Unhappy preps

Ace,

I do it like I pick every player of the year, and I spell it out in a column that runs the day the first team comes out. I talk to all the coaches and get their nominations for all-area and POY, and then look at that along with team crap and what I've seen. In this case, taking away the coaches that had a person involved, the girl I picked was thought to be the best by more coaches, and myself.

In the past, however, the writer that picked it before me did it a different way (best player of best team sort of thing, usually a senior) so that made it even more imperative for me to explain up front the process I follow.

 

hard to blow the head dick.

 

I did it the same way. Get as much input from the coaches but not a straight ballot by them. Still, you get the people who are pissed. It happens.

 

yeah, but for the most part no one called, so maybe they agreed. getting that thick skin is essential, yet is the hardest part for me.

 

The trick is doing your job the best you can. Early on I rushed in picking some teams. When I got calls I felt really bad.

If you do your best and get input, you can feel confident handling those calls. Also the calls about why you didn't cover this or that or the other thing.

Do your best -- listen to see if they have a point -- but don't let it get to you.

 

oh i know that. and I know I do a good job and it's fair. pretty much every coach has said so. as for parents, whatever. most understand, the vocal ones are the ones that don't. apparently it has turned me into an angry person, or maybe i just vent a lot to get by.

 

I agree that we're not paid to take abuse, but is there a certain amount of ball-busting that you have to be willing and able to shrug off?

 

I agree that we're not paid to take abuse, but is there a certain amount of ball-busting that you have to be willing and able to shrug off?


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My policy has always been to listen politely to a complaint, but once the caller starts moving to personal attacks its time to end the conversation. When I call customer service at my bank I'm expected to be polite no matter how pissed off I am. The same thing should apply when someone calls me.

 

Being polite is one thing. Taking abuse is another. We all know or should know the difference. There have been times that I have turned the cheek. There have been times when I have had to stand my ground. You pick your battles, not your war.
It also helps if you have editors who will stand behind you and your work. If they don't, find a new place to work.

 

My policy has always been to listen politely to a complaint, but once the caller starts moving to personal attacks its time to end the conversation. When I call customer service at my bank I'm expected to be polite no matter how pissed off I am. The same thing should apply when someone calls me.
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The example that I had in mind was the subject of a thread I started a few years ago. I'm an SE, so I do have some latitude in deciding which events I'll cover in person. I drove an hour to a wrestling meet that determined the league title. When it was over, about a half-dozen parents cornered me, telling me what I should write and where to put it in the paper. The coach gave me a hard time about the play the team's win in an invitational tournament received a week earlier (never mind that the team was the lead story the previous week).
What steamed me was that there were probably at least three or four other things going on at that very moment that I could have chosen to cover instead of going to that meet (and for that matter, I could have even taken the afternoon off if I wanted) and nobody who wasn't at that meet would have cared that I wasn't there.
Maybe it was just the kind of ball-busting everyone gets and if you can't just shrug it off, this is probably the wrong line of work for you. But it just seemed wrong to me that I was there simply because I felt it was the right thing to do, that I was being as fair to them as I possibly could and I ended up getting crapped on.
At the time I didn't say anything, but I haven't been to another one of that team's meets since then. The team has gotten its news in the paper, but on my terms, not the parents and coaches' terms.

 

The example that I had in mind was the subject of a thread I started a few years ago. I'm an SE, so I do have some latitude in deciding which events I'll cover in person. I drove an hour to a wrestling meet that determined the league title. When it was over, about a half-dozen parents cornered me, telling me what I should write and where to put it in the paper. The coach gave me a hard time about the play the team's win in an invitational tournament received a week earlier (never mind that the team was the lead story the previous week).
What steamed me was that there were probably at least three or four other things going on at that very moment that I could have chosen to cover instead of going to that meet (and for that matter, I could have even taken the afternoon off if I wanted) and nobody who wasn't at that meet would have cared that I wasn't there.
Maybe it was just the kind of ball-busting everyone gets and if you can't just shrug it off, this is probably the wrong line of work for you. But it just seemed wrong to me that I was there simply because I felt it was the right thing to do, that I was being as fair to them as I possibly could and I ended up getting crapped on.
At the time I didn't say anything, but I haven't been to another one of that team's meets since then. The team has gotten its news in the paper, but on my terms, not the parents and coaches' terms.
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They know no one gives a shit about their sport and they are taking it out on you. I go through the same crap with wrestling parents in my area all the time. Because they can't draw more than 50 people to a dual meet, it's somehow the paper's fault.

 

I had a school's principal get in my face after a game because I didn't write the proper fawning praise of his girls basketball team's win the previous night.

It was a long talk, in which I twice walked away from him after saying I would share his concerns with my boss. He followed me twice. It finally ended when I said: "Well, I have to have some quotes for tonight's story and you're not letting me go get them from your boys team, so I guess I'll use yours."

When he left, I noticed two fans from that night's opponent standing nearby and looking on. One asked: "What was his problem?" I told them and thanked them for sticking around "because I didn't know where that was headed."

The gym was empty except for us at that point and a physical confrontation would have been my word against the principal.