Embarrased, but it wasn't my fault

remember, this is a guy who doesn't believe people deserve paid vacation, paid sick days and does not believe in diversity.
Now he believes game times should be changed for him, it keeps getting better.

 

Oh, that's a little harsh, don't ya think?

I could totally see telling him he's an idiot, telling him that that's not how it works. But firing? Especially being so slam dunk about it?

 

Yeah, that was a little over-the-top ...

 

You all are being a little hard on Mark2010, I think.

High schools changing start times, for media-related reasons but of their own accord, actually is not unheard of.

Once, years ago, there was a very successful prep football school in the area I worked -- one that was the most pass-happy team in a pass-happy league that featured several heralded quarterback prospects.

Every week, and I mean every week, was a deadline nightmare for several area papers' reporters, who griped, every week, because the league's games started at 7:30 p.m. and never ended before 10:30 p.m., because of the way they all played.

Well, as expected, the best of the gun-slinging teams marched through the playoffs to the divisional semifinals, which were scheduled on the same night as several other semifinals that several papers in the area were also planning/trying to cover.

Everyone wanted to do a blow-out job on the team in question -- it was undefeated to that point -- and the local paper that covered it the most was concerned that it wouldn't be able to do the job as desired if the schedule, and this team's time-testing habits, continued as usual.

So, someone at the paper asked/suggested that the school please take pity, see the benefits of better coverage, and change its scheduled start time to 7 p.m. Just that half-hour, the editors/reporters said, would really help, and could make all the difference in the amount and quality of coverage.

Well, this school's coach -- always one of the most respected, stand-up teachers/coaches/school officials in the area -- also was media-savvy. He was unfailingly cooperative, without kissing butt or being a pushover, whenever he could be and felt he should be. That proved true not only in this instance, but also many others over the years he served as a coach/administrator at his school.

So, much to all the reporters' relief and everlasting gratitude, that week's playoff game went off, without a hitch, at 7 p.m.

And now, that league's games always start at 7 p.m.

Just saying. Mark2010 apparently isn't the only sports writer who has ever made such a request.

 

Absolutely. When I was in high school, we often pushed games back about 15 or 20 minutes -- even sometimes up to an hour, if we had like a day's notice -- to accomodate all sorts of things. Late-arriving buses/traffic, umpire reschedulings, a team with a long road trip back home that would rather start a game at 4 instead of 5, etc.

That said, I don't think it was Mark's place whatsoever to make that request. There is nothing I hated worse as a writer than having to work at the whim of other people's schedules -- which is partly why I opted for a full-time career on the desk -- but you can't go around asking for that, either.

 

I don't think I'm being too harsh in my indictment of firing, when you consider this guy's thought process. He clearly has no hope in understanding why making such a request is wrong.

And if said request is going to be made, it sure as hell doesn't come from the reporter. It comes from the SE (at minimum). And then it that request was made, then that person should be fired.

It's unethical.

 

I agree. He was just being a little naive, I think. It's not like he killed someone.

 

Instead of actually asking them to change the game times, I might mention how it's too bad the paper won't be able to cover all three things to someone who might hear that and decide to do something about it.

We have a junior B hockey team we cover that used to have all its Friday night games at 8:45 p.m. I mentioned in the off-season how we can never cover those games because they run past our deadline. Poof, all the 8:45 p.m. games somehow disappeared from this year's schedule.

 

Mark2010,

I gave an anecdote of an instance in which what you did was also done by someone else. And, the case I cited didn't happen in some small-town market, either.

But, you wrote that you've made such requests before, and I'm curious, were they ever accommodated, as was the request that I noted?

Did you have first-hand reason to believe the school/team that you suggested change its game day/time might, in fact, possibly do that?

 

certainly not unethical. definitely unprofessional. especially the whole begging and pleading aspect of the 'request.' we just deal with it. that's sports. you want early? cover city council.

and you wanna talk problems on deadline? in Texas pretty much all our games start at 7:30. and while the state used to be a running back factory, it's now shifted to quarterback country with the explosion of the spread. games get over late. you'd damn well be able to write fast.

and on the big stage, look at tech. think their games don't last just a little while? yet they always start late. sometimes, in some papers, they don't get the gamer in. readers bitch. writers/editors bitch. but the red raiders aren't about to change their start times because we don't like em on deadline.

 

jps, most city council meetings here end after 10 p.m. Just sayin'.

 

yeah. early.