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Prep reporters, chime in please

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

  1. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    This Saturday, I'm going to be on the sidelines. I've always sat in the press box at this field in the past and I've always come away wanting to club the kids who are doing the announcing for the school's TV station like baby seals.
    Listening to them for five minutes it's obvious that they learned everything they know about football from playing Madden and watching the NFL.
    With their frequent calls for the home team's coach to pass more, it's obvious it's never occured to them that high school football is a different game than the pros, that the reason a team doesn't pass more is because it can't.
    As an aside, this game is on Saturday afternoon. Friday night high school ball is a relatively recent phenomenon in this part of the country. It didn't really catch on here until the late '80s or early '90s. There are still places where the game is played on Saturdays in the daytime, usually because the field is in a residential area and the neighbors wouldn't go along with it.
     
  2. The Chicago area was a bastion of Saturday football (even Sunday in some cases) until the last 10-15 years or so. Now, probably 70 percent of the games are on Friday nights.

    I'm a press box man. I like to be able to see the field and see the plays develop. Plus it gives me a chance to be more accurate and better organized with my stats. If I have to, I'll walk the sidelines, but I'd rather not.

    Of course, if the press box is filled with radio cretins, assistant coaches and assorted hangers-on, the sidelines are a better option.
     
  3. KP

    KP Active Member

    Don't forget the mosquitos forcing a bunch of games to Saturday afternoon.
     
  4. Dan Hickling

    Dan Hickling Member

    Press box? In Maine we don't have 'em to speak of, (except for a couple on new school campuses). The tiny wooden cubes on a popscicle stick we do have would be more properly called "the assistant coaches/film crews/PA and clock guys/assorted hangers on guys box". So here, virtually everybody works the sidelines, which on a crisp New England autumn night is actually a treat. And with just seven dailies in the state (three owned by the same co.) everybody knows each other, so the atmosphere is generally colleagial (sp.?).

    What few boxes do exist don't have phone lines (not much radio coverage, here, either) so for filing purposes, you're stuck anyway.

    However, if one is adept at finding hot spots (or has their wireless net from a phone carrier), it's no trick to write and file on the run.

    As far as "watching the plays develop"...it's just high school football. T'aint none of that development stuff goin' on around heahyah....I prefer the sidelines for watching the line play, so that I can see for myself who threw the key block, or who caused the fumble, or who had to simmer down. And as for keeping stats, we all have our particular short hand, and mine works fine for me. Plus, I generally work the visiting sideline, so I can square up my yardage with the chain gang (usually less crowded too).

    And on those rainy ones, my umbrella keeps me dry and keeps interview subjects willing to stick around too....
     
  5. Cadet

    Cadet Guest

    This brings up a good point. What are high school "press boxes" like in your area?

    Mine amount to a plywood box on top of the bleachers with "windows" where the plywood has been cut and hinged from the top.
     
  6. Bud_Bundy

    Bud_Bundy Well-Known Member

    The two city press boxes are like night and day. The oldest stadium has a box that'll seat 25 or 30 in one long row. And it has internet access, not wireless, but internet, nonetheless. There isn't a space problem unless a state championship game is played there. The other stadium has a small, cramped press box. In both places, there usually isn't a problem with outside riff-raff.
     
  7. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member

    I did virtually all of last season in the press box. This season, I've been on the sidelines. Most of the time where I am is dictated by what stadium I'm at. Most stadiums now have good press box facilities, but sometimes they fill up with all kinds of dreck I'd rather not deal with. The sideline is not the ideal place to keep stats. If you have a field with a well-shaped crown, you won't be able to see shit on the other side of the field. And if the school doesn't have a scoreboard with a yard marker or a decent PA announcer, you'll miss a lot of the game trying to determine where the ball is marked. Also, the insight you might get on the sideline is overrated. I have often recieved much better stuff out of screaming play callers in the press box, than Joe Schmoe on the sideline.
     
  8. BH33

    BH33 Member

    I like the press box a lot better, but this line made me laugh. If you're on the sidelines, you're standing where the ball is marked, so why are you depending on the scoreboard or PA announcer and missing a lot of the game? That doesn't make sense to me. It's easier to figure the spot of the ball from the sidelines.
     
  9. Dan Hickling

    Dan Hickling Member

    which is why I keep my bearings with the chain gang...
     
  10. Bamadog

    Bamadog Well-Known Member

    Press box. I can't keep semi-accurate stands on the sidelines. When I was at my second paper in Florida, I had to be on the sidelines because I had to shoot and chart the game at the same time. Ugh.
     
  11. expendable

    expendable Well-Known Member

    Because I have to shoot and be a sideline reporter for the radio station my bosses own, I'd much rather be in the pressbox (let me tell you there's nothing like getting paid once to do three jobs). On occasions where I was forced into the box, I find it much easier to keep my stats neat and accurate.
     
  12. EGM67

    EGM67 New Member

    I would rather be on the sideline. That way I get to hear all the hilarious coach speak.

    Plus I usually have to take pictures as well as cover the games.
     
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