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"Where does it say I can't cheer at the press table?"

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by kingcreole, Mar 17, 2010.

  1. kingcreole

    kingcreole Active Member

    Actual quote from a newspaper writer at a basketball tournament I'm covering.

    Not a naive high school or college kid. He looked like he was in his upper 20s.

    Never heard anyone protest being told to knock off cheering at a press table/press box before.

    My eldest daughter is 11. Even she knows better.
     
  2. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    When he gets up for the media buffet, get a marker and write "No cheering at the press table" and put it right at his seat.
     
  3. Oggiedoggie

    Oggiedoggie Well-Known Member

    So, the fact that he yelled, "Ready? OK!" before he sat down wasn't a tip that there might be trouble?
     
  4. Don't tell him yourself. Tell the SID or media coordinator at the tournament. They'll clue him in pronto. Unless you're covering some hs tournament, where boosterism is considered de rigeur.
     
  5. smsu_scribe

    smsu_scribe Guest

    Does he work for a Podunk weekly or something like that that only covers one team? What a crazy thing to say.
     
  6. ucacm

    ucacm Active Member

    When I was in high school, I wrote on the school paper and got an official media credential to cover the state championships when our girls basketball team made the final four. The other guy from our school that got a media credential was sort of a PR person for the school district. He'd grown up in and worked for the school district his whole life, first as a kindergarten principal, then in the PR type role.

    Anyways, dude was the absolute biggest homer in the world. He went to pretty much every single sporting event the school was involved in. He would live and die with every single possession. He was hyper reactionary to every good play and mistake.

    We're sitting in the press section at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin and the guy is literally jumping up and down, pounding the table, and yelling "COME ON!!!!!" with every play. The sportswriter from the local newspaper eventually told him he should keep the cheering to a minimum. The PR guy was a really nice person, so he tried his hardest to contain his emotions. For the rest of the game, he repeated did the super-quick clap you would see a nervous mother do when her son/daughter made a nice play.

    Anyways, our school ended up losing in the finals with the star player playing the absolute worst game of her life. When it came time to vote for the all-tournament team and MVP, the guy refused to vote for MVP because he couldn't bring himself to vote for the winning team's dominant player.
     
  7. bigbadeagle

    bigbadeagle Member

    Tell him it's written on your knuckles, and if he doesn't stop his bullshit, he can read it backwards on the mirror in a few seconds.
     
  8. JayFarrar

    JayFarrar Well-Known Member

    In my advancing years i don't care about such things as much as i used to. It might because i wear headphones and listen to itunes or internet radio for most of any game i'm at.
    people could cheer until they are blue in the face and i wouldn't know.
     
  9. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    Tell him if he wants to root he should buy a seat in the stands. There is a reason the press is set aside working space from the hoi polloi - because they're supposed to be working. The home team respects that - journos should to.
     
  10. kingcreole

    kingcreole Active Member

    Last week, I was covering the smallest-class state tournament. Lot of tiny weeklies were there. I was sitting next to one lady who was the publisher's wife. She took stats, he took pix. Whenever their team scored, the lady would quietly and discreetly clap. Hands under the table, didn't utter a word. Didn't have a problem with that.

    Clapping openly and loudly? Dude, there's an empty seat right behind you.
     
  11. HandsomeHarley

    HandsomeHarley Well-Known Member

    Good answer, though in hindsight, DanOregon's answer probably is the wisest.
     
  12. Shoeless Joe

    Shoeless Joe Active Member

    My answer would be, at least one particular place I work ... "on the little orange, laminated cards placed at about ever third seat along press row."

    Here's a related funny from Monday night:

    I was covering an NCAA DII tournament game. The conference commissioner for one of the schools whom I am on a first name basis with was jawin' one of the refs. I leaned over and said "How's it gonna look if the conference commissioner gets tossed from press row?" He said "I know, I know" hung his head and went into the stands.
     
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