Question on high school coverage...

So you walk up to the gate, no ID, no credential, no ticket and you say "I'm important hack from the bumfuck bugle," and the guy says "you have a pass or a ticket?"
And you're going to raise a stink when the answer is no?

 

How is that even the same thing.

If this had happened at a college or pro game, this post is not made. Instead, we have this self-important tool acting like this prep game doesn't deserve his time. Get over it or get out of the business. Full disclosure: I am a prep beat writer and make a decent living covering high schools -- and dammit if they don't deserve the respect afforded any host of any event any of us cover as professionals. You are doing your job; they theirs. Stop. Hand over the press pass or $4 or politely ask for the athletics director. Just be a professional and act like you've worked a day in your life.

 

They're going to hate you anyway, because you didn't have the time or the wherewithal to cover the Class D state finals for one-act plays.

We spend way too much time needlessly tonguing their asses and assuaging their childish whims as it goes. At some point, enough becomes enough.

spnited, if you don't have a credential, all bets are off. I thought we all agreed on that.

 

If you're working a game, it wouldn't be the worst idea to have ID. Avoids most situations like this. There might be some situations where a worker still might insist you pay, at which point you ask for the AD and leave it to him/her to settle the problem on the spot.

 

CI, for clarification, I never made the original offending post.

As for the balance of your response, respect is a two-way street.

 

Boy, LJB, did you have a bad day covering prep football playoff games or something?

There's a right way and a wrong way to handle these little hiccups. I think BadgerBeer handled it the wrong, wrong way.

Just because you're a sportswriter doesn't mean you cease being a human.

 

But that was not the premise of this thread LJB. Badgerasshole just wanted to walk in because he's carrying equipment and he called ahead. FUCK HIM! The "gate-nazi" was just doing his job in Badger's case and the fuckhead Mr.TV man is 100% wrong.
That's what this thread is about...not "if you don't have a credential, all bets are off." Badger did not have a credential or a ticket. Gate person had the right to kick his ass.

 

Lyman, had a few experiences in the past, yes. But so has everyone else. I've also been treated like Little Lord Fuckin' Fauntleroy at other places, like everyone else. Which is heartening.

I'm not defending his behavior. The guy seems like he entered his situation with a bad attitude to begin with, and it never was going to get better. I'm saying that if I present a state-issued police pass designating me as a duly accredited representative of the news media, you don't ask me for any money. Not for admission or not for a program. Why is that so complicated?

 

OK, we understand each other, then. Just saying.

 

Agreed -- you shouldn't be asked for money in that circumstance. Most of the people working the door at prep events aren't professionals, however, so you never know what might happen.

 

One of my pet peeves of covering the preps beat is self-important jackasses like BadgerBeer here. Almost always, they happen to be television or radio guys that think what they're doing is more important that what anyone else is doing. Anyone else who regularly coverages a high school beat knows what I'm talking about.

These are the guys that you never see during the season, but they come out of nowhere come playoff time and take up the entire damn press box with all their equipment, often forcing print media -- who's been there all season -- onto the sidelines or to some auxilliary press area. Then after the game, they step in and take over interviews, because again, what they're doing is more important than anyone else. The shit that bothers me the most about this is that it's allowed to go on. Drives me f-ing nuts.

The only good thing is that we all get to sit an listen to a radio or TV broadcast that rates about 12 on the 1-10 scale of unintentional comedy.

 

I think this is a problem, in general, of administrators forgetting about the media. We don't ask for much, well, at least some of us don't.

Two or three years ago, I went to cover a state prep all-star game. The event is normally held at a Division III college football stadium that has a very nice press box, especially for DIII standards. But because of renovations at said stadium the event was moved to a high school facility about 10 miles up the road that had ample seating, but an old press box with four rooms barely big enough to fit two people in each. I had no problem getting in, despite that it was a $10 entry fee and another $10 for the program (all proceeds went to charity). But there was no room for the media. When asked, one of the people in charge said, "Well, looks like we forgot about the media," and laughed.

I'm fine with the fact that there wasn't any room in the press box and I know that this was all for charity, but these are the same people that beg for coverage before the event and then don't do anything to accomodate coverage during and after the event. All that was needed was a table set up in the last two rows by the press box (so we could take advantage of the outlets). I sat on the stairs next to the press box, along with another writer from the Large Metro Daily down the road.

It's like they think this stuff just magically appears in the paper the next day.

As for getting into prep events, I have been harrassed before, even when providing an ID, business card and a copy of the newspaper I worked for at the time with my photo. I would have gladly paid the $3 to get in, but I didn't have any cash on me. Finally I was able to talk my way in. I don't really blame the people at the door... there was a sign that clearly said no passes accepted under any circumstances. But someone should have told them that working media are exempt from that rule.

I'm not asking for any favors. Just be aware that we are there to do a job. I don't think anyone was asking the referees for $3. Why should we be treated any differently?