Beat Downs and how to cover them

That's an awesome story.

 

Those coaches are the best.

My favorite was my ex-cross country coach. I was covering a game a couple years after graduation and the softball team (which he also coached) lost in the last inning on a heartbreaker when the best player whiffed with the bases loaded. I said something like "What was the key today?" and he says "Well, off the record, you saw it as much as I did: Our best player chokes."

Then he gave me something I could attribute to him.

 

I covered a 71-0 football game a couple of years ago. I noted the significance of the win (third-biggest margin in school history, most points since 1972, etc), and then just went on like normal. I had to throw in the obligatory highlight for the losers, of course: the two first downs against the deep scrubs.

Sometimes you just can't put lipstick on a pig.

 

Last season, I covered a particularly lopsided girls' basketball game. Of course, almost everyone in attendance figured it was going to be a blowout. Most were there only to watch the boys game.

The first team finished the season 25-3 and advanced to the 3-A state championship game (4-A is the largest classification). Its star players were twin guards, one of whom was recruited by ACC schools, who now are the leading scorers as freshmen at a small Division I-A school.

The other team, well, they finished the season with six or seven wins at 1-A (the smallest classification in the state), which is more than the one they managed the season prior. Their coach was in his first season with the team. And he was a motivator, but not much a teacher.

The final score? Unfortunately, 109-9. The first team pressed throughout the game, forced turnovers, cheered when it hit 100, then again when the lead hit 100. I talked quickly with both coaches, asked the questions that needed to be asked -- primarily, why one team presses and keeps its starters in during the fourth quarter of a game long decided -- and relegated it to the second half of a doubleheader game story. Can't say I would ever do differently.

Also, Bill Plaschke wrote a column a few years ago about a particularly bad softball team. I don't think they scored a run all season. Excellent column, landed in BASW that year. I'll try to find it.

 

My favorite was a 64-0 blowout long ago. It was in the 40s at halftime, so the coach of the winning team let the linemen carry the ball the whole second half. Everybody got one or two chances. Fun story to write.

 

Not a game story, but for a preview about a team that everyone knew was going to lose every game, the coach, when asked about some of the strengths of the team, said, "Well, we have a lot of guys who are really good at jumping on the pile after the play is over."

Of course, couldn't use it.

 

Worst basketball blowout I ever covered: Team A was the champions of the league the year before, and had a couple of real good college prospects; Team B only dressed seven players and had finished second-to-last. Team A was not in our coverage area.

Score: Team A 72, Team B 10.

As mentioned below, I focused on what happened, got a couple of quotes, and got the hell out of there.

 

I'd go with a featurized piece talking less about the game and more about some aspect.

 

Personally, when it's going to be ugly anyway, I quietly root for failure. I've had a few blowouts where a clearly overmatched team doesn't score for the first five or six minutes, and I'm disappointed when they break the ice. Even more disappointed when they go on a run against the other team's subs and get into double digits.
A 73-6 basketball game is interesting because of the low score. How does that happen? How do you only hit three shots in 32 minutes? It's more an oddity and can be dealt with more easily. Some of the better stories I've read, including that ajc article, focus on games like that.
Now, a 73-25 basketball game? That's just bad. There's nothing interesting there. That's a small brief, write what happened and move on.

 

Are you sure we didn't work together Moddy?

 

Was it Compton HS's softball team? I know their story made BASW one year, how they got no funding or support from the school and the players didn't know what they were doing, but they kept plugging at it.

 

I covered a football team last season that scored exactly once in 10 games. There were still lots of things to write about. The stands were full to the end for the home games. The coach got inducted to the state hall of fame for his work at another school. There was a senior lineman who didn't care about losing, he just loved playing football and went all out every play. A lot of "this is a young team, this season is about building for the future" kind of stuff.

And they did win a game this season, and only got shut out once, so the story became "there is improvement here, even if it's not always showing up on the scoreboard."

But I was still glad when the season ended.