Quick parent rant

My favorite was the lady who complained twice that a certain softball player was getting her picture in the paper much more than the other more deserving members of the team. Never mind that this player was one of the best players and, as I informed the reader, had her picture appear no more than 2 other players and only once more than 2 more.

I suggested that perhaps she, a grown woman, had a personal grudge with a 16-year old that clouded her judgment (said 16-year old is fairly attractive, which probably is the root of it). The response was, get this, that she had no personal connection to the team, she was just a fan and thought the coverage was one-sided.

Just a fan of a HS softball team. Sure, lady.

 

My first year on the job, I received an unsigned letter complaining about how one kid seemed to be in the photos we published more than other kids.
The funniest thing is it was pure coincidence. I never gave it seconds of thought until I recieved the letter.
Unless I'm writing a feature about a specific kid, I just publish the best photos I have. If the same kid happens to be in those photos, so be it.

 

Parents. Fuck'em feed'em fish heads.

 

smallpotatoes-I've tried to explain that we use the best photo regardless of who is in it. We're a small enough dept. with only 11 high schools in our coverage area so I do try to make sure I'm not running the same kid's picture over and over.

but none of that matters to folks like that. The next time I get such an email or phone call, i'm going to ask which player they want to see featured since obviously they have one in mind. Of course, they'll stammer that they just want to see fair coverage but I'll continue to press them until they spit it out.


3bags- I think the grandparents are even worse.

 

Most swimmers are one-sport athletes. They train almost every day, year-round. If they're lucky, the newspaper pays attention during the three months they swim for their high school -- even though most of the club competitions at least appear to be a bigger deal (national vs. local). So swimming parents are more cranky than most.

The fact that some of the coaches won't give times doesn't help matters. (Yep, SmallPotatoes, that happens everywhere!) My preseason letter to coaches now says that times must be provided for the winner in every event, regardless of team, or the results won't be published. It's improved the call-ins considerably, since the coaches can't say they didn't know.

FYI: A dot-com reporter I know actually includes something along the lines of, "I can be reached at bigmouth@mysite.com. I will only answer e-mail which is signed" as the tagline on his posts. So many readers seem totally amazed when I'll write back at all. I get a particular kick out of figuring out the sender from the e-mail address -- or running the phone number through the reverse directory -- and then calling 'em by name.

 

We had an "anonymous" e-mail from a hotmail address asking why we weren't doing any features on some random kid. Of course, the e-mail was this particular player's initials, then the acronym for his school and his jersey number. Way to go, numbnuts.

 

A few years ago, I received a letter from somebody named "Division 1 Parent." I couldn't find anybody by that name in the phone listings in the town or the persons listed directory. Hmmm...
Mr. (or Ms.) Parent was upset that in a feature about a guy who was on the winning boat in the Newport/Bermuda yacht race (It was summer and I had nothing better to do) I wrote that the kid played college hockey for Holy Cross, a Division 1 program.
The writer pointed out that Holy Cross was not a Division 1 program, it was a Division 1A program. "You don't think Holy Cross is in the same league as BU, BC and Princeton, do you," wrote Parent.
I guess even though the NCAA considers Holy Cross a Division 1 program (and I'm pretty sure after last year's NCAA tournament the University of Minnesota considers Holy Cross a Division 1 program), hockey people make a distinction between big-time programs and lower-level Division 1 programs and as a writer, I needed to do the same.
I guess referring to a kid who played at Holy Cross as a Division 1 hockey player is an insult to the kids who play at BC, BU, Michigan, North Dakota, etc., much like somebody who did kitchen duty in the service trying to pass himself off as a Navy SEAL is an insult to SEALs.
So I would like to apologize to Mr. and Mrs. Division 1 Parent and their son, who gave his life playing Division 1 college hockey for his country and is buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Division 1 College Hockey Player at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

I once got an e-mail from a "fan of local prep sports," telling me how impressed he was with the quarterback as School A. He said didn't have any kids in high school, that his kids were all grown up, but that he loved to go to the local games. He claimed he hadn't seen leadership and skill like that in a quarterback for a while, and felt we weren't giving him enough credit in the paper. Signed, Don A.

Well, first of all, I agreed that we probably hadn't given the kid very much credit.

But, I look at the e-mail address, and it has the sender's last name in the address, and the last name was the same last name of the quarterback (and it began with a C, not an A).

So, I wrote back and said, "Mr. C, Looking at your e-mail address, I'm guessing you are the quarterback's father, or some other close relative. In the future, I don't mind if you tout your own son. ..."

A couple days later, I get a response back from the father, saying, "Oh, I'm so embarrassed. My next door neighbor was at my office, and he got onto my computer and sent that e-mail. I'll have to talk to him."

Whatever, idiot. Just admit you got caught.

 

Dude!

 

I believe I have had the same type of letter, if you can believe it.

 

It's not just that the parents are living vicariously through their children, investing great emotional investment. It's the insane amount of money some parents spend on their children -- it's the financial investment, stupid.

I wouldn't be shocked if some of the parents you hear from are trying to get some evidence -- a name in the paper would be nice -- that their investment is generating some return. Not that it's right, but that's the mindset of some.

On the other hand, the parent of someone in the school band doesn't call and wonder why there wasn't any coverage of the latest band contest. Wait, bad example, they do.

 

I was gonna say . . . Don't start on band parents, that's all we need.