Question for the college and pro beat writers among us...

Hell, I've known writers to do that... I guess the guy didn't want to listen to J.J. Redick anymore

 

I have seen this happen a few times.

Occasionally the writer will say something to the effect of, "Let's talk about this in a moment" or put a hold on the discussion until the recorder-thruster leaves.

Given the limited time available with players today, though, that may not always be a possible option.

Your next option could be to scream "TALK TO ME! I'M A MAN!" into the recorder.

 

There was a guy at a D-I game that I covered a few weeks ago that was a working writer (at least according to his credential), but his only contribution to the post game presser was to push his way into each circle of writers gathered around a player so he could pat the player on the back and tell him what a great game he played.

i also had the good fortune to sit next to the guy on press row during the game. Knocked my damn drink all over my media guide when he jumped up to celebrate the home team's game-winning touchdown.

Prick.

 

To be fair, J.J. was a really shitty quote. Never understood the idea of hanging around the Duke locker room for an extra 20 minutes (or until J.J. decided he couldn't sit in the shower another second without looking like a raisin) just to get the boy wonder to say "I felt good today."

I've gotten to the point of being OK with the PR boys and the TV dweebs. It's the small daily writers that show up on gameday, eat free food and then sit in the back during the press conferences and steal quotes/themes. I work at a small daily, too, but I am here before Saturday and think about what I am writing before I walk into the media room and overhear someone else's story.

 

Around these parts, two things have come up that irritate me about that practice. One, it's downright appaling how bad some of those kids are at transcribing quotes. Most of the time, the coach will honestly say something along the lines of "We didn't play that well today, you know. We didn't do it. We just didn't get it done. We didn't execute and we didn't make the stops when they counted." Later on, that same mumbling will show up on the sheet as "We didn't play that well today. We just didn't get the job done. We didn't execute the stops when they counted." I've just started to cast those babies aside and plant another tape recorder next door if I need something.

The other thing that has started to piss me off is that at the beginning of the season, the school I cover started broadcasting its press conferences online, along with a bunch of other schools on the same Web hosting network. What's the point of writing all the stories if the end user has the potential of listening to the press conferences online? And if "Well, that's fine, they don't see the players" is the answer - oh no. The media children are there with their tape recorders for their doctored player quotes to pop up on the Web site.

I got spurned three times in one day at a game earlier this year when I was waiting patiently to ask my feature-oriented questions and had the TV guy, who showed up after I did, hop in and ask his own questions. From now on, when they show up, I not only ask my questions and talk over them until they stop, I've gotten to the point where I'll see them set up as soon as a player walks in the room, get ready to ask a question and start off with a line of thinking of my own. It's only fair. Everything's within limits.