Snaking assignments

Here's one I've had to deal with since I started at my paper two years ago. Every season, I've been on a beat and then come playoff time *POOF* the beat is taken from me and given to another reporter. I'm good enough for the day in, day outs? But not for the postseason?

Should I be pissed?

Thanks for the time.

 

Yes, you should be pissed. You also deserve an explanation, which you probably don't want to hear because it will piss you off even more.

 

Yeah, I am thinking the explanation won't be one you want to hear.

 

screw that - I wanna hear it.

 

Yes, you should be. What are you doing instead of covering the postseason?

 

An evil bit of business when it happens.

 

If the editor is taking a beat away from you for the postseason, you're damn right you need to have it explained. And yes, it won't be one you'll like hearing.

My recommendation: Time to update the resume and start looking for other employment.

 

Only if you do this for a living. If you bag groceries six days a week and string for the paper doing gamers, not so much.

 

"Heck of a season, Marty, but I'm afraid we're going to make a switch."

"Now? But we just made the playoffs."

"Yes, Marty, that's true, but you're just not cutting the mustard in the postseason. You've been a disaster!"

"So I'm fired after yet another 10-win season?"

"Well, sort of. You'll just be coaching regular seasons for now on."

"So you have a replacement?"

"Yep, Parcells starts tomorrow. Enjoy the offseason, Marty."

 

Yeah. If you're a stringer, rather than a full-time staffer, them's the breaks.

If you are a full-time staffer, time to have a heart-to-heart.

 

I'm guessing you're a stringer who gets replaced when things get good? Happens all the time. But you should still fight for it. Prove you can do the tough stuff. Break some stories on there once in a while. That's how I got my first full-time job eventually - by being a bulldog on little prep and local beats when I was 18-21 years old.

 

Hell yes you should be pissed.
Closest I ever came to strangling an editor was over something like this. We had four schools in the playoffs and three writers. I was the one who picked up the extra team, and for three weeks I busted my ass doing features on both series, gamers and notebooks from both, and previews for just about every game. Probably 10-12 stories each week. Only games I missed were in the semifinals, when both teams played at the same time.
So, one of the teams makes it all the way to the state finals. The editor, who was leaving at the end of the school year, asks me if I'd mind if he went on the road for Game 2 of a best-of-three so he could "say goodbye" to all the folks. I politely told him that yes, I would mind.