Covering HS football: from the press box or sidelines?

Prefer the sidelines -- I don't have to screw with blogging or quarterly updates (yet) -- but the sideline at one of our fields is too crowded and anal-retentive refs are forever ordering people to get three yards back. I like the sidelines (weather permitting) for the sake of accuracy and to a lesser extent, to get an idea of what the team I cover is thinking during the game.

 

Because the NFL plays in Green Bay and Buffalo during the winter...

 

Press box, 100%. Ninety-five times out of 100 the game I cover is a blow out. We only have two good football teams and they're very good. My stories are usually done by the end of the game, and I can't do that on the sidelines.

Plus no matter what part of football season it is, I'm always cold. No matter how many layers, handwarmers, cups of cocoa or gloves, I shiver like a school girl. It's distracting for everyone -- myself included. No one needs that shit on the sidelines.

 

For most of my career, I preferred the press box, but the last 5-6 years I've preferred the sidelines as long as it's not raining.
I remember when I started out if you went in the press box and acted like you belonged there, nobody gave you a hard time. Now people question who you are and what business you have in there more often. Now it's so crowded with coaches, TV people and people who know people who know people, there's hardly any room.
The problems I have with the sidelines are when a play goes for a long gain or if a team runs a no-huddle, being able to keep up with them. (I'm not particularly fleet of foot).
Our photo editor doesn't like it when we're in the press box on cold or rainy days and the photographers are out in the elements, but to me if the only reason you have to do something is because someone else has to do it, you don't really have to do it.

 

To each their own, yes.

But I still say the "insight" one gleans from the sideline is totally, utterly overrated (believe me, I've done my share from the sideline too) and not worth the trade off of being able to file your story more efficiently from the press box, to say nothing of live updates, blogs, etc.

 

Or, you know, NFL teams don't allow people who don't have sidelines passes - i.e. photographers, videographers, cameramen of some sort -- on the sidelines until the two-minute warning, and even then many of the new stadiums have eliminated even that practice of allowing reporters on the sidelines at any point during the game.

 

Press box given the option, though I have pros and cons for both. I've lived in states where it snows in early October and it's hard to cover a game when your hand is frozen. Besides weather, I like the press box because:
1. If I miss a play or yardline when writing down stats or pxp there is usually a stat keeper or someone who can give the info I need a lot easier than asking a bench player, assistant coach or chain gang.
2. It's easier to keep pxp and stats when I can lay all my sheets out on a table instead of having to flip pages / clipboard every play.
3. To go along with 2, I like being able to sit at my computer if I need to live blog or e-mail updates, and type scoring plays into the box right after the score instead of waiting until halftime or the end of the game. That saves me time on deadline, and in blowout games I can write most of my story then just plug quotes in.
4. Easier to follow long plays because view is unobstructed and you don't need to run down the sideline to see it.

When I cover games on the sideline it's usually because the press box is too small for me because only seats are for clock, announcer, scorer and maybe assistant coaches. Luckily, when I have to go on the sideline, the visiting team doesn't have too many people on the sideline so my view isn't blocked too bad.
I like the sidelines because:
1. As others have mentions, you can hear / see things that coaches say or do that you couldn't pick up from the sidelines.
2. I feel I get into the flow of the game more because I move with the teams along the sidelines.
3. If it's nice out, I enjoy the weather and exercise. I don't go to the gym or am outside a lot, so it's enjoyable to take advantage of a beautiful fall night.

When I'm on the sidelines, I usually stand behind the offense so I can see plays develop better and see who the ball is handed off to easier before they run into a group and you can't tell for sure. When the offense gets into the opposing side of the field, then I usually switch to standing by the line of scrimmage or the DBs. Near the goalline or on 4th down I stand at the line to see if they get in / make it.

 

I'm in the press box. Much easier for me to keep stats.

 

Start of my career in preps, I worked the sideline for a simple reason: The press box for the team I mainly covered had been condemned! Took a few years of Thursday night booster bingo for the school to get a nice section in back of the grandstand with about 10 rows of armchair seats, two coaches boxes and a press/announcers/scoreboard box in the middle, and room for film crew upstairs ... but I digress.

Anyway, to get back on topic, the AD asked me before their home opener if I'd work upstairs, for aesthetics sake. So I did ... and found things were much easier. Could spread out my rosters and stat sheets and even keep the record book handy, plus I could see the whole field. Been a press box guy ever since.

 

The only stat I am really interested in is kept for me .... on the scoreboard ...

 

You'd at least better write that down, though. Because if the home team loses, they'll cut the scoreboard off three seconds after the clock hits zero.

 

those of you saying there isn't enough room in the press box or that they're dumps need to cover a 4a or 5a (and some 3a) high school in texas. many of the hs stadiums here have press boxes that could be used as suites.