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My worst day yet as a journalist

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Football_Bat, Aug 28, 2009.

  1. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    Tebow, you'd think I'd be basking in the high of putting a football tab to bed with no incidences at all.

    Not so much.

    It started when I rolled out of the rack, checked my e-mail and found messages bitching about "my boy's mug wasn't in the paper" and "we're only a JV but we should've been in the tab too, they work just as hard."

    Delete. Delete. Delete.

    Then I go to the first prep football game of the year, which is on a Thursday night because this is a school that isn't satisfied with a typical season opener. Oh no. They always trick it up by traveling across state to a neutral site or by playing on a Thursday night; this time it was both, although the trip was only 25 miles for me this time.

    I get to town thinking I'd get a quick bite at Jack in the Crack and I see only two cars in the drive-through, but three cars whip in ahead of me. The idiot at the order speaker ahead of me is speaking in Urdu to an attendant who only understands Romulan. Meanwhile, it takes five minutes per car for the rest to have their orders filled at the window. Fortunately, I'm passable in Romulan, place my order and await my turn.

    They got the order right, but so much time has passed that my fries are ice cold. But I was so eager to get out of there and to my game that I let it slide.

    In the meantime, it starts raining. I get to the stadium, dash through a downpour to the gate, and these over-officious pricks at the gate won't recognize my credential and I have to call the school SID on my cell phone and wait for him to show up 15 minutes later and vouch for me. In the meantime, I find out the game is being delayed because of lightning. I almost stuck my tongue out at Deputy Dawg while I was ushered into the stadium.

    Then these ditzy cheerleaders won't give me a program unless I pay for it and I have to call over a sponsor to have them give me a stinking homemade joke that is two orange pieces of construction paper folded in the middle, printed on two sides and stapled twice in the fold. I should've made the little bitch cry.

    I finally get to the press box and discover that the wireless password I used for several years while covering this crappy college team no longer works. So I have to call the SID over and have him take time from what he does to help idiot me out again.

    Then my log-in to our Internet provider doesn't work either. I'm beginning to wonder if something is wrong with my laptop. Nope ... turned out our IT person got fired and the password was changed, and nobody told me.

    The game finally starts ... an hour late because of the storm. Neither team passes much, so fortunately (the only good part of the night) the game zips along nicely and uneventfully.

    I write my story as it goes, blow off going down for quotes because I'm now cutting deadline so close, do my boxscore and about 15 minutes after the game is over, I'm ready to hit send. Guess what? The wireless has been turned off by the departing press box people and there's not a soul in sight to help me. So I have to dictate my story and boxscore. Via landline, because naturally my cellphone battery turned out to be about dead.

    After that, I have to chase down the photos our stringer photographer shot. He sent them to my personal e-mail, which of course I can't access because of no wireless in the press box, and not our department e-mail which everyone on the desk can get.

    The best part of yesterday was that it's now today. And I didn't even have to go in the office yesterday.

    Welcome to Prep Football 2009. Guess it's all uphill from here, huh?
     
  2. budcrew08

    budcrew08 Active Member

    This post should be used as a teaching for every journalism 101 class.
     
  3. Colton

    Colton Active Member

    FB: My advice to you -- start drinking heavily.

    Seriously, just be glad that crapfest is done and turn the page.

    Hang in there.
     
  4. crusoes

    crusoes Active Member

    You could be covering fatal car wrecks or city council meetings.
     
  5. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    I was just going to say, "this is why I'm done with sports."

    Sigh. Screwed either way.
     
  6. Chef

    Chef Active Member

    One night down; A couple hundred to go.
     
  7. bagelchick

    bagelchick Active Member

    I hate days like this.
     
  8. imjustagirl

    imjustagirl Active Member

    Eh, pay for the program. Get reimbursed.

    The rest blew. I love (hate?) that they just flipped off the wireless with no mention of it.
     
  9. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Good thing you loooooooooooooove your job!
     
  10. I feel for you F_B and I can NOT wait to get started!
    Prep football kicks off tongiht here. I get to cover and shoot my game .. not sure how I am going to do both yet .. But I am really excited about the start of prep football season.


    Wireless in a prep pressbox (sigh) dare to dream. .. Dare to dream.
     
  11. MartinEnigmatica

    MartinEnigmatica Active Member

    No wireless, no program, no quotes, no cell phone? F_B, you're going to have to learn to do more with less. Seriously, if the story subject matter didn't suck so much it might be entertaining.
     
  12. novelist_wannabe

    novelist_wannabe Well-Known Member

    But ... but ... you got in free!
     
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