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How would you handle this?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by That 1 Guy, Jun 14, 2012.

  1. txsportsscribe

    txsportsscribe Active Member

    pay a junior to beat the shit out of them
     
  2. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Years ago we hired a new photographer. Young guy, just out of college.
    His first week he was following our photo editor around to get the lay of the land. They show up at a basketball game I was covering, and at some point in the first half some kids in the crowd start getting rowdy. The refs stop the game, the AD walks over to warn the kids, they keep it up and the AD calls security to escort them out.
    Our gung-ho young photographer decides this would be a fine time to practice taking perp walk pictures. He stands on the first row of bleachers and starts snapping pictures of the guys. Then he takes a few steps back and keeps shooting. He shoots until they're all the way out of the gym.
    The photo editor is horrified. But she still needs to get some game photos, so she says "Sure. Whatever," when dipshit asks if he can go outside to see what happens next.
    What happens next is this moron starts snapping MORE pictures of the ejected guys as they're milling around in the parking lot. When they tell him to stop, and get ready to kcik his ass, he starts yelling, "Press! Press! I'm with the press!" as if that's going to create some magic force field around him.
    Thankfully, one of the security guards saw what was about to happen and shooed away the hoodlums before he had a stain to mop off the sidewalk.
    The next day the AD called me asking who the photog was (I had no idea; the guy was such a newcomer I had never seen him before and assumed he was with the school paper or something) and saying how unprofessional his actions were. I transferred him to the photo editor, who assured him it had already been dealt with by firing his ass the same night.

    So, I guess the moral of the story is, don't be a colossal douche. Don't bluster and threaten, through words or actions, to "put this in the paper!"
    Things like this are often much easier dealt with in a subtle way.
    In the OP's story, tell the AD or the coach. If either is worth their salt the kids will get the message while they're running 100 foul poles and a few dozen Ws after a three-hour practice the next day.
     
  3. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    What kind of world do we live in when you have to second guess any response to one of the most vile things someone could do to you.
     
  4. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    The real one, which isn't nearly as nice as we would like it to be.
     
  5. BurnsWhenIPee

    BurnsWhenIPee Well-Known Member

    I'm puzzled that the OP wrote the initial post as if it was someone else who was having to deal with this, then came back later "in the interest of full disclosure" and said he was the sportswriter in question. That seems odd on both counts.

    It also seems weird that it would be worthy of second-guessing. You're not going to go take a swing at the little turds. The SE told the coach, AD and principal, they were pissed about it and presumably handled it. What else do you want?

    Sometimes, 15-year-olds are going to be little douches when they get into a group situation without supervision. If that's a news flash and worthy of such hand-wringing, then you haven't been around many 15-year-olds (and probably were never 15 years old to start with).
     
  6. That 1 Guy

    That 1 Guy Member

    I wrote as if it was another member of the staff because I didn't want it to come off like I was coming here crying for sympathy or something like that. Forgive me.

    I second guessed myself because of the whole "We're storytellers, not part of the story." I was curious if maybe I should have just let it go and forgotten about it. I know boys will be boys. I did stupid shit when I was a kid, too.

    Also, to date the school hasn't handled it.
     
  7. BurnsWhenIPee

    BurnsWhenIPee Well-Known Member

    How do you know they haven't handled it? Maybe they ran those kids until they puked, or had them do all the cleaning and groundskeeping at the field for 2 weeks, or had them handle all the laundry on uniforms for a stretch. If the coach, AD and principal really were "pissed", then let them handle it. If you're curious, you could ask the coach in casual conversation if it is settled.

    I also think it's a stretch to think telling the coach and AD about this could be construed as turning the storyteller into the story. You handled it properly.
     
  8. That 1 Guy

    That 1 Guy Member

    The SE asked the AD, who basically said he believed the kid's story that it was a kid from the other school. Never mind the fact that they were all in uniform.

    They said an apology was coming. Nothing so far. All that's been said so far was the AD asked the SE to pass on his apologies. This is an AD I've worked with plenty and he didn't even seem to deem it fit to email me himself.
     
  9. BillyT

    BillyT Active Member

    If they did those things, the next great story will be about the firing of the coach and the AD.
     
  10. BillyT

    BillyT Active Member

    I am in the principal's office Monday morning.

    Especially if you can ID any of the kids.

    Why would they apologize if they believe it was kids from another school?
     
  11. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Why? Because they tried to discipline their players?
    Most high school baseball teams, the players already do some level of field maintenance in their day-to-day routine. And I've seen plenty of coaches hold long late-night practices, or marathon running sessions AFTER games in which the kids were noticeably slacking or goofing off. Some of the parents get a little upset when it drags on for an hour, but they seem to understand what the deal is.
     
  12. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    Fewer parents today than 30 years ago seem to understand what the deal is.
     
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