Prep reporters, chime in please

[Norman Stansfield]

I always do it on the sidelines unless they're playing in a freaking hail storm.

I do it because 7 out of every 10 Prep football games are blowouts and I interview players in that final quarter.

Press box sucks and you see more of what's going on in my opinion on the sidelines. You see just how long fourth and two is when the game is on the line. The ambiance is the best down there, with the coaches hollering.

I remember one close game nearing halftime. Hometown High got the ball with 1 minute to go, down by a point. They drive to the 50 on a neat pass play, then option puts them out of bounds at the Away 40.

"Kelly Kicker, where are you," Hometown coach yelled.

he calls the play in. QB can't find anyone open and rushes for 7 yards. Hometown calls timeout.

"Kelly Kicker, where the f- is Kelly Kicker?"

Hometown coaches call plays, talk to QB. Kelly Kicker shows up.

"Right here, coach."

"Kelly, stick to me like glue," he says, holllering at his staff, other players.

QB connects on cross route with tight end for first down at the 28.

"Where do you want the ball, Kelly Kicker?" coach asks.

"Right there's fine."

"Kelly Kicker says inside the 30, coach," Hometown coach barks at assistant.

QB runs draw play, gets pushed back to the 34.

"G-dmit, call timeout. Kelly Kicker, how's that?"

"That'll work."

"Kelly says he can make it, coach," Hometown coach says to assistants.

QB runs fade route to the sidelines, first and goal from Away team's 11 with 20 seconds left in half.

Hometown coach calls in another pass play.

"Kelly, we're going for it all now. Jesus H-freaking Christ, holy shirt. I didn't think those m-f'in linebackers would let us get that close."

"That's cool, coach."

QB gets sacked at the 20 on a rollout.

"G-dmit. Call timeout! Kelly, stick to me like glue."

"I ain't goin' nowhere, coach."

"Now where do you need the ball?"

"Right there's fine, but I don't like kicking from the right hash."

Hometown coach calls in fade pass to endzone. QB gets sacked at the 34 with 3 seconds left.

"Call timeout, call timeout, g-dmit. Can't buy a g-d block. We can't move it to the middle for you, son, you're just gonna hafta make it from there, g-dmit."

"That's cool," Kelly Kicker says and trots out on the field and nails a 51 yarder that's got five, eight yards to spare.

That kick turned out to be the game winner. I thought the calmness of that kicker was excellent. Later in the season, vs. Archrival High, that kicker hit like three sky kicks to the sideline that were all three muffs and all three were recovered by Hometown High. They scored all of their TDs off those muffs and Kelly Kicker nailed a 52 yarder for the game winner in that one.

Kelly Kicker got drafted two years ago, and that's my little sideline story about that dude.

That's a good story. Mind sharing who Kelly Kicker really was? I'm curious.

 

[sartysnopes]

If they opened the sidelines at NCAA or NFL games, would a single person here sit up in the press box? I hope not. So why would it be any different for preps? It's an opportunity to get a better story. Take advantage of it.
I'm confounded anyone would choose to sit farther away from the people involved in any sports event. Would you sit in the nosebleed section rather than courtside at a basketball game? Capturing expressions and emotions is important. Sure, the coach might tell you after the game he was nervous. But you had the ability to capture that yourself if you would have gotten off your butt and down on the sideline. The QB might say he never was frustrated, but you would have known better had you heard him yell that four-letter word when he walked off the field. I can't conjure a situation -- outside of rain -- in which being in the press box could make a story more compelling.
It's not too difficult to create a system of keeping statistics, and don't be fooled into thinking it's impossible to keep them on the field. It's possible, and being on the field totally worth it. And if you can't write a gamer in 30 minutes from final whistle to file, how are going to write one at the MNF overtime game that ended an hour AFTER deadline? You have to learn to do it sometime.

 

[sartrean]

Norman, sorry. Doing so would give away my identity even though I don't work at Kelly Kicker's hometown paper anymore.

And since my publisher has nothing to do but surf the internet all day every day, he's would soon find my posts, and I would then surely be fired for having an opinion on anything.