Watching the game at the local bar with regular people stories

Ms Chick,

Better: Go to the gay bar during the game and find out if any of the players has a tab.

I'd never say never to a story, but as noted, you hope to find a more than average guy (an ex-player, official, relative or something) at the bar. The odds are pretty decent that this would work out--and if you're completely dirty you could set something up prior to.

YHS, etc

 

The one man-on-the-street story I enjoyed doing was interviewing folks among the 10,000 or so people who showed up for the scab games during the NFL strike of 1987. I was genuniely curious as to why they'd bother.
Short answer for 9 out of every 10 questioned: Too drunk to know strike was taking place.
Since watching the big game has led to fatalities more than once here in Boston, the man-on-the street story has an edge one might not find in other towns. Before the AFC championship game, Mayor Menino actually asked all local TV stations not to broadcast from area sports bars for fear it'd instigate mob rule.

 

The only thing worse than newspaper stories written about fans in a bar are television reports about fans in bars. In both instances, the fact that the patrons suddenly realize they are "in the paper" or "on the camera" often changes behavior and reactions dramatically. If you have to write the bar story, try to be the fly on the wall.

 

Wait a fuckin' second here...
What about reading rants by DyePack about Poynter or designers?

 

Luckily we don't have to worry about that anymore...

 

Here is a fresh angle for you: When FOX was covering the playoffs, a number of people who were subscribers of MediaCom cable co. *had* to go somewhere else to watch the FOX station because of a dispute between the FOX station owner, Sinclair Broadcasting and Mediacom.

Sinclair had raised its fee to the cable co. so much that the cable co. did not want to carry the station. The dispute has escalated to the point that, unless Mediacom subscribers have rabbit ears or switch to satellite, it might be a while before they see the FOX station again.

As a result, at least 1 TV station in our market (Peoria, IL) found a bar to go to where the bar owner had the FOX station up on all his screens so that Bears fans could watch the game.

If not for examples like that and/or it being Indy's first time in the Super Bowl, I would agree with those of you who do not see the merits of covering such an event in this way.

 

Um, that was every bar in this market.

The real story was this: The Cheetah Girls (Don't ask me cause I don't know. If I didn't work with a woman who had kids, I would know even less) had a concert at the civic center in Peoria, where it is a very pro-Bears atmosphere. Game time was 2 p.m. Concert was 4 p.m. How many dads bought tickets for little Susie and were then cursing the Cheetah Girls for interupting the NFC Championship. Fear not, the civic center came through with a parents-only room, in which a handful of TVs would be tuned into FOX's broadcast.

 

Sorry Oz, didn't know you were the gatekeeper of the masses.

As for these stories, sure you want to localize the SB, but why does one HAVE to go to a bar? What if you found out that a player who went to school in your non-SB city has kept in touch with a favorite teacher. That's a potentially good column right there. You don't HAVE to go to a bar.

You can go to the local sporting goods store to find out how sales are for Bears or Colts gear or, since pizza is likely consumed more than almost any food on Super Bowl Sunday, why not check out that?

Happy Oz?

 

I did one of these for the Ohio State-Florida BCS game. God forbid some news reporter should have to work at night. I didn't mind though. When else could I expense a plate of wings and a couple of beers?

 

That was classic.
Once remember a television station doing a story on the local little team that made it to the LLWS. Talked to several people on the street a couple of hours after the team qualified. It seemed like a big waste of time live, even more so if it was written down in the paper the next day.