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Seventh-grade Jordans never pan out

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Gator, Dec 17, 2009.

  1. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    Slow-pitch middle infielders can do quite well at the college level, as well, just because they tend to handle so many chances. Whether they can hit is another question, but then again, a lot of lower-order softball players can't hit anyway.
     
  2. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    I'm pretty sure O.J. Mayo was on radars pretty early.

    There was a kid named Schea Cotton in Southern California a few years back who certainly could have panned out had he not been a head case who transferred like 12 times (between high school and college). But instead of the NBA, he ended up playing in Italy, Shanghi, France and Serbia. I guess he's more proof of the premise than a refutation of it.
     
  3. Gator

    Gator Well-Known Member

    For every OJ Mayo, there's a thousand Felipe Lopezes. I wonder if Mrs. Mayo called her daily newspaper touting her son's ability.
     
  4. cyclingwriter

    cyclingwriter Active Member

    I have an editor who thinks every 14-year girl who wins a cross country meet is the next Olympian, so it is a pain. But that's the trap, sadly. Most of the time we can dismiss the "phenoms," but what happens the day we do get a Gretzky, Lebron, Woods fall in our laps?
     
  5. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    I've told the story about 8 million times, but when I was working in Southern California, we used to get calls from Earl Woods saying we weren't writing enough stories bout his son, Eldrick. And we'd say, "Mr. Woods, we did the story about Tiger winning his division at the [local junior golf tournament] by 15 shots last year. We can't really write the same thing this year." And Earl would say, "This kid's going to be famous, and you need to pay attention to him."

    And of course, in this case ...
     
  6. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    The 14-year-old girl may not end up being an Olympian, but on the girls side, if an athlete hasn't made her mark by that age, she usually never makes it.
    There are a few exceptions. In softball, the dominant pitchers are usually dominant beginning in their freshman year all the way until they're seniors. Last year, one of the teams I covered had a senior pitcher who was good but not great through her first three years, then developed into a great pitcher who helped her team make it to the state semifinals and earn regular-season wins over both state finalists in a higher divsion. It was a great thing to watch, but it doesn't happen often.
     
  7. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    "I'm teaching him everything I know and I mean EVERYTHING."
     
  8. cyclingwriter

    cyclingwriter Active Member

    SF, I now have an out every time a parent calls.
    "I know I may cost your son a scholarship, but think of the legal fees I am saving him."
     
  9. Fredrick

    Fredrick Well-Known Member

    People still want coverage. Newspapers still are relevant. But you and almost every newspaper has been stripped of resources.
    It's not your fault these games aren't being covered. Tell them to call the publisher. Oh wait, that would get you fired.
    You have to take the bullets for these bad management decisions.
    Newspaper editors have stripped many papers of stringers which is so fucking stupid it is beyond belief.
     
  10. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    Having a good pitcher in softball is 95% of the win in high school. At that position, you can definitely tell the good ones early on. We've had four local pitchers in our coverage area that we ID's as freshmen as D-I'ers, and they fulfilled that.

    At other positions you get the occasional late bloomer. One girl had never even picked up a bat or a ball until her sophomore year. But she was a big girl who could hit for power, and she worked at it. Finally her senior year, she made the varsity, and she had two doubles and the go-ahead RBI in the game that sent her team to the state semifinals.
     
  11. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    Another "amen" from the congregation. Even in the big cities, there's at least coverage of high school football and basketball (both sexes) and baseball and softball during the year, and things pick up for track, wrestling, swimming and the like during the runup to regionals and state. Here, we'll cover regular-season volleyball, water polo and the like for home matches the best we can with a two-man staff. I wonder if the athletes and parents know how good they have it?

    You don't make it to something, coaches, ADs and administrators are the most understanding and will help out (was calling one AD every 15 minutes during one football playoff game, and when it was over, not only did I get a recap that no one has disputed, but he then gave the phone to the coach so I could get some quotes!). But parents just don't understand why you can't be at EVERY game, with photos, perhaps not noticing we don't go on the road much, except for playoffs, for ANY team, and especially don't send shooters. Always like to hear from the ones who threaten to cancel their subscriptions and get the "big city" paper because their coverage is always better. All I can think is, "enjoy the three lines of agate on water polo, instead of the 300-word story we do!"
     
  12. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    Given the past three or four weeks, that just might work.
     
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