Dear dimwit on the phone

[Gator]

No call or email, just a venting of frustration:

When I was a kid, all the way through high school, I got my name in the paper four times. All four came in the agate section for finishing third in the 300 hurdles. My parents didn't push, or call, or send letters to the local sports editor for more, because, let's face it, I didn't deserve it.

But now that I'm in this business, I tend to come across too many parents who feel it is their kid's right to have his or her name in the paper. And not just for sports. And not just their names. They all want little stories done on little Johnny because he hit two doubles in a house league game, the second of which drove in the game-winning run.

What may seem to be the biggest game in the world to daddy and mommy isn't very big to anyone else. I've been in this business for 10 years, and it just seems to be getting worse. Getting your name in the paper used to be something special. Now I think parents just push and push until it loses it's luster. I've typed in the name of an 8-year-old youth soccer player 12 weeks in a row. Jesus Christ.

There, rant over.

I get you. Right now, I've got a 13-year-old baseball team sending in a photo every week because they're winning tournaments. And I want to tell them that it's not that special until you get to the time of year when it's a state or regional tournament. Because if you keep sending in stuff in March and April, people are going to be sick of it in May and June. Right now, I don't know if the competition is good or crap but the coach has mentioned their "national ranking" a couple of times. What organization is ranking 13-year-old traveling teams on a national basis?

The kind of organization that will take your money to enter tournaments to be eligible for a national ranking.

Sticking with this trend:
We've got one softball team that has had a photo in the paper three or four weeks running now. And it's just April 23.

Give me a break.

So make a new rule: "No team photos until postseason tournaments."
Get whoever needs to rubber stamp the rule to do so.
Then, stick to it.

Not as easy as it sounds..I know...but damn it would be nice to push a reset button of sorts on coverage and start from scratch. Kinda like turning off a video game and starting over. Where is that option? LOL

We have a forms page on our site that explicitly says, "Team photos of state champions or runners-up will run in the sports section." All others, and I'm quite happy there aren't too many, go in our weekly "Community" section. People hate this rule.

 

[Batman]

I get you. Right now, I've got a 13-year-old baseball team sending in a photo every week because they're winning tournaments. And I want to tell them that it's not that special until you get to the time of year when it's a state or regional tournament. Because if you keep sending in stuff in March and April, people are going to be sick of it in May and June. Right now, I don't know if the competition is good or crap but the coach has mentioned their "national ranking" a couple of times. What organization is ranking 13-year-old traveling teams on a national basis?

USSSA has been doing this for years. They award points based on how many tournaments you play, and what type of competition you play. There's two or three tiers, I believe (A, AA and AAA), and you get more points if you play up a level. So a Class AA 11-year-olds' team that plays in a 12-year-olds' AAA tournament and wins a few games would get more points toward its national ranking than one that beats up on 11-year-olds' teams that are weaker.
Of course, a team's strength and classification is based on how many times you pay the USSSA sanctioning fee to play in a tournament.
I think at the end there's an actual USSSA World Series (a real one, not one that calls itself that) with a couple hundred teams. All of it's based off how many points teams have earned over the course of the year.

 

[KYSportsWriter]

No call or email, just a venting of frustration:

When I was a kid, all the way through high school, I got my name in the paper four times. All four came in the agate section for finishing third in the 300 hurdles. My parents didn't push, or call, or send letters to the local sports editor for more, because, let's face it, I didn't deserve it.

But now that I'm in this business, I tend to come across too many parents who feel it is their kid's right to have his or her name in the paper. And not just for sports. And not just their names. They all want little stories done on little Johnny because he hit two doubles in a house league game, the second of which drove in the game-winning run.

What may seem to be the biggest game in the world to daddy and mommy isn't very big to anyone else. I've been in this business for 10 years, and it just seems to be getting worse. Getting your name in the paper used to be something special. Now I think parents just push and push until it loses it's luster. I've typed in the name of an 8-year-old youth soccer player 12 weeks in a row. Jesus Christ.

There, rant over.

I get you. Right now, I've got a 13-year-old baseball team sending in a photo every week because they're winning tournaments. And I want to tell them that it's not that special until you get to the time of year when it's a state or regional tournament. Because if you keep sending in stuff in March and April, people are going to be sick of it in May and June. Right now, I don't know if the competition is good or crap but the coach has mentioned their "national ranking" a couple of times. What organization is ranking 13-year-old traveling teams on a national basis?

The kind of organization that will take your money to enter tournaments to be eligible for a national ranking.

Sticking with this trend:
We've got one softball team that has had a photo in the paper three or four weeks running now. And it's just April 23.

Give me a break.

So make a new rule: "No team photos until postseason tournaments."
Get whoever needs to rubber stamp the rule to do so.
Then, stick to it.

Not as easy as it sounds..I know...but damn it would be nice to push a reset button of sorts on coverage and start from scratch. Kinda like turning off a video game and starting over. Where is that option? LOL

I wish we could ... I really do.

But there's no way my boss' boss will approve it. He's pushed local, local, local since he took over, and that includes anything and everything youth sports-related.

 

[HanSenSE]

No call or email, just a venting of frustration:

When I was a kid, all the way through high school, I got my name in the paper four times. All four came in the agate section for finishing third in the 300 hurdles. My parents didn't push, or call, or send letters to the local sports editor for more, because, let's face it, I didn't deserve it.

But now that I'm in this business, I tend to come across too many parents who feel it is their kid's right to have his or her name in the paper. And not just for sports. And not just their names. They all want little stories done on little Johnny because he hit two doubles in a house league game, the second of which drove in the game-winning run.

What may seem to be the biggest game in the world to daddy and mommy isn't very big to anyone else. I've been in this business for 10 years, and it just seems to be getting worse. Getting your name in the paper used to be something special. Now I think parents just push and push until it loses it's luster. I've typed in the name of an 8-year-old youth soccer player 12 weeks in a row. Jesus Christ.

There, rant over.

I get you. Right now, I've got a 13-year-old baseball team sending in a photo every week because they're winning tournaments. And I want to tell them that it's not that special until you get to the time of year when it's a state or regional tournament. Because if you keep sending in stuff in March and April, people are going to be sick of it in May and June. Right now, I don't know if the competition is good or crap but the coach has mentioned their "national ranking" a couple of times. What organization is ranking 13-year-old traveling teams on a national basis?

The kind of organization that will take your money to enter tournaments to be eligible for a national ranking.

Sticking with this trend:
We've got one softball team that has had a photo in the paper three or four weeks running now. And it's just April 23.

Give me a break.

So make a new rule: "No team photos until postseason tournaments."
Get whoever needs to rubber stamp the rule to do so.
Then, stick to it.

Not as easy as it sounds..I know...but damn it would be nice to push a reset button of sorts on coverage and start from scratch. Kinda like turning off a video game and starting over. Where is that option? LOL

Good idea spike, but one question ... most of the photos I get are travel teams or wrestling teams that don't have a dual season. When exactly is their postseason? I'm just thankful the wrestling coaches understand that if i don't get it in the paper right then, it'll appear evntually.

 

[BillyT]

"You only call us when we get broken into. When I call to ask you to come down and do a story on our new coffee section, you never come."

That was part of my afternoon.

 

[JBHawkEye]

Had a youth baseball tournament in town this weekend. Two local teams finished 1-2 in the 12U division, so they were both mentioned in the same brief.

Today's e-mail: Coach of the second-place team wants to know if we could publish their information again as a separate story. "We deserve our own story." Um, no.

 

[TheHacker]

No call or email, just a venting of frustration:

When I was a kid, all the way through high school, I got my name in the paper four times. All four came in the agate section for finishing third in the 300 hurdles. My parents didn't push, or call, or send letters to the local sports editor for more, because, let's face it, I didn't deserve it.

But now that I'm in this business, I tend to come across too many parents who feel it is their kid's right to have his or her name in the paper. And not just for sports. And not just their names. They all want little stories done on little Johnny because he hit two doubles in a house league game, the second of which drove in the game-winning run.

What may seem to be the biggest game in the world to daddy and mommy isn't very big to anyone else. I've been in this business for 10 years, and it just seems to be getting worse. Getting your name in the paper used to be something special. Now I think parents just push and push until it loses it's luster. I've typed in the name of an 8-year-old youth soccer player 12 weeks in a row. Jesus Christ.

There, rant over.

As it does so often and so well, this thread has again touched a nerve. Gator, I agree wholeheartedly.

One of our youth soccer organizations is located such that it's part of the coverage area of three different community papers (mine, plus two others). And these people religiously send in their results to all three papers every week. Now, I'm not a parent, so I freely accept the criticism from all of you who are that I "just don't get it." You're right. I don't. I mean I understand it's your child and it's a thrill for you and all, but really? Really? You really get off seeing your kid's name in three different papers every week? The same exact copy in all three? That gets you going?

I'm with you, Gator. I got my name in the prep roundup of my local paper maybe five or six times when I was in high school. Never for a kiddie game. It wasn't done.

As far as how to handle this stuff, I agree, set policies. No photos unless you win a league or tournament championship. And nothing on leagues where they don't keep score. This crazy soccer organization I mentioned has a league for ages 3-6 and they are so steadfast in their desire to have their results published that they started sending that stuff in and telling us "all games in this league end in a tie." I might as well also include the standard line "fun was had by all," which also tends to be included when they send stuff.

Parents ... I may yet become one, but I'll never be one.

 

[Flip Wilson]

No call or email, just a venting of frustration:

When I was a kid, all the way through high school, I got my name in the paper four times. All four came in the agate section for finishing third in the 300 hurdles. My parents didn't push, or call, or send letters to the local sports editor for more, because, let's face it, I didn't deserve it.

But now that I'm in this business, I tend to come across too many parents who feel it is their kid's right to have his or her name in the paper. And not just for sports. And not just their names. They all want little stories done on little Johnny because he hit two doubles in a house league game, the second of which drove in the game-winning run.

What may seem to be the biggest game in the world to daddy and mommy isn't very big to anyone else. I've been in this business for 10 years, and it just seems to be getting worse. Getting your name in the paper used to be something special. Now I think parents just push and push until it loses it's luster. I've typed in the name of an 8-year-old youth soccer player 12 weeks in a row. Jesus Christ.

There, rant over.

As it does so often and so well, this thread has again touched a nerve. Gator, I agree wholeheartedly.

One of our youth soccer organizations is located such that it's part of the coverage area of three different community papers (mine, plus two others). And these people religiously send in their results to all three papers every week. Now, I'm not a parent, so I freely accept the criticism from all of you who are that I "just don't get it." You're right. I don't. I mean I understand it's your child and it's a thrill for you and all, but really? Really? You really get off seeing your kid's name in three different papers every week? The same exact copy in all three? That gets you going?

I'm with you, Gator. I got my name in the prep roundup of my local paper maybe five or six times when I was in high school. Never for a kiddie game. It wasn't done.

As far as how to handle this stuff, I agree, set policies. No photos unless you win a league or tournament championship. And nothing on leagues where they don't keep score. This crazy soccer organization I mentioned has a league for ages 3-6 and they are so steadfast in their desire to have their results published that they started sending that stuff in and telling us "all games in this league end in a tie." I might as well also include the standard line "fun was had by all," which also tends to be included when they send stuff.

Parents ... I may yet become one, but I'll never be one.

Parents really expect the scores of always-tied fun league games in the paper? That's ridiculous. I coach my kids in t-ball. All the games end in a tie (or would if we actually kept score), everyone bats each inning and we all have a good time. Until I read that last post, the thought had never, ever crossed my mind to try and get our games in the paper. Nobody cares but the parents, and some of them barely care. Some are on their phones the entire game, and pause their conversation/texting/Angry Birds long enough to yell "Go, Susie" when their little sunshine is up to bat.

 

[SportsGuyBCK]

All this makes me think back to one of the best pieces of advice I ever got, from an old-school editor (RIP) back in my early days ...

"A person only DESERVES to have their name in the paper twice in their lifetime -- when they're born, and when they die ... in between, they've got to EARN it."

 

[HanSenSE]

Like a few posters here, I can't speak from personal experience when it comes to being a parent, but I'm getting the impression that parenting has changed a lot since some of us were kids. Sometimes I think they're raising pets, not children, or see them as little trophies to be shown off, not nutured or encouraged to think for themselves.

Ya gots the one that spend all night in line to make sure their kidlet gets into the proper preschool, lest being in the "wrong" school prevents them from getting into an Ivy League college ... and it gets worse from there. I did a preseason interview with a high school football coach in a sandwich shop he opened and was interrupted by a lady whose son had just gone out for football and she wanted to make sure he got to play some ... this was a team that was among the top teams in its region!

And scholarships? It's like some of them are chasing the effing Golden Ticket from Willie Wonka (the Gene Wilder version, please). A word of warning to the noobs (after you bring me a Corona): Don't laugh at the stories from the more grizzled posters, since it'll happen to you, if not a worse one!

OK, a couple of extreme examples, and a path I'm sure no one here is following with their spawn. But ya still wonder ...

 

[spikechiquet]

Dear backshop people that must not understand sports (although you have been the last line of defense for as long as newspapers them self, so you should know what a no-hitter is or what triple overtime means.),

Yeah...it's going to take a few minutes to get BOTH pages chased!!!

Spike.

 

[JBHawkEye]

Today's e-mail: Guy wondering why we have so many "goof's" in the paper, especially on the "photo's." Who "editt's" these?