How many of you, especially prep writers, experience football coaches not wanting to comment on upcoming games because it might give the other team "locker room material"?
I get this each week from somebody, from local coaches as well as out of town football gurus. Like this one team that holds some ungodly win streak that stretches back to 1877 or some crap like that. Anyway, their coach of 50 years or some shirt told me over the phone that he really doesn't want to comment on any aspect of the upcoming game at Hometown High because it "might give them a little more motivation to whip us...."
Then I ask him to tell me which kids on his team would he like for me to mention in an article as being either hard workers or main producers, senior leaders or whatnot. He responded, "I don't want to comment on any aspect of this game...that's just my policy."
Okay.
Are any players injured or not expected to play? I only want to know so I won't mention a kid's name in the article when the kid is on crutches or quit the team or anything like that. You know, I don't want to say quarterback Joe Passinghappy may go over the 2,500 yard passing mark in the upcoming game if the kid is in the freaking hospital.
"I just can't comment on a game that hasn't been played yet and I wish you media people would understand that. Doing so gives our opponents more motivation to beat us."
But your team hasn't lost in this century, or even in the past decade, and is like 100-3 in the past 15 years. Your team is averaging over 600 yards of offense per game, and your defense allows only 5 yards a game (on penalties) and Gerald Ford was president the last time your team was even scored on, certainly there's some kind of comment you can make, even something like "it's great to be here"?
"I have to go now, thank you for calling."
Prior to all this, I acquired a team roster and this guy lists his offensive line as 5-9, 180 pounds. Every one of them, seniors, juniors, freshmen. I know for a fact their two tackles are over 6-4 and over 300 pounds because a national prep magazine did a feature story on them (the coach wasn't quoted in it).
So forgive me if this topic has been hashed out on this board before, but do any of you believe in the locker room superstition? My coaches in high school tried that in every sport, and it rarely worked. When other teams were quoted in the media saying they'd beat the heck outta us, they were usually right, whether we knew they thought that of us or not.
And I've printed locker room material in my lifetime as a prep writer, and usually the ill comments made about Podunk or Hometown High came true.
So is there any qualitative or quantitative research done on the mystery of "locker room material"?
For the record, hyperbole on the team's win streak, obviously, and this coach's exact statements will be printed in the soon-to-be-defunct paper I temporarily work for.
I get this each week from somebody, from local coaches as well as out of town football gurus. Like this one team that holds some ungodly win streak that stretches back to 1877 or some crap like that. Anyway, their coach of 50 years or some shirt told me over the phone that he really doesn't want to comment on any aspect of the upcoming game at Hometown High because it "might give them a little more motivation to whip us...."
Then I ask him to tell me which kids on his team would he like for me to mention in an article as being either hard workers or main producers, senior leaders or whatnot. He responded, "I don't want to comment on any aspect of this game...that's just my policy."
Okay.
Are any players injured or not expected to play? I only want to know so I won't mention a kid's name in the article when the kid is on crutches or quit the team or anything like that. You know, I don't want to say quarterback Joe Passinghappy may go over the 2,500 yard passing mark in the upcoming game if the kid is in the freaking hospital.
"I just can't comment on a game that hasn't been played yet and I wish you media people would understand that. Doing so gives our opponents more motivation to beat us."
But your team hasn't lost in this century, or even in the past decade, and is like 100-3 in the past 15 years. Your team is averaging over 600 yards of offense per game, and your defense allows only 5 yards a game (on penalties) and Gerald Ford was president the last time your team was even scored on, certainly there's some kind of comment you can make, even something like "it's great to be here"?
"I have to go now, thank you for calling."
Prior to all this, I acquired a team roster and this guy lists his offensive line as 5-9, 180 pounds. Every one of them, seniors, juniors, freshmen. I know for a fact their two tackles are over 6-4 and over 300 pounds because a national prep magazine did a feature story on them (the coach wasn't quoted in it).
So forgive me if this topic has been hashed out on this board before, but do any of you believe in the locker room superstition? My coaches in high school tried that in every sport, and it rarely worked. When other teams were quoted in the media saying they'd beat the heck outta us, they were usually right, whether we knew they thought that of us or not.
And I've printed locker room material in my lifetime as a prep writer, and usually the ill comments made about Podunk or Hometown High came true.
So is there any qualitative or quantitative research done on the mystery of "locker room material"?
For the record, hyperbole on the team's win streak, obviously, and this coach's exact statements will be printed in the soon-to-be-defunct paper I temporarily work for.
