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No rosters at a high school football game

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Smallpotatoes, Sep 9, 2006.

  1. Running Bear

    Running Bear Member

    So this team is kicking off and the coach feels a tap on his shoulder.

    "Not now" he says as the ball lands in his return man's hands and the special teams action starts.

    Tap, Tap.

    "Hold on," the coach says.

    Tap, Tap, Tap ... as his offense is running onto the field for the first play of the game (the coach also calls all the plays)

    Finally, the coach turns around and sees a reporter (not me, I swear), from a local paper.

    "What the fuck do you want?" the coach asks.

    "I need a roster," the reporter says.

    "I'm a little busy right now!" the coach screams.

    Later, the coach told me he wanted to take said reporter and stuff him in the nearest garbage can. He also referred to that reporter only as "idiot" from then on. Every time I talked to him, "Hey, you'll never guess what idiot did."

    Problem was, I couldn't argue with the coach. The guy was the biggest idiot I've ever worked with. And that wasn't even one of his biggest offenses.

    As for rosters, I always went to the the PA announcer and asked him if I could have them after the game. Sometimes, if I got to the game early enough or it was halftime, I just copied them down myself. Really, it's not that hard. If he didn't have one for the other team, I would write down the numbers of all the players who touched the ball in the first half and grab somebody on their sideline to give me the names.
     
  2. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Sweet! I can use MaxPreps to look up the roster of the HS next door so when all the kids come in with their football jerseys, I can call them by name and shock the hell out of them!
     
  3. EStreetJoe

    EStreetJoe Well-Known Member

    For schedules, a very useful site is: http://www.highschoolsports.net/defaultindex.cfm

    In terms of high school football rosters, it's been six years since I've covered high school football, but I'd always arrive for the game 15-30 minutes early to make sure I could get a roster and check with an assistant or one of the stat girls before the game to make sure the roster was accurate. In the cases where there was no roster available I'd be working the PA guy and/or stat girls on the sidelines for the names and uniform numbers of the key players.
     
  4. Clever username

    Clever username Active Member

    Don't they have programs at the games you guys go to? The booster clubs hate giving them up for free, but they usually do when you tell (read: lie to) them that the kids won't get their names in the paper without them.
     
  5. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Call the school the day before. Get them to fax the rosters to you.
    No muss, no fuss, no anecdotes.
     
  6. EStreetJoe

    EStreetJoe Well-Known Member

    Most of the time they did have rosters. However on game day there would be changes in the roster - a kid would be wearing a different uniform number because there was a problem with his shirt, he was added to the roster after the program was printed (or after the faxed copy of the roster from the visiting team was photocopied), or any other myriad of reasons.
     
  7. the_rookie

    the_rookie Member

    Make sure you confirm those players.
    Messed up some numbers in a tournament booklet.
    Always good to triple check.
     
  8. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    If I had tried to get rosters in advance and they don't have them in the programs, I will go on the field before the game and ask the coach if he would mind running down the names and numbers of all the players so I can be accurate.

    I did it just to make a point that I am trying to do my job and getting no cooperation.

    Announcers' lists are the best bet when all else fails. They -- or an assistant before the game -- are good to check with to make sure there are no changes or surprises.
     
  9. expendable

    expendable Well-Known Member

    Ace: The announcers list is the best in these situations, because if he's belting out a wrong name for a number, he's sure to be quickly corrected by a parent.
     
  10. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I know. I just like to gig the coach a little.
     
  11. shotglass

    shotglass Guest

    Well, aren't you just a coach's best friend. ;)
     
  12. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Hey, they are quick to call if we screw up. I just wanna keep things even.
     
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