I am the Jay Mariotti of interns

Hassellhoff's, no less.

 

I'd say it's more like 99 percent.

I once had a coach tell me he wouldn't talk to me or even answer one of my questions in a group setting. The next press conference my colleagues and I made sure I asked the first question. He answered it and we've been fine ever since.

 

Caught me. I was lowballing.

 

Just be aware that the other 1 percent DOES exist. Few years back, a kid at one of our area schools died in a wreck. I call the football coach to find out a little about this kid, but the kid was just a student and didn't play football, so the coach didn't really know him. So the coach tells me to call one of his assistant coaches and his team captain, who was friends with the dead kid.
Assistant coach isn't home, but I talk to the captain. Nothing too intrusive, just trying to find out a little about who the dead kid was.
A few days later I get an angry call from the assistant coach, saying I shouldn't have called the team captain at a time like that. I figure it's just some hurt on his own part talking and more or less ignore it.
The next summer, I head out to this little school to do our tab stuff. As I'm talking to the head coach, the assistant coach gets up and leaves the office. Very chilly. After I'm done, I ask head coach what his deal was. He explains the backstory to me, and I'm floored. So I go out to the gym, where assistant coach is sitting, and try to clear the air. He wants none of it. He more or less repeats the earlier message and tells me not to talk to him anymore. Now, this is a big dude. Not a fat redneck, but about 6-3, and a solid 220 or 230 pounds of nothing but muscle. The kind of guy that if you crossed him in a bar, it's your ass. So I don't push the issue, just try to avoid him.

Two YEARS later, the redneck becomes the head coach at the school. It's still on my list of area schools, so I call over there. As soon as I find out he's the head man, I switch off with our other writer to make it easier on everybody. After a week or so he calls our other writer back and tells him "I'll talk to you, but I wasn't going to call Batman back."
As far as I know he's still pissed at me. Last year another of our writers went out there and the coach had told his players not to talk to him. Coincidentally, the redneck is in some position of power at the school. That school is no longer on our list of area schools.

 

actually wannabe, i learned it on this site.

 

I must say, I find that terribly bad advice. If you pull out your notebook and ask them to spell "asshole" during a rant that's pretty weak. I've been on a pro beat for some time and I've seen numerous coach/player blow ups. The respected reporters never pull out their notebook and threaten to put their words into the paper. The one guy who secretly tape records the conversation or pulls out the notebook has zero respect. Why? Because it shows a lack of professionalism, even a bit of cowardice. Like it or not, players and coaches have the right to tell you if they think a story is BS. They do. They can even yell sometimes. Be a man and take it. I'm not saying back down, especially if what you wrote is right, I'm just saying you shouldn't hide behind your notebook. If what you wrote is right and the coach or player is being very abuse, TELL THEM they're full of BS if you feel you must. But don't whip out the notebook. That's just pathetic. I've found that the coach or player gets over it ... if it's not a day, then it's a week. If it's not a week, then it's a month. They almost NEVER stay mad forever, unless you pull some childish crap and pull out your notebook and ask them to spell asshole.

 

Philly,

I was just kidding. I'm not actually going to do that. But thank you for convincing me to, uh, especially not do it, and welcome (sincerely) to the site.

 

Oh, and at least you know why they are mad. I've found people to get in a stew over the most mundane stories/references and you don't find out about it till years later sometimes.

 

Wrote a column one spring ripping a pair of fastpitch coaches for acting like douchebags in a disputed game. Both coaches are hot shit in their respective communities ... big dick swingers who thought their programs were basically underhand versions of MLB. Both schools pledged to boycott me, including the football coaches, who were the bread-and-butter of my preps beat at the time.

Come August and football practice, I go to do the standard hang-out at practice and grab my interviews and neither coach acts like they even recall the episode. Coupla weeks later I ask one of the coaches about his former vow not to talk to me, or anyone from our paper. He said that he had actually been meaning to call me and tell me that he thought the column was one of the most accurate, dead-on depictions of the douchebags in question that he had ever read, but that he had to make noise to the contrary for political reasons. His quote: "Everybody in the area knows that guy is an idiot, you're just the first guy to say it in print."

Tell the truth and all the dust comes out in the wash.