A strange request from a coach...

Dear Penthouse,

I am a writer at a small newspaper in Podunkville, but the craziest thing happened to me the other day. In order to get more press for their team, she...

 

Maybe he has some baby mamas who would take all that cash away from him?

 

Run and them and blame "paper policy" that if the times are available, you must run them.

And then ask her: Would you expect a football story to run without a final score, or the names of those who scored the touchdowns and made the field goals?

 

I've heard of it in swimming. This is the first time I've heard a cross country coach have an issue with it.
Maybe their concerns are unfounded, maybe not, but I have never heard of a team losing a meet because its opponent stacked its lineup based on what its coach read in the paper.

 

As to whether knowing a team's times helps opposing coaches, the answer is yes. Cross-country is a lot more strategic than people might think, it's individual but also run in packs and there's team strategy, and knowing their times can help a coach decide how his team is going to go after the other.

That said, you absolutely, positively run the times, and whatever the coach does beyond that, whatever. You do it in any case, but the fact that it can be found in other places makes this request ridiculous anyway.

 

You would be surprised about how some coaches think strategy is used in cross-country. College coaches in our division, when I ran, would hold great runners out of meets so people would have no idea of how fast they run. Then when it came to the bigger meets, even though people knew of the names, he could bring them out and have a super team.

 

I wouldn't run the times. You know, unless you're all right with costing these kids college scholarships. ...

 

LOVE it.

On a semi-related tangent: I always, hands down, thought swimming parents were the worst. This fall, cross country parents have quickly caught up and are getting ready to pass for the lead. We'll see who pulls ahead at state meet weekend. Ugh.

 

Yeah. A college cross country scholarship and $5 will get you a cup of coffee most anywhere.

 

"I'm sorry coach, but it's all or nothing. If you prefer not to have your times in the paper, I can leave the whole thing out, with a call to your principal and athletic director why. We don't print cross country results without times any more than we print last names without first names."

 

But it'll be damn good coffee.

 

The coach made a stupid request. Swimmers and runners know their competition, even at the high school level. I had friends who ran cross country in high school and college. I swam in high school. We knew how fast other kids were, who were the best in our regions, league, section. We knew who we could beat and who was faster than us weeks before we actually raced. You are not giving out information other coaches and kids don't already know.