Quick parent rant

Not much to see here, though feel free to chime in with your own experiences if you see fit. I just need to vent a little.

Got an email from a parent today about the soccer story I wrote for this morning's paper. "Today's article on the Podunk girls' soccer game is wrong," she writes, already getting my attention. Quick background: The star of my story is normally a defender, but last year for the game against this team moved up to forward, and scored a hat trick. Yesterday, she scored two goals, including the game-winner.

Now, here are the two things that I apparently got wrong. A. Katie Kicker did not have a hat trick in yesterday's game, as I apparently wrote (untrue: I wrote that she had two goals, but did mention last year's hat trick). B. Christie Cornerkick had the winning goal, not Katie. (This one's also false, as the team scored three goals to the opposition's one, and Katie had the first two). Anyway, I'm right, the parent's wrong, but that's really not a big deal. It could have gone the other way. The shit that REALLY bothers me, though, is at the end of the email, where Mom made sure to chime in with the ol' "These girls works very hard all of them and it is very upsetting when they are misrepresented." (Yes, that's a direct quote, and no, I didn't forget the punctuation.)

Alright, FIRST OF ALL, lady, get your damn facts straight. I probably screw up a dozen times a week, so nail me on that, but don't tell me I'm wrong if I'm not. But more importantly, don't fucking try to GUILT TRIP me into correcting or responding because "these girls works very hard all of them." I hate that crap, whether it's on a hostile email like the one I got, or even just a, "hey, just wanted to let you know Jimmy's little league team is playing in a big tournament this year. These kids work very hard, and they deserve to have some publicity just as much as the high schoolers and the pros."

Give me a G-damn break.
[/vent]

 

My favorite use of the "hard-working kids" routine came when we got an e-mail once from a parent of a local youth football team (I'd say around sixth grade kids).
The mom actually had the nerve to write that this team worked harder than the local D-I group because it practiced six days a week (only skipping practice on gamedays).
I also got an anonymous letter (who even does the letters instead of nasty e-mails anymore?) saying I did a great job with one of my beats, but I screwed up two facts (I checked and I had both right) and I needed to talk to more than just my three "favorite" players.
The irony is that one of those "favorites" I've interviewed exactly once and I counted and I've quoted eight players after the five games I've covered so far.
It's always tempting to write a column that says, "My name is next to anything I say in this publication. Sometimes my picture is there too. If you want to complain, at least have the decency to give me your name."
Of course, people never do that. I wish they would, because sometimes I will call them and discuss these things rationally and, once in a great while, they understand my point of view.

 

So what if the kids work hard. So do washing machines.

 

I usually say something like "Is your child involved in sports to participate and be part of a team or to get their name in the paper?"

 

Boy, I'd like to say that to a lot of parents.

 

The kids selling dope in the HS parking lot work hard, too.

 

Hahaha...same goes for the kid boning the cheerleader underneath the bleachers.

 

I figure this is the place for my quick little rant about a parent I encountered at a soccer game this week:

Dad: Did you get my email?
Me: Who are you?
Dad: [gives name], I sent you an email about four months ago
Me: I haven't been here that long
Dad: Oh, well it was about my two older kids, the ones in college. Once school got out they hiked up [regional mountain] and snowboarded down.
Me: And then what?
Dad: What do you mean? They *snowboarded* down.
Me: Was there some kind of competition or something?
Dad: No, I just thought that would make a neat story for the paper. They hiked up and *snowboarded* down.

Yeah, I can assure you these kids aren't the first to snowboard on that particular mountain. Not the first to hike it, either. I just tried to smile and back away slowly.

 

Damn right.

That's competition.

 

I actually said something like this to a guy who complained that we weren't covering sophomore, freshman or middle school sports. He said, "They probably won't keep playing until the varsity level if you're not covering them." When I fired back with "If they're playing sports to get their names in the paper, they're playing for the wrong reason," he immediately backed off.

 

Watch it, you never know if it's the company appointed mystery reader.

 

i also have told parents and coaches, and kids for that matter, to not worry so fucking much about their name in the paper. that is not why you should play, and if their confidence level is subject to getting their name in the paper, they have no business playing.

they look at me sometimes in shock, but i'm int he south and maybe they think my New York ass is going to be nice. fuck that.

i love dealing with parents. when you counter their points, nicely of course, but sternly, they wuickly underatand who's boss.