The wrong approach?

Waylon..hey, you're not busting my balls at all and actually I probably need that after surely being too "soft" in this situation. but hell, i don't want to be a jerk, either. sometimes you have to, but that's not my mode of operation unless pushed to the absolute corner.
Rpummutant...that's exactly what I plan to do. There's others, and plenty of them, in our area who can do the "TakeFive"...that won't be any problem at all. and folks have enjoyed seeing them and the ones i've interviewed have absolutely loved doing them. i had Willis Reed the other day as one of our subjects and he couldn't stay on the phone long enough to answer 'em. Same thing with Archie Manning, who comes into our area a lot and does a lot of celeb golf and other events. I got him via email and he gets me the answers back in less than a day. They were both super and more than cooperative.

 

A. Willis Reed is one of the nicest, most cooperative human beings on the planet.
B. Archie Manning loves to hear himself talk.

C. With 10 seconds left, you should have sat down next to her and as soon as the game ended, said "OK, let's take five minutes and get this thing out of the way." If she made an excuse or blew you off, scratch her from the list. Tell the SID she didn't want to do it at the game and becuase you have a deadline, you have to go get someone else who wants to cooperate.
D. The only thing you did "wrong," as others have said, was try to be polite and not pushy.

 

spnited....appreciate very much the feedback, from you and the others so far...yep, y'all are right: too nice, not pushy enough. and part of my urge to kick myself is also the fact that i didn't hang around after it was over and push to get it done. by then, i was in the frustration mode to where --after having tried the email/SID method, then failing on the interview--was simply put out about the whole thing.
that's why, when I got up this a.m., I said to myself, "Self, you need to pass this by your friends on SportsJournalists.com."

 

I really can't believe two journalists wrote these.

 

We used to run a similar feature at my old shop. We called it Pop Quiz. Dale Jarrett, Ashley Force, Brian Vickers were very accomodating. Matt Kenseth had no interest in it. Just the way it goes sometimes.

 

one other thing about this situation and others where one has to sometimes wonder about why things the way they are and why folks do what they do. I don't know whether i am speaking for a lot of us on SportsJournalists.com, but for those of us who have been in this profession a good while, it's back to that line that a lot of my veteran cohorts and myself have mumbled under such circumstances: "I don't need this crap." not when one has dealt with a fair share of far tougher situations or whatever during their rather lengthy careers.

 

Are her answers really worth all this trouble? I'm with those who say move on to another coach who's willing to do something simple like this. Your editor should understand that you've gone above and beyond to get this coach and someone else will be an easier option at this point.

 

mediaguy...oh, i am moving on for sure.
as my late dad used to tell me when somebody would rag his ass, "you don't bother me. i've been cussed out by professionals."
so with this, after being initially frustrated and baffled by it, I've got plenty of others ready to be queried.
and nope, her five opinions or answers aren't of economy-shaking proportions. just wanted to vent a little and share this with y'all and get some feedbacks. i figured it was much better passing this situation on to y'all and hearing some opinions, all of which are appreciated.

 

You definitely should have gone back to her once the first game was over.. she was a prick for making you wait out those 10 seconds, but you should have just stayed. But you can never count on any source coming to you.

 

Quick question: When it became clear that you were having trouble getting the coach and were running out of time, did you at least get a backup ready to go in case this one fell through?

 

awriter....yep, had one ready to go. it was james 'shack' harris, the newly employed front office personnel guy for the Detroit (0-16) Lions....for once, somebody from Da Lions came through.
had him set for next week, but this situation moved him up on the list.

again, i should have waited around and gotten her. but in addition to getting the "Take Five" deal, i had the interviews to do with the coaches/players from the game that had just completed (and that she was watching). and an early deadline for that...and because of that game and the postgame interviews and all, that was another reason for my need of getting that done with her DURING or AT SOME POINT in the game. going in, I am thinking, "man, i will get my quick Q&A with her, cover the game, head to the postgame setup and kill two birds with the proverbial one stone."
nope.

 

Good God, get over it. I have never heard to much bellyaching over something so insignificant in my life. I can't imagine what you do if you were made to wait by a major league player. Move the fuck on.