Why I love Friday nights

I always get to the games at least a half hour before they start so I'd have time to hand-copy rosters if necessary.

One Friday night story to share: A kid from a local school had a pretty good game (I think 4 TDs, though he turned out to be a top prospect so that kind of game wasn't that uncommon for him). While we were rushing the pages out around midnight, his dad called and asked us if the paper is on the racks yet. I just had this vision of this guy waiting by a newspaper rack until 5 a.m. for the carrier to bring the papers.

 

How about writing from the locker room because it's the only place with a phone line, and having steam from te shower keep fogging up the screen of my Trash-80?

I'll never forget that one.

Oh, and there's the obligatory getting locked into the stadium after filing. I'm sure that's happened to everyone.

 

Two Fridays ago, one of our phone-in games goes to voice mail. Guy leaves a message giving everything except the exact distances of touchdowns. A few of the "Jim Bob had a touchdown run of about 40 yards." He leaves his number and I call back.
"Hey, Ben, can you give me the exact distances of these touchdowns?"
"Sure can, but right now I'm in the middle of a nice piss."

Friday night football at its finest.

 

Had that happen to me a few years ago while covering state track. The janitor actually came in and told me which gate to go out and to lock up when I was done. Of course, when I left a few minutes later, the gates were all locked and I had to crawl over the wrought-iron fence hauling a laptop about as heavy as a 23-inch TV, plus a camera bag.