Youth sports stories?

I'm at a weekly and all youth sports are submitted. I don't chase it. My hands are full enough with high school varsity. In the summer, it would have to be something like Legion or some other league with the same age and a similar level of competition as high school varsity.
When I worked at other papers, I used to have to cover Pop Warner playoffs on occasion. That was a nightmare. There was so much smoking on the crowd and from coaches on the sidelines, I though RJ Reynolds was a corporate sponsor. The fans rode the officials worse than I've seen them do it anywhere. And with a rule prohibitting scouting, Pop Warner officials get very suspicious of anyone taking notes during a game. I was once accosted by an old guy with no teeth who asked who I was and what I was doing and he looked at me as if to say "I don't believe you." Eventually the local guys convinced him I was legit, but why shouldn't he have believed me? And doesn't a rule banning scouting just protect lousy coaches?

 

I guess people have theories as to why the youth sports coverage seemingly "spiked" at our paper within the last say 3-4 years (I've only been there 1.3 years) ...mine is the owner's two kids are going through those ranks right now as a small part of it...but sometimes the GM/editor also gets freakish on the demand for an all local front page, etc...

And yes, wicked, I actually am located directly in between Cleveland/Columbus, hence the coverage of those teams that get pushed to page 3, etc.

I've actually learned to accept it for most of the year...I just still can't get over the coverage of the pony league in the summer, but everything else I've at least adjusted to in my tenure there.

 

TD, not that I'm saying anything you don't know, but it's unfair to thousands of readers who want that Cleveland/Columbus stuff in favor of a handful who wanna read about Johnny striking out.

 

at least you've accepted it and know you're going to move on and leave it behind.