How do you feel about this?

Yeah, but he's got one hell of a spare in his trunk.

 

Personally, I think it's up to each writer in the sense that each writer needs to know his or her own limits. Is the gift going to be something that compromises his or her ability to report fairly about the game, even if that means including facts that make the home team (or the team you're covering) look bad? If so, don't take the gift.

 

Don't take the gift, period. No need to first ask oneself the question of whether or not it compromises the ability to report fairly on the team/event.

Your integrity and pride are well worth the $12.95 you could spend on an unrelated T-shirt or hat at Wal-Mart that you can wear around and avoid the issue completely.

 

We have a quarterly silent auction for all the shit that's sent to editorial. I don't ask when I'm in the field. If someone offers me something I say "no thanks." If they persist I say I'll take it and put it in the silent auction, which goes to pay for our annual adopt-a-family drive at Christmas.

Usually we're talking T-shirts or hats. Some guy sent me a desk clock once.

With the folks I deal with, most of them are high school coaches/boosters/local event planners. I had one assistant walk up and hang a handful of shirts over my shoulder while I was talking to a player. The coach just walked off. So, other than take them like a jackass or leave them in the locker room and run the risk of offending them, I gave them to some high school kids on my way back out through the gym.

 

The auction thing is a good idea. I've also seen a lot of writers give hats, balls, t-shirts or whatever to little kids outside of the ball park. That is probably my favorite way to handle it.