Can we avoid becoming part of the story here?

[Cadet]

And I'm ashuming your photographer was the required five yards away from the touchline, right?

 

[Canyonero!]

Well, if they played the game in a steel cage, they wouldn't have to worry about the ball going out of bounds.

BY GOD KING! PODUNK HIGH HAS NOWHERE TO RUN WHEN THE CAGE DOOR CLOSES!

 

[bigpern23]

Just to get the details straight in my mind, Bigpern, but did the ball bounce off your photog because it was traveling fast and she couldn't get out of the way, or was she being helpful and stopped the ball so the players could retrieve it? I ask because she should leave the ball alone and do her job, unless it was a matter of not being able to get out of the way. (Even soccer linesmen don't make an effort to stop or retrieve balls to avoid the appearance of helping one team over the other. And they're supposed to be watching the action on the field.)

But after confirming that the ball hit her, I'd mention the goal, probably along the lines of, "Everything went wrong for the East Overshoe soccer team last night. Even a photographer got an ashist in the x-x blowout by West Soccer Power."

If the refs missed it that badly, they need to be called out on it. Next time, it might be a crucial goal.

It was just traveling fast and with her eye in the viewfinder, the photog couldn't react fast enough.

Cadet, not sure if she was exactly 5 yards back of the touchline, but she was clearly far enough back that the ref could tell the ball was well out of bounds.

The reason this incident isn't higher in the story is that it wasn't pivotal to the outcome. The visiting team was going to lose whether this goal was scored or not. They just weren't very good. And in a story, it's not my job to call out the refs. I describe what happened. That's enough to let the reader decide if he's an idiot or not.

I did like the idea of "Team ashmonkey couldn't catch a break, even a photographer got an ashist," but the story is done and filed.

 

[JME]

I wouldn't say it mattered in terms of reporting it since it was a blowout, but I would have probably used it as a lede about how everything wentr right for Podunk.

 

[lone star scribe]

I wouldn't say it mattered in terms of reporting it since it was a blowout, but I would have probably used it as a lede about how everything wentr right for Podunk.

Exactly my point. It's a talker. What do you think the players will be saying about the game? "Man, we got beat so bad, a photographer scored against us."

 

[bydesign77]

was it a one-, two-, or three-man crew?

if it was a three-man crew calling the game, there is no way this could have happened. the linesman SHOULD have been near or on the goal line, and has only two responsibilities, out-of-bounds (or a goal) and offsides.

two-man? could happen since that ref is responsible for more than a linesman

one-man? ship, anything could happen.

 

[doubledown68]

Jesus, where was the ref? The linesman?

Were they hired from the WWF?

Sensational Sherri was distracting them.

Outstanding.

Sherri ain't got nothing on the Fabulous Moolah.