Odd "off the record" question

I'd have used that too. Once you're playing big-boy ball, you have no one but yourself to blame if you screw up with the media.

 

What's "off" there is the information is "off the record"!!!!

Seriously, I think the HIPPA laws come into play here and that's probably whey the interim coach did not want to publicly make a comment on the coach's condition. The other suggestions are right ... get it verified through another source, specifically the coach or his immediate family or physician. There's a lot of legal things going on there that could even though he is fine, some lawyer could find a way to make a buck off it either at the hospital, school or physician's expense.

 

Just sounds like a deal where the interim coach wanted you to have the information, but didn't want to be the stated source. I can understand that, really. And really, from your perspective, do you want to be writing in your story, "Head coach Run Faster suffered a heart attack, according to interim coach Not-So Quick"?

This is particularly true, I should think, of the bit about the coach being fine and being back next week. May well be true, but I'd be kinda pissed off if someone said that of me after I had a heart attack. I'll decide when I'm fine, thank you very much.

 

The only source for a person's medical condition is either his/her physician or the hospital's media rep. Period. Second-hand, OTR is bush-league journalism, IMHO.

 

Wrong. Family of the person (and the person himself) is perfectly fine.

A kid's coach is fine, if that's the best source and the player and his family is unavailable.

AND ... if you ever work cops, sometimes cops are your only source for medical information because everyone else - EMTs, doctors - can't talk without out the patient's permission.