Unhappy preps

Then you just have to lay out the facts. If they are a wrestling parent and get 20 people to the matches while football/basketball get 500-2000, you explain that the general interest isn't there to cover it that way, but you will take all results and are always on the lookout for good stories on any sport.

Now if it is unusual -- like a champion track team or wrestling team that fills the gym, maybe you are the one who needs the enlightening.

Some of my best stories have come from listening to people's complaints and mining for ideas. You have to get them past, "our kids play hard too" and "you write about them, why not us."

You have to say, what would you write about the team? What's newsworthy. Stop them if they compare it to another sport or talk about the team in general.

No, that's not a story. We don't write about everyone. Keep trying.

It works most of the time. Either they do have an interesting story or they realize that they don't have any complaint.

 

You might get a couple of kids who whine to you, but that's because they think they're better than they actually are.

I actually had a Class A minor-league baseball player complain to me when I came into the clubhouse before a game to do a feature on the guy on the team who was in contention for the league's Triple Crown and who had hit three home runs (one to each field) the night before. I told him when he started putting up numbers like this guy, I'd talk to him. His response, a witty one: "Fuck you."

My favorite complaint of the year: Supporters of one of the local high school girls basketball teams say a.) we don't shoot photos of their team, then b.) we only shoot photos of one athlete, then c.) the strobes our photographers were using were bothering the players.

With some people, you can never win.

 

My favorite is when you do cover the team they lose and the parents complain that you covered that game out of spite.

Yes, we have a secret stash of stealth reporters who are assigned to write about your team only if you lose. They chortle and chuckle while ripping your players and also attach mean-spirited headlines.

 

I had a parent complain that: "You only cover our team when they lose."
I wanted to explain to her that Carnac the Magnificent was no longer employed by our paper, and that we had no way of knowing who was going to win or lose.

 

I was shooting a girls basketball game one night and had a fan come up and demanded I stop taking photos, because of the strobe. I tried to reason with him, and showed him that becuase of my limited phototaking ability, most of my shots came after the ball left the shooter's hands, and that I would only be there for a quarter at most. It wasn't a good enough explination for him and he literally tried to jerk the camera off my neck when a police officer stepped in and ushered him back to his seat.

After the game the home coach asked me about it and then asked who the guy was. Girls basketball draws maybe 50 fans (parents) on a week night, and the guy was a fan of the home team, but apparently nobody knew who he was.

 

Sounds like you had a nut job. Here's boots' golden rule. Treat me with respect and you will get respect. Treat me like an ass and I'll become like my nickname, "The ultimate ass".

 

That's your nickname? I'm sorry. I thought it was your quest.

 

Actually its one of the same.

 

I get that a lot.
I tell them that we have a televsion at the office that gets ESPN, but not ESP.

 

The worst time of the year is football season when you pick winners. The team you picked to lose, wins and everyone gives you shit. That's why I've never been a favorite of writers picking games. Half the time, they're guessing.

 

I haven't seen him since, and forgot about the incident until JB's post. The best I figured was that he was an out-of-town family member of someone on the team. They went to dinner before the game, had a few drinks and he worked up some courage. I knew the family he was sitting around, but they never mentioned it, so just dropped it.

I try not to be an ass (even if they are). I've found that most of the time parents tend to back off after I show a willingness to talk with them.

 

True that. I refuse to pick football games. It's like arguing with the wife. It's a no-win situation.