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More whining parents

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Mark2010, Nov 14, 2010.

  1. Mr. X

    Mr. X Active Member

    As was mentioned earlier, your job is to report what happened. To me, that's not calling someone out. If I was editing your copy, I'd ask, "What was the name of the kicker?" That has to be included.
     
  2. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Thanks for the feedback. I stand by what I wrote. I asked to speak with the kicker, but the coach (nice guy, but a little controlling) declined. I certainly didn't pile on, nor did I say he cost them the game (no guarantee they would have won had the game continued... they were heavy underdogs playing over their heads).

    This stuff is one reason I have lost interest in covering the high schools. People don't like to deal with the truth. Well, I feel like I have to report the facts, just as if it were the hard news section of the paper.
     
  3. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    As long as you're just reporting the facts, what could you be doing wrong? It's not like you (or anyone else) are writing a whole story devoted to his failures as a human being like you might in the pros. It's like those coaches who only call in wins ... hey, the kids know they lost, putting it in the paper doesn't change that.
     
  4. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Devil's advocate: What if it were a Little League game?
     
  5. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    There are a couple of situations when I don't mind doing it.

    One is when the kid talks about it after the game.

    Two is when he did a bunch of other awesome stuff in the game or on the season so that I can mitigate the line about him choking.

    I would have been more likely to write it when I was 25 and full of piss and vinegar than when I'm 35 and have been on college and pro beats. Guess I'm getting softer. Or else - as I like to think about it - more able to wisely pick my battles.
     
  6. TheHacker

    TheHacker Member

    I was going to say the same thing ... I laughed out loud. Indeed, nice job taters.

    @Tarheel, you called the coach and the AD, etc., over one e-mail complaining that you reported something that was (presumably) true? I know every community is different and I'm sure your relationships with your schools are different than mine, but I think we overreact to these things sometimes. It's good to smooth something over if the situation calls for it, but I'm not sure that one did.

    @Mark, price of doing business, my friend. You have to report it. Have to. There's no question. Parents have zero perspective, and maybe we shouldn't expect them to. But when they get that bent out of shape about the basic facts of a game being reported, it makes me wonder why we even bother covering prep sports. The only people who really care about it don't want actual coverage, they want cheerleading and homerism. So we can never satisfy them. And yes, I realize I'm brutally cynical.
     
  7. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    Every journalistic bone I have says put the name in.

    But then I started thinking about it as someone who would be reading the story . . . or if someone was telling me about it.

    BTExpress: "Hey, how did Local High do last night?"

    Response: "They hung tough and had a chance to force OT. But they lost when the kicker missed the PAT."

    BTExpress: "Oh, what a pity."

    It would never occur to me to ask the name of the kicker. Nor can I say I would really care as a reader if it was left out.

    Goes against everything we've been taught, I know. But I actually see Dick's point.
     
  8. flexmaster33

    flexmaster33 Well-Known Member

    I think you can go either way on this one.

    My preference is not to name a goat at the high school level...I would have simply written...JoePa High missed the extra point to end the game.

    Of course if the kicker's name shows up earlier in the story or in the scoring summary, people can connect the dots easy enough, but with high school kids I don't mind softening the blow a bit by listing game-changing miscues by team instead of player.

    Of course at the college and pro level its names regardless.
     
  9. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member

    Mention his name once in reference to the missed kick. Don't put it in the lede if you can. Hopefully his name didn't make the headline either.
     
  10. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Idiot kickers.
     
  11. TheHacker

    TheHacker Member

    I get that there are times you have to treat prep athletes with kid gloves, and I've done it myself. Dick, I agree with you, I'm in my 30s and I've mellowed out too. But we're talking about a state semifinal game here, and I don't see anything wrong with "The Hometown Heroes had the chance to tie the game, but Johnny Kicker's extra point attempt was unsuccessful."

    It's a statement of fact, not a value judgment. People have to get over themselves. What was the attendance? Maybe 1,000 or so for a state semifinal? Probably more? Everyone saw it. I don't see the harm in reporting the facts in this situation. There are plenty of times when I've saved a kid from himself or herself by holding back quotes, but I don't think I need to save a kid from the facts of the game.

    If it was a one-point basketball game and a kid on the team that was trailing missed a shot at the buzzer, you'd say "Johnny Shooting Guard's shot at the buzzer bounced off the rim." I don't see the problem here other than parents are morons.
     
  12. CA_journo

    CA_journo Member

    I had a situation like this on Friday. Down by 8 late in the 4th quarter, team scores a touchdown, but the wide receiver gets flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct/excessive celebration. Instead of attempting the two-point conversion from the 2, they had to go from the 17 and failed. I described what happened and talked to the receiver afterward. I didn't see a problem with naming the kid and have nothing against the receiver or the school. I didn't highlight him and say the team lost solely because of his penalty. There's a smart way to do it without burying the kid or having to protect him.
     
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