The "Homer" sports writer

One person on the ECU beat is painfully close to being a fanboy (and no, not that the one we've talked about upthread). The others? As professional as one can ask for.

 

I don't disagree with this at all, Kevin. But the woman had a pretty decent camera (from what I remember), a press credential and didn't mind sitting on press row the entire tournament. You want the credential? Follow the rules.

In all honesty, I'm not a confrontational person. But this was *so* over the top, something had to be said - yelling and screaming throughout each of the matches 'her kids' were involved in. "Circle! CIRCLE!!!" - there's only so much you can take.

If I was wrong, so be it.

 

The closest I've had to that happen to me was just a week or so ago. The high school hockey team I was covering just beat its archrival and knocked them out of the playoff picture.

This one kid asked me whether I was from the school I covered or the archrival as I was headed out the door.

Me: "Media."

He high-fived me.

I felt that was awkward and not exactly in keeping with my sense of ethics.

If you still covered her, there's no way you should even consider going to the wedding. You should be there to do a job, not curry excessive favor with any of the players.

If you and she developed some kind of friendship after your days of covering her ended, different story.

Then again, that's my take. It's admittedly limited. I haven't been close enough to any of the players I've interviewed to call my objectivity into question. I don't think I'd ever find myself becoming regular drinking buddies with any of them.

Then again, who knows what the future will bring?

 

By the time I started my stint in Eastern NC, that guy was long gone.

 

There was a reporter in my area who would wear the team ball cap and colors of the school he was covering that night. That's wrong on so many levels, including what I view as a violation of an acceptable dress code (it has to be an all-day event, and over 90 degrees -- or raining -- before I consider wearing a hat, but this is for basketball).


I've been given hats from all the schools I cover. I didn't have the heart to refuse them, so I just hung them on the wall in the office -- much like what one would see at an Applebees. But none of them have ever been on my head.

 

Come to think of it, I know of a local reporter - a nice guy, by all accounts - who had been the beat writer of a local minor-league team for something like 25 years and got to the point where he had his own padded office chair in the press box. Everyone loves him.

The problem with that is, because everyone loves him, he always gets free stuff. And when the minor league season ends, he's off to covering youth basketball again. When he was given a hat by the team when I made my rounds through the area, he was urged to put it on by management. He said, "I can't put it on now, I'm here as an objective member of the media."

Then: "I'll just wear it in the off-season when I'm at a basketball game."

Sigh.

 

I like free stuff, especially free beer.

 

I bet people who don't know me have mistaken me for a homer at basketball games ... but I'm not. I just HATE poor basketball officiating, especially refs with inconsistent whistles. I will occasionally blurt out a "What the fuck was that call?" I've also been known to walk out near the court shortly before tip-off, see Ted Valentine, roll my eyes and cuss.

Come to think of it, bad strike zones piss me off to no end, as well.

I'm not a homer. Those comments always go both ways. I just hate poor officiating.

 

I detest that as well. Then again, I didn't have to get into journalism to look into that.

I worked for an officiating organization for years, starting early in high school. It wasn't difficult to separate the good officials from the average to those who had no business anywhere near a competitive setting.

 

Tonight at a major college game in the Southeast, I had the misfortune of sitting next to this particular young woman. Now, at first, I had no idea who she was or where she worked. She was simply in the main press seating area next to me, a traveling writer who was parachuting into town to get an interview with a coach.

Anyway, this girl, as the game goes on, is tapping her legs nervously as the underdog team makes it a game. This got worse and worse. As we get deeper into the second half, I see her coyly clapping her hands to the beat of the home-team band. As if no one would notice. I glance at her, she stops, but continues the next time the band played.

Ok, I figure, she must be a student reporter. I'll cut her some slack. Then it got worse. As said home team is about to pull a major upset, she starts yelling, turns to me smiling for some reason like she can't contain herself.

My intrigue at all all-time high, so I finally peak at her placard on the table. This girl is actually a working press member. Unbelievable.

As the final seconds wind down, she's shaking as she gets her stuff together. She then turned to me and says as plainly as you'd imagine, "Can you believe this?"

I smile back. "No," I said. "No, I cannot believe it."

Later on downstairs I saw this twit "working." She was standing in front of the home locker waiting for players with camera man following. And she was holding a mike labeled with the letters of a major local affiliate.

Does this qualify?

 

I'll admit I have, at times, got a bit caught up in the games I'm covering, especially if an amazing play happens. Nothing fanboy, I think, but if some receiver makes a spectacular catch ... hey, I'm human, I'll mutter "Wow" under my breath.
That being said ... I happen to look pretty good in the colors of the team I cover on a regular basis, but I go out of my way to make sure I'm not wearing that particular color when I'm doing one of their games. I'll leave that to the radio guys.

 

Nothing wrong with that. Appreciating an incredible game/play doesn't make you a homer.