Backtracking coaches

I was covering a college conference teleconference. I asked the coach of the team I cover a question about something he had said previously. It was a fairly innocuous question, just something to ask him so I could get a quote or two.

He says "I don't remember saying that."

So I pull up the school's web site from the press conference I remembered the quote from. There it was, on his own SID release.


Anybody else hate that?

 

That it was in the SID release doesn't mean he said it. A lot of coaches just tell the SID to say what they think he ought to say.

That was what my boss told me to do, make up the quotes, then run them past him. His favorite line was, "So what did I say today?"

 

It wasn't just in the SID release. I just used that as an example.

I was at the press conference, and I have a good memory. I remember what people say.

 

If this kind of stuff, which all coaches do every day of the week, bothers you, you need to grow some thicker skin.

 

My favorite example is when the coach called and woke me up to say I misquoted him a few years ago.
He bet me a steak dinner.
I strolled into his office with the tape recorder, pushed play, listened to his quote... then his silence.
We still haven't made it to Outback. But he's never accused me of misquoting him either.

 

A repeat, sort of, of Highway 101's story:

A racecar driver got on the Bumfuck Weekly Racing Show track PA system during an intermission and told the crowd that I misquoted him. Mentioned my name. Pointed to the tower, where I was covering the race. The following Monday, I went to his workplace and played him the tape. He kind of shrugged and said, "Hm. Sorry." And turned hs back.

No apology. And he sure as shit didn't get back on the track PA to say, "Um, never mind."

Got my revenge a few years later, when his 15-year-old daughter was impregnated by some guy she'd just met at a party. Have a nice life, Grandpa!

 

Umm, hate to break this to you, but unless you did the impregnating, I don't think you got revenge.

 

hell, half the time coaches i deal with just say "make something up for me, you know what I'd say." i tell them fine, but don't say i misquoted you.

at a different shop, a coach for this one school got on probation and fined because he blasted the officials. now if a coach says this one-on-one, i ask if they are sure they want to say that. he said yes, so i put it in there. happened to another reporter a few weeks later.

guy gets in trouble and starts mouthing about us misquoting him. we had him on tape and with two different reporters. needless to say he didn't last at that school.

 

How do you know it wasn't him?? I'd say that's one HELLUVA way to get revenge!!! ;D

 

Note to self: If you have a daughter later in life, DO NOT cross hanging_curveball.

 

Tape recorders remember things people say better than we do. Use one, if you don't already.

 

That is why I thank the invention of the email. Even though I interview them over the phone, there are cases where the coach will send us thoughts which we can quote. I had a couple of incidents that coaches claimed we misquoted them but they put their foot in their mouth, when I showed them the evidence of their email with the exact quote. Also, while I do an interview, not only do I tape the convo, I also write down quotes, and coaches can't pull shit on me when they try.