More whining parents

At a previous stop, had a story where a boys high school basketball player got busted for petty theft a few hours before a playoff game. Kid was a key player on the team, team loses game, season over. Called the sheriff's office, got the scoop (it IS public information). Ran it.

Parents were not happy. Told them they had other things to worry about besides what the paper ran. No apology unless they could prove the story wasn't true.

We run stories of juveniles arrested almost every day in the city section. Why should we look the other way because the kid happens to be a jock?

 

Got a fairly lengthy e-mail yesterday afternoon from someone who only called himself/herself "JD." No name given, and the e-mail address is just a generic one.

I had just covered two middle school conference championship games a few nights before, and this person is somehow connected to one of the teams that lost. I've since gotten a good idea of who this person is, but I'm debating whether I should e-mail them back or just leave it alone.

Basically, the person accused one of my area's schools of recruiting because it just happens to win the seventh- and eighth-grade championships more so than other schools. The person "suggested" I do another story on the school, simply because they seem to win the conference title year in and year out.

Here's part of what they wrote:

And there it is. It's "not fair."

She goes on to say that his/her son was "recruited" by said school after he finished playing in one of the city's youth football leagues, so she knows "recruiting" has been going on.

Right.

It gets better.

Sound like sour grapes to anyone?

I haven't responded to the sender, and I'm not sure if I will. I've talked to the parents in question of one of the kids who moved from one school to East Podunk before this school year. She wasn't "recruited" to this school. Her parents, whom I've known as long as I can remember, have both told me they felt it was in their daughter's best interests for her to change schools. How can you argue that?

There is one high school coach in this area that accused East Podunk High of recruiting, and that money quote will appear in our basketball preview that comes out Monday.

Anyone here think it'd be worth the headache, not to mention the plethora of burned bridges, to look into this?

 

KY,

If the players are allowed to live in one district and go to an out-of-school district, how does that prove recruiting?

Now, it may be worth a story to look at how that works. Do you really pay "tuition" to go to an out-of-district school? How much is that? Does someone have to OK these kids to attend?

Not sure if it is worth the hassle. Probably be well read and you can approach it from the angle of what sacrifices the parents make and why rather than starting with a vague accusation of recruiting.

(Now if it costs $5,000 for an out-of-district kid to attend and you ask how they handle that financial hit and the parents hem and how, that could tell you something).

 

Got this one tonight at my shop:

Sir or Mam :
I would like to ask if when attending any of the local High School football games
did you notice at half time the schools have added what is called "COLOR
GUARD"? Or flag teams !

I have had six children that have graduated from school not all in this state but my point being there were NO flag teams then. My last child graduated in 2002 and there weren't teams then. So by the schools adding
this new sport I would like to see more news coverage. I don't know if you have ever
tried to spin a six foot pole much less with a flag attached but it truly is a learned skill.
The sad part is the cheerleaders look down their nose at these people
and on one of the new shows "GLEE" made a snid comment about the color guard teams too.
I was saddened by this because I believe the cheerleaders are over rated anyway. What
cheerleaders do doesn't come close to the skill level it takes to do what these color guard
teams are doing! I would like to see these young people get noticed for the skill they take
the time to learn! Thank you


Not sure what was up with her formatting, but it was quite amusing to pass this along to several other folks.

 

KY,

You lost me at 'middle school.'

I think the best way to diffuse this is to ask this person to go on the record with you about his or her son being recruited. Tthey won't, or course, so that's the end of your problem.

 

Got one similar to this last week regarding a Pop Warner-level team that allegedly turned some kids away, then formed one super team to win a title. The news editor forwarded a note from someone in advertising about it.

I replied:"Brie? Camenbert? Swiss? American? What kind of cheese do they want with all that whine?", which got a laugh out of the news editor.

One other rule of thumb, which I think you know already, but bears repeating: If someone's not going to man up and put their real name on a tip like that, it's not worth your time.

 

You are making this up.

 

Hockey club official who isn't in charge of the high school team: You really made the players feel bad. They're a young team with only a few seniors.

Me: I don't write stories based on the well-being of the team.

 

Ace: Here's a specific situation. The high school I taught at has an Agricultural Science program.

Any kid who lives in the county can apply, and if they get in, they get a bus to the school. (Great program, by the way. Great kids, my daughter was in it one year before we moved.)

Now, let's say the school has an excellent wrestling program and several kids from other towns, with less successful programs, come through the Ag-Science program.

Or, let's say the head coach of one of the "major" sports used to live in one of the bigger cities in the area (small city to everyone else, big in that area), and several of the players in his program come through Ag-Science/

Is there recruiting going on? Could be. Is it just positive word of mouth? could be.

But middle schools??? This is where we enter the Twilight Zone.

(By the way, I do not think the school does anything untoward at all.)

 

Our policy was we didn't put the goat in the story. I mentioned "Team A" had five fumbles, I just didn't mention they were all from the same player.

But the parents were so bat-shit crazy that they ripped you to shreds anyway for being "negative," so after that management had a discussion, and by spring that changed. I'll never forget the first time. Usually sure-handed shortstop booted a grounder in the bottom of the last inning in an important game. Led to two runs scoring for the other team.

Coach says, "You aren't putting his name in are you?" My response was, "He was the one that had the error, wasn't he?" As far as Goats go, that was as close to a problem as I had the rest of my time there.