Complaint calls

Pretty much what we did, and it helps that the schools are on the same page as us.

On the other hand, at every stop I've been at the high school coaches have always been appreciative of the coverage their teams get. Never had a HS coach act like coverage was an entitlement or give me the Where were you last week? Of course, I've been covering 1A to 4A teams that are generally flying below the radar of the five or so northern Colorado dailies. I've been given playbooks by football coaches, offered rides on the bus to out of town games... very generous stuff, by and large. The problems are almost always with parents.

 

I Think I Found My " Code Red" Comeback Line

Not in the newspaper end (in TV) but was in sports for ten years, now in news.

Took a great call last night right after the 10 p.m.. An "angry grandmother" calls in, her grand-daughter is on a local girls' hockey team going to state. Our sports guys covered their last three playoff games and yesterday's send-off rally. We ran it at 6 p.m.

"But your photographer said it would be on at 10 as well!"

I asked if she caught it at 6. She said yes and then launched into how we 'never' cover their team. I was going to let her go on until she wore herself out when she yelled, "I mean, c'mon, what is this shit!?!"

That woke me up.

"Whoa!" I barked back. "That's quite a potty mouth you have there. Does your granddaughter know that Grandma has the mouth of a sailor?"

Her: "Well, IT IS SHIT how you cover them!"

I thought about it for a second and then proceeded. "Let me get this straight. We have mass genocide in Darfur and you're complaining about girls' hockey coverage?"

Silence.

Three seconds later. "I thank you for calling. Good night."

 

That's not fair. Mass genocide will halt any conversation.

 

Did you have the mass genocide on at 10, too?

Most stations don't cover dying Darfurians for shit.

 

Girls hockey will halt any interest.

 

fuck grandma. the sports guy should have his nuts clipped for covering the send off.

 

I once made a list of retorts I could use against angry sports parents (usually mothers) that I know I would never use.

My fave was "I don't come down to the street corner raising hell and telling you how to do your job, don't tell me how to do mine."

 

And the Kenyans work just as hard as the Darfurians.

 

Oh my.

 

Gold!

 

I generally handle complaints as I receive them. If they are nice and cordial, I am nice and cordial. If they are raving and using profanity, end 'o fucking chat.

I especially like "I'm going to cancel my subscription."
"Hold please, and I'll transfer you to circulation."

 

in our tv market, we have a 65 mile radius in every direction, with teams playing on all the fringes on a football friday.

So one particular friday, we jam in every game played that night into a 7:30 sports cast, and I get this call waiting for me on my desk.

"YOU ARE ALL MOTHER-EFFING CUNTS! ALL THIS FOOTBALL AND NO MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL SCORES. YOU ARE SICK. SICK!!!! YOU MOTHER-EFFERS"

It's still saved on voicemail, for when I miss my dad