Pressbox deadlines

[GlenQuagmire]

Good message. I've covered plenty of minor-league ball and always tried to approach it as professionally as anything else. Sounds like you are doing that, too.

I've been on both sides. The PR people work incredibly long hours for next to no pay, so I can understand them wanting to get home (or wherever) after a game because they have to be in their office a LOT earlier than you do the following day. (As an SID once I stayed in a football press box THREE HOURS after the final gun for some writer who was farting around; man was I ever pissed... ruined my rare Saturday night off.) That said, the natural flow of deadlines should take care of things. 11:15 on a game that ends at 10 p.m. doesn't sound insane.... neither does a one-hour rule. Now if the game ends at 6 p.m. get out and go back to the office to write. But he shouldn't make a stink over 5-10 extra minutes.

As far as stories, you should politely tell him you and your editors will decide what is and is not newsworthy. But, in fairness, remember it's part of his job to spout the company line and cover for players and staff.

As far as access and being next to the batting cage, hey, they make the rules of where and when I can go. If it REALLY is a big deal, you could always talk to the GM on the side and explain why you need to be there.

It's not at all unusual for a writer to take three hours or more to finish filing, especially if it's a day game. No writer wants to go back to the office to file a game story.

Three hours to file a routine game story? I've NEVER taken anywhere close to that long. And, yes, both myself and almost everyone I've worked with come back to the office to file copy, unless distance and time prohibit. I normally collect my stuff when the game is over, then go the clubhouse, locker room and head straight to the car.

I've been in a college football press box for three hours after a game, but it's never just to file one gamer. It's a gamer, notes, report card, sidebar(s) and sometimes a column. There might be some blogging to do, too. Or some video to upload. And since my office is about three hours away, driving back to file isn't an option.

Oddly enough, I'm usually not the last guy out. But there have been a couple of occasions when I took pity on the guy who was stuck waiting for me to finish writing and filed the last thing or two from Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks. Or by using a hotel's wireless and filing from my car in a parking lot.

Sometimes I wish it was just a matter of filing a 500-word gamer, but that's not the case in my world.

This.

Once I got into it on the road out of state with the home team's SID from a BCS school following an NCAA postseason game. He didn't understand why it took me longer than the local metro newspaper (one hour) to write my stuff. I had to explain to him that I was writing more than just a 400-word gamer. I had a gamer, notebook and sidebar on top of doing live online updates and a post-game blog. (Sometimes I had to do two sidebars and in-game phone updates with our local TV partner. Fortunately, the TV updates didn't last.)

Later, the SID apologized in the parking lot for assuming that I was just wasting time. I'd be yelled at in the past by SIDs, janitors, etc., in the prep and college ranks eager to go home, but I never expected it from someone working for one of the nation's top athletic programs.

Believe me, I didn't want to be there. I had a terrible migraine, was incredibly hungry because no food had been available in the pressbox since before the game and was staying on the other side of town and didn't have an hour to make that drive before finishing all of my stuff before deadline.

 

[jr/shotglass]

A lot of the reason for the delay was wrangling coaches and players afterwards. One of the coaches had coached at my alma mater previously, and since I wasn't on deadline, I had no problem shooting the shirt with him after the game.

nate, I'm sorry, man, but that's the line. Essentially, the guy was waiting to go home because you were shooting the shirt with an old acquaintance after the game. Correct me if I'm wrong.

And if I'm right, the guy had somewhat of a right to be perturbed. He has a life too.

 

[Stitch]

Does the OP's radio appearances lead to the paper earning any additional revenue ?

 

[nate41]

A lot of the reason for the delay was wrangling coaches and players afterwards. One of the coaches had coached at my alma mater previously, and since I wasn't on deadline, I had no problem shooting the shirt with him after the game.

nate, I'm sorry, man, but that's the line. Essentially, the guy was waiting to go home because you were shooting the shirt with an old acquaintance after the game. Correct me if I'm wrong.

And if I'm right, the guy had somewhat of a right to be perturbed. He has a life too.

fair enough. I actually had never met the coach before, but when I spoke to him on the phone for prior stuff, I had mentioned the connection and he brought it up during the interview. It maybe dragged it out another few minutes. Could I have been quicker? Definitely, but if you wanna get out of there, just say something like "hey man can you finish this up at the starbucks around the corner?"

 

[jr/shotglass]

Yeah, I agree with that.