I Saw It With My Own Eyes

I agree that the only way to stop the behavior is to shame them out of it in front of as many people as possible.

Confrontation is your friend in these situations.

 

I can see a photog doing that in a lot of cases. I worked with one guy whose sole question to me during games was "is there any food?"

 

And they usually find it.

 

oh shit that is funny. yes, yes the photogs always find the food first.

 

Another football story. This one involving food and photogs. I'm way up in the air in the press box and I look down toward the corner of the end zone in the direction the play is heading, and what do I see? Our photographer sitting on a little stool against the wall of the stadium eating not one but two hotdogs. Eating one with one hand, holding another with the other. All his gearon the ground or leaning on the wall. As the team we're covering is marching toward him mind you.

 

I've got a photographer here who's been in the business for less than a year. Even she's smart enough not to wear colors of the school she's shooting. I always pick at her, because she has so many shirts that are a shade of pink. But even she is professional enough not to wear shirts that are the same colors of the school she's covering.

I have a burgundy shirt that clearly looks like it favors a particular team, but I make sure I never wear it when I cover that particular team. In fact, I was covering a golf tournament today in the same town as that team, and I made sure I didn't wear that shirt, just for that specific reason.

 

but i'm sure you look handsome in that shirt.

 

I get weird looks in the office around playoff time because I'm cheering the loudest for the schools out of our coverage area.

 

Actually, photogs get there second. They get whatever the TV people don't get first.

In one of the press boxes I was in this weekend, there was a sign that said, "This food is for PRINT MEDIA ONLY."

On a related note to the thread topic, while watching the end of the Jets-Dolphins game, there was a play in the final seconds that was close to being pass interference. On the replay, you could see a photographer arguing with the call, throwing his hands out and yelling something.

 

that's funny, because the past two places i've been, TV guys are barely smart enough to find their way in the door, much less to the buffet.

 

My brother works part-time as an off-ice hockey official (he runs the penalty box). He tells me that at every home game, the sports guys from the three TV stations in town show up for the pre-game buffet, and most leave before the game starts.

I give our photogs shit because every time they go with me to an NFL game, they usually get cold hot dogs down in the photo area, while up in the press box we get a pre-game and halftime meal. They've figured out, though, they can sneak up for the post-game pizza.

 

So eating their food is OK, just as long as I don't wear their colors. Gotcha.