Story guilt?

We have a minor league baseball team in our town. Some time ago, the beat reporter from the other paper that covers the team asked the manager about pitch counts, since his best pitcher was the parent club's top prospect and had been on pitch counts. The manager, as he did several times over the course of the season on various subjects, went on a long rant, the jist of which was basically that pitch counts could do a young pitcher a disservice in the long run because they don't learn how to pitch when they're tired later in a game and don't have their best stuff. A very insightful point, but not exactly one that mouthed the party line.

Anyhow, by the time this season is over, this team has made the playoffs for the second straight year and, most importantly, three more of the players this guy has managed in the minors have reached the major leagues. But instead of getting a promotion to the next level, he gets fired, with the explanation he received being that he put winning over development. And when the GM of the parent club is questioned on it, he says that he had seen the aforementioned story.

 

True. However, my point is that if "everyone" is doing it and no one is complaining and you write a story about one coach cheating because he was easy to catch, you did a poor job.

If you worked at it and did a story about how rampant it was and how schools ignore or bend the rules, you did a great job.

 

I did a story about a softball coach who got into a confrontation with her two best players that, according to the girls and other witnesses, got physical. The coach ended up resigning, the two girls came back to the team and they made a deep playoff run last spring.

I didn't feel bad about reporting it. If anything I felt bad that the situation ever happened in the first place. The coach was always nice in dealing with me. But she crossed the line.

 

My recollection -- it's been about two years -- is that he reported on the first coach he found. That's why it was borderline in my opinion. If he would have gone out to every baseball field for two weeks that would have been one thing.

Also, I have no problem with coaches getting fired/embarassed if they're jerks or were outrageously breaking the rules. It's when a story has unintended consequences or when you go looking for something that bugs me a bit.

I know there's been a few things that I've sat on over the years -- nothing major -- that might have gotten a school in trouble for some minor violations. The same things that somebody else might have pushed just for the sake of news. It's a judgement call, I guess.

For example, years ago I found out a star HS linebacker was living with an assistant coach, which was a violation. I found this out after the football season. The LB was a classic "born in a bad situation" type of player. Mom's an alcoholic, no dad, bad neighborhood, etc. Living with the assistant coach's family kept him on the straight and narrow. Could I have pushed this story, gotten the coach, player and school in trouble? Probably. Did I? No.

The player went on to JUCO and later signed with a major D-1. He was a backup and was never a superstar, but his life was better because the coaching staff at his high school took care of him. Screwing that up just to get a breaking news story on my resume wouldn't have been worth it.

 

I was responding to the last part of your previous statement, which I took to mean you didn't think the breaking of that rule is a big deal as long as kids weren't being punished for missing the "non-mandatory" workouts.

I disagree with you on that. If you're breaking the rule and the players know you are breaking the rule, that is in appropriate behavior.

Don't get me wrong. I knew about half the coaches involved in a similar situation a few years back, when there were eight or nine teams in one area busted for illegal scrimmages. They got caught because of a story exposing what they were doing in one of the local papers.

I like and respect some of the coaches involved, but I still thought they were wrong in this particular case.

I do agree that if you only write about the school that is easiest to catch, you are doing a half-assed job. I still question the guy who caught those eight or nine schools because there were more doing it and I know the reporter was aware of that.

But if you work the story and you can't catch everybody that breaks the rule, even if you only have enough proof to write about one school breaking the rule. They are cheating and the coach is setting a crappy example for his players by ignoring the rules. And there will be consequences once you write about it, so the story definitely has value.

 

Unless thebiglead is Danica Patrick sized, he's not going to have the room.

(hypocritcal fat jokes from fat guys rule!)

 

I agree that a story about coaches breaking the rules is a good story. I just put more importance on issues that harm kids.

For example, maybe the state has some weird-ass rules about practice seasons. And the only kids practicing out of season are baseball players who aren't playing another sport. As long as kids aren't forced to practice I don't see much harm -- though it is against the rules.

Now, say you have a team that has a fund drive and everyone is expected to sell $300 worth or candy or cards or raffle tickets or whatever. And the kids who don't are punished by not being able to play. Maybe they don't want to sell the stuff. Maybe they can't and they parent's can't just write a check.

That's perfectly within the rules but is unfair to kids. I've seen stories where coaches were called on that and thats a good story. Some programs get so caught up in having fancy field and equipment that the kids are secondary.

 

Ask G. Dohrmann about this one....

Do I ever feel guilty? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

 

I see your point, but to me, when a coach at that level is breaking the rules for the sake of a competitive advantage, he is also losing sight of what is best for the kids. When you tell these young people cheating is ok because everybody does it or because we think we can get away with it, you are teaching them something inappropriate.

I guess it is a matter of whether you believe it is important for educators at the high school level to set a strong example for the young people in their care. And I believe coaches do have to be counted as educators, though with some of the ones I've met, that is a scary thought.

 

I concede your point, outofp.

 

Thanks.
I'm a real pain in the ass when I get on my soapbox, huh?

 

Yes you are.