Becoming the story

I think that does come into play here, but not only in a journalistic sense, so to speak. Obviously the dude's upset that he took the win from a guy he's known since his high school years, so this goes beyond his working relationship. He's also a key source on the wrestling beat, so if RHCP feels awkward around coach Jobber, it might affect his work.

 

Good job, redhot.

Too bad criteria F wasn't for the coaches to have a wrestle-off.

 

With broken bottles.

 

I know of a preps editor who has been doing it for about 20 years who was covering a hoops game that would determine who went to the state playoffs.

About halfway through the game, there was a scoring error (one that hurt the home team). At some point they stopped the game and the score was in dispute. The coaches and the refs were going over it and they couldn't figure out where the discrepancy was and they summoned over said preps editor, who is legendary for taking his own boxes and they asked him if he knew where the problem was...

He said, "You do your job, I'll do mine..."

The wrong team lost the game, but I think the preps editor was 100 percent in the right.

As far as RHCP is concerned, I think he had the best intentions, but I think he went over the line. I felt the same way about that golf writer who got someone disqualified a few years back.

You don't get involved.

Don't get involved.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the coach, RedHot. If he's been around long enough to get 599 wins, he'll pick up No. 600 pretty soon. Unless this was the playoffs or state tournament, it sounds like you've got a good enough relationship with him to have a good laugh over this at some point.

 

Had a similar deal covering a road basketball game a couple of weeks. At a point in the second period, the scorekeeper stopped the game, informed the refs the score on the scoreboard was wrong, took a point from the visitors. But the official book was wrong, had made an error. I was certain of that, and at halftime I tried to figure out where "I had made a mistake." I could see exactly where the official book at blown (Mom was struggling all game long as it was, being a little more wrapped up in cheering for Son than keeping the book straight, a pretty common situation, lots of cheering at the scorer's table around here). The home AD comes over and basically says, No third party, end of discussion.

I walked walked away rather than press the issue b/c I didn't want to become the story.

Next game, also on the road... visitors on a fast break, hard foul... basket goes in but somehow all three refs miss it and call a two-shot foul. Home bench runs with it... it didn't go in, it didn't go in. Visiting coach, while the gym is erupting, walks up asks me, Did it go in? I shook my head yes. He eventually got his his basket.

At the prep level, sometimes a reporter has the information to set the record straight and is the only one, too, because everyone else at the table is either a total homer or a 16 year old manager keeping the visitors' book that no one will listen to. But trying to butt in to get it straightened out is a minefield, especially if you are on the road.

 

Oh, and wrote about the first deal in my gamer, because there was another incident in the second half where the book and the scoreboard got out of whack in the home team's favor as well, and that kind of became the theme of the game: If you want point take one. Heck, take two, they're small...

 

RHCP -- Have you talked to the hometown coach, certainly not to apologize because you did nothing wrong, but to explain the situation? Besides, 600 will come.

 

I just don't know if I agree with this. How was RHCP supposed to avoid involvement? He wanted to report accurately the final score, and his notes didn't jibe with the final score, so he had to find out somehow the information that he planned to put in the next day's paper.

And I even take a little exception with the crusty old preps guy -- especially since we're talking about a high school game. I think journalists can sometimes better serve the community by getting involved. If you're covering a fire, and suddenly a person who came out of the building keels over and there's nobody around -- did you start CPR (assuming you know it), or do you stand back saying "don't get involved" and then write a story that nobody came to this person's aid?

Journalists are citizens, too. If a crusty old guy's notebook can help an overmatched scorer's table and two refs making $15 a game get the score straight, what's so awful about that?

 

I didn't talk to him about how the scoring change was found. Obviously, I waited until everything had been recounted to do my interviews, and we talked about the match and whatnot, but he wasn't exactly in a chatty mood. Coach has always been a class guy and I think he was more embarassed than anything because of the celebration that they'll have to do all over again next week.

Surely the cat is out of the bag this morning when the column hits the streets. I know at the gym very few people knew why the criteria was recounted and I would have much rather kept it that way. But our assistant editor and a veteran writer thought it be best to explain why it happened right away, so that's what I did.

I'm still bummed about the whole situation even though I know all I did was my job. It's not like I found the mistake and went running to the visiting coach with the mistake. I was just trying to find out where I had screwed up and, in turn, discovered the scorekeepers screwed up.

I mean, I could have just gone with the flow, but my agate wouldn't have matched up with the "official" decision, so I had to make sure to find the difference between my notes and the book.

And Diego, I did first check with the home book. Scorekeeper is a wrestler with an injury who I've covered since he was in Little League at 9 years old. When I said stuff didn't match, he kind of just took the book and waltzed off. So I continued conferring with the visiting scorekeeper who was a 40-year old man who was trying to help me find where I messed up.

All in all, it was just something really, really weird that actually made for a decent story, but an awkward feeling in the pit of my stomach.

 

In theory Mizzougrad is right, of course. We report on what happens, and maybe editorialize, but do not ever under any circumstances get involved, esp in disputes. The most likely thing to come from getting involved is trouble for the you and your paper, esp if you are in a place where they don't know you.

But if you can help get things straightened out at the Tuesday night game between Podunk and BFE, and someone asks for your information, well, then I think you give it. You are probably the only impartial one at the table, and everyone else has abdicated their duty to every kid on both benches.

 

WFW.

If you get involved with a story to get involved with it, that's an ethical problem that either you or someone you work for will eventually address one way or the other. But Baltimoreguy's example of the guy dying without CPR is one that no one should heed, journalism code of ethics or no. In that case -- and in RHCP's case, that's not getting involved to become part of the story. That's getting involved because it's the right thing to do, codes of ethics be damned.

Going to the visiting scorekeeper to make sure you have the scores right isn't like editors selling advertising. It just isn't.