Embarrased, but it wasn't my fault

Maybe I should try to get all of our schools to postpone games until my off days. That sure would make my life on the desk much easier.

 

Glad Shockey noticed the spelling. Couldn't go another day letting it go ...

 

One thing that I was kinda surprised about that no one hit on was:

"The coach responded to my E-MAIL the next day."

WTF were you doing trying to e-mail a coach to call you? The whole thing sounds like you didn't have a phone number and we're trying to get one. If you know that you're going to be rushed on deadline, and you need accurate information, wouldn't it have been in your best interest to e-mail the coach the day before and ask for his phone number so that you could get in touch with him?

You were savvy (or ballsy) enough to ask the school to change but you couldn't prepare and get a guy's phone number ahead of time?

Nice.

 

Winner, winner.

If you couch it as an off hand remark and someone in a position to change the times "just so happens" to hear it, you might plant the seed that becomes the time change.

If an organizer were to flat out asks you about coverage, then I'd mention the scheduling difficulties, but I wouldn't ask to have the game time or date changed.

But explicitly asking to have a game time changed? Non.

 

Oh, and you should be more embarrassed that you misspelled embarrassed in your thread title. ;D

 

I don't know, I work in a really small area, but I have a pretty good rapport with administrators with both the schools and the leagues in this area and talk with them on a regular basis. In the course of that relationship, I've made them aware of our deadlines and days on the schedule that prove challenging for my staff to cover. You know what, most times, they're able to schedule games that allow them to get coverage.

In a past life, I worked as a junior hockey executive and you could be damned sure if a media outlet came to me with a good reason to consider changing the way we operated, I always listened and most times, if it was early enough in advance — asking once the schedule is out isn't going to get you anywhere — and if I had the available ice, etc. to change, I'd try to do it. Pro or con, what we do in the media promotes their games and gets people talking. Most amateur sporting groups need that.

I'm sure there are examples of pro and high-level amateur sports, too, where schedules have been altered — I want to say Monday Night Football did this at least once — to accommodate some kind of media demand, though that could be more of a sales/partnership thing on that end.

It's sad that staffing at most outlets is taxed so much that this is ever an issue, but I think you do anything you can to provide the coverage your readership wants and deserves. Having a professional relationship with a school or organization and planting a seed that's in both parties' best interest is never a bad thing — but don't expect it a week before the games.

 

shockey thought the same thing about 15 posts up.

 

Absolutely. As stated earlier, it happens quite a bit. OK, so "begging and pleading" was an exagerration. I made an inquiry with both teams, explained the reasons, and made a polite request. Nothing hostile.

Also,the game had been flip-flopped with another game the same night (6 p.m. and 8 p.m. starts) in order to accomodate the visiting team's travel schedule. So, yeah, it's not like changing game times was a rare occurence.

Ironically, this weekend I was convering a league championship hockey game. The game drew the biggest crowd of the season and five minutes before the scheduled start time, the line at the ticket window was 40-50 people deep, out the door of the building and into the parking lot. The teams agreed to delay the game half an hour (6:30 instead of 6 p.m.) to allow everyone time to get in and get seats. I applauded them for the decision.

Anyway, I'm on good terms with people at the school and they weren't in the least offended. The dates actually had been set months in advance and they explained there was nothing they could do to change it. I understood, but I didn't feel bad for asking. I'd do it again in the same situation.

 

We've actually had a school move start times because of us quite frequently, but never at our request. Usually the AD calls us on Mondays asking if we're covering the game the following weekend and we'll either say yes or tell him that his game conflicts with another local game and he'll move it just to have us there.

It seems like it would be a giant pain in the ass for them but he's done it quite a few times for volleyball and basketball.

 

Sadly, this was the playoffs and no one could have known the schedule or teams involved until a week before the games.

I apologized to a key few people for the mix-up and they said they totally understood. And, as fate would have it, the girls bombed out in the state semifinals and didn't have to play in the title game the same time as the boys were playing in a town 45 minutes away. So both teams got to watch the other lose on Saturday.

Gee, I'm glad all three seasons are over now.

 

It was a good thought