girls going to open gym?
just another sugesstion!!


~Just a glimpse into the world of someone trapped in hell~