Covering HS football: from the press box or sidelines?

Actually, this is why I prefer the sideline. Most of (if not all) the fields I go to only have yard lines every five yards. Being on the sideline gives me a better idea of where the ball's placed.

 

not unless those press boxes and/or stadiums were built before ada laws dictated access or if they don't meet a certain capacity.

 

yeah, yeah, yeah ...

 

If it's raining or really, really cold, press box.

Otherwise, sidelines - visitor's side. You get the emotion of the game, you get to jaw with the chain gang and you get to see exactly how long it is to first down.

On the sidelines once, a lineman said to a teammate, "Man, that No. 56 is the dirtiest player I've ever seen." Turns out No. 56's mom is an ad rep at our paper. I told the lineman that, and he and his nearby teammates laughed (it helped that I knew those kids). I relayed it to the ad rep after the game and she loved it.

 

If the sideline is so much better, why don't you see more big-shot print reporters angling to cover college and NFL games from the sideline?

 

I second that. Having said that, I'm at a weekly so I have time to check stats later. One of the local coaches sends stats out immediately after the game via maxpreps, by the time I'm home the stats are in my inbox most of the time. Usually on Friday nights after my game I update our web site with 1-2 sentence summaries of how local teams did with a pic from the game I covered.
When I freelanced for dailies and they didn't want/need pics, I was in the press box. Not by choice, but because of the deadline pressure. If I had been asked to do pics as well on deadline, I would have probably been on the sidelines for the first half then the press box for the second half.
It's probably just me, but I feel like a lazy bum when in the press box. I'm so used to keeping stats while taking pics, all the while running down the field and staying out of harm's way, that I feel like I'm not doing anything while sitting in the press box.

 

Usually I'm around the linebackers or safeties. That way I can see the play coming toward me, plus see who made the tackle most of the time.


Also, when watching a punt, I get down to the returner before the punt, so I can see where it's caught.


I've also found no difficulty in keeping stats on the sidelines. Legal pad on a clipboard, stat sheet (which keeps running stats) on the back side of the clipboard. Record the play by play on the pad, flip it over and mark down the runner's yardage.


I've actually also got explanations from officials during games when I was down there, especially when you're down by the goal line. I've almost always had officials who were very willing to talk in between plays.


About the only time I'm not on the sidelines is if it rains.

 

I have to be on the sideline to shoot photos and video (in addition to keeping notes and texting in updates to our live blog) but I'd choose to cover the game there even if I didn't have to. I usually get stats from the home team after the game.

I don't feel like it's better or worse than covering it in the press box -- and I definitely see some advantages of being up there -- it's just more fun for me on the sidelines. I did cover one game from the pressbox this year and I felt kind of detached from everything.

 

Pampered and lazy?

Or NFL sidelines are significantly more crowded?

 

Unless it's raining, I'm on the sidelines. It's closer to the action, and thus, closer to post-game interviews. I also agree with others about getting story angle you wouldn't get in the press box. And, too, at a lot of the small schools I cover, the "press" boxes are small and crowded.

 

Wow. I can honestly say I'm surprised by the 2.5-1 ratio of sideliners.

Personally, I will never cover a game from the sideline unless I absolutely have to. (And I have done it.) At one D-III game when no press box seating was available I even stood outside the press box amidst drunken fans rather than go down to the sideline. (Don't worry for me. One was a cute college girl who said I looked younger than my age and slapped my ass as she left. It was a good day for the ego.)

To each his own, I don't think there's any right or wrong here. I just feel you can't see the game unfold from down on the field like you can from above, and for my taste you just can't replace that.

Or maybe I'm just pampered and lazy.

 

I've always been a press box guy, but that's come out of trial and error. First football game I covered was from the sideline, I couldn't keep up on the play-by-play at all. It was up in the box that I finally got a system going — which after reading this thread, I see may not be the most efficient (I like the double-sided clipboard idea).

So maybe I'll give the sideline another try — but I also don't want to be caught without stats. Would have to be a day game where I know someone's keeping a good book, or an offday I suppose.

I work with one of the top HS sportswriters in my state, and I know he always walks the sideline. Might be an old school/new school division.