Stat stealers

Anyone else have the experience of fans stealing box scores when your not looking? Drives me insane when some parent look over your shoulder to see that their Johnny had eight turnovers and four fouls.

Of course I'm sick of other athletic coaches at this DI school I cover hang out on press row and cheer or complain. Unfortunately, I don't have the cred yet to tell these guys off.

 

Yes. I've had fans and parents (but never coaches or ADs, thankfully) hanging over my shoulder for stats. Because I feel it's none of their business until the information is published, I do my best to hide or cover up stat sheets, notes, etc. If I'm leaving the area, I pack them up and take them with me. At the very least, I turn over my notebook between quarters or downtime. It may make me seem like a secretive bitch, but this is my de facto office space; they would hate if I went to their workplace and rifled through their desk.

 

That's never happened to me. I've had parents lean over and ask to look at it. I usually oblige because being parents they usually hate everything else I do so why not win some points?

But, I've never had anyone outright take it.

I did have a dude in the student section at Oklahoma State read off my buddies lap top and then recite his notes back to his friends like he came up with them himself. His friends never noticed he was looking off the computer and thought he was like smart or something. We had a good chuckle about it.

 

You know, I thought this was going to be about fellow writers who tried to mooch stats off you at high school games.

Hated those guys.

 

I could mention a guy from a rival paper who wanted my number to get tennis results because he took off early. But that thread has been beaten to death.

 

Maybe the thread was, but those guys deserve a similar fate.

 

I've gotten used to people asking me for stats at any level of game. Even in the press box at certain baseball stadiums, if the location is close to the fans, you ultimately have at least one yahoo asking, "What was the call on that play?" Rather than make the guy feel like a moron and tell him to look at the fucking scoreboard, I'll say, "E5."

It's a lot easier and more civil. And it doesn't even bug me that much.

 

As mentioned earlier, it all depends on circumstance. If someone asks politely and I'm able to provide it, I do so. If I can't, I explain why I can't.

If someone tries to look through my shit, ain't no way in the fucking world.

 

I thought for sure this thread was about Norm MacLean.

(Ha! Beat Smasher to it!)

 

Doesn't bother me. With as much as people hate us, it's nice to have a chance to make a good, helpful impression on someone in the public.

 

I did too, and I also hate those guys.

At my last paper, our competition used to call in for boxes of teams they should be covering. So, one time the longtime SE sent them a fake box.

 

You guys are brutal. Out of seven papers in the immediate area, we all work well together. If someone calls and asks for a score or even a whole box, we'll email it to them or they'll send it to us. Same goes for the radio and TV stations. I don't know how many times guys have had to leave early and asked "Can I call you on your cell phone to get the score of the last game?" No problem.

Friday night football is the biggest time. The phone is always ringing with someone looking for some score or another.