Questions at press conferences

Hence the "sort of." Sometimes I get lucky and he drops the "Joe" into the middle of his response, which really gets me erect. Tougher to edit out.

 

I cover a major D-I school. I've had what you described happen.

I don't think I've gotten to the point of annoyance with it though. I'm probably still early enough in my career that I smile a little bit inside when I hear a quote that's in response to one of my questions.

 

I used to get pretty frustrated by this on the last real beat I had. Sometimes, I wouldn't open my mouth just to watch how bad the TV guys would fluff up their questions.
Honestly, though, when I moved to freelancing full-time, I did my fair share of poaching during the pressers of the SEC school I was covering and just tried to get the really good stuff during one-on-ones. Guess it can sort of go both ways.
Don't fret about it too much. Do your job the best you can and laugh when you get something the fanboi mags and/or TV stations don't.

 

And you wonder why the words pompous and pretentious have been used?

Good to know you're the only one who does his homework. :

 

Among the media who will be in that room Wednesday, yes, a very small percentage of us will know anything about the signees.

Do you have anything of substance to add to the discussion?

 

I think the general way this is handled on my beat is that we only ask the nuts-and-bolts obvious questions while the TV people are around. The manager understands that, once the cameras are off, we'll have more, in depth questions.

Hopefully you have the opportunity for a little post-press conference one-on-one.

I feel your pain, though.

Remember this: the only thing worse than TV people who don't ask questions are TV people who do.

 

Psshaw. Spnited doesn't even work in the business. :

 

Yup, that's me. Never been there, never done that, don't know shit about this business.

 

Or, in this case, start a thread to ask a question, and when you don't like the answer, pretend you knew the answer in the first place.

Obviously, not everyone is bothered by this issue. Some people actually like being able to ask most of the questions; it establishes them as more knowledgeable and visible and recognizable. I don't know, maybe they're idiots, but it seems like a more productive spin on a 'problem' that isn't going away.

 

The way I handled it, the coach was easy to work with, so I asked him if I could get a few minutes after the presser. He said sure. During the presser, I didn't ask a thing. It was pretty funny at first, but then I realized it was a huge waste of time watching the TV and radio guys struggle. They kept looking at me, waiting for me to ask a question. I just shrugged my shoulders and stared back. I ended up more frustrated at the waste of time, but it was worth making a point once. The coach, when I talked to him later, thought it was pretty funny, too.

 

Question Jack... if you've done your homework and know about all the 20+ recruits, why do you even need to ask a question?
After all, whether you ask your informed questions or someone who doesn't work as hard and is not as smart as you asks a dumb question, the coach is going to say:
''He's got great upside...he's big, he's quick, blah blah blah...."

 

Because people like to read comments and reaction from the head coach. This just in.