Ask a damn question

[fishwrapper]

"How do you feel...?"

What do you mean? How do they feel?
That is the worst question. Please don't ask it.

http://www.dodgerblues.com/images/tommy.rm (NSFW audio ;D)

I figured that was coming...And, frankly, I deserved it.
But, the question -- or lack of question -- kills me. You're expecting an athlete to quantify an emotion (which 99% couldn't do with a two-day head start) right after a game and expect anything other than cliche after cliche.

 

[chazp]

Getting them talking at first is a good way to start a conversation and then you can get to the more direct questions on certain parts/points from the game you want to write about. Starting with, "Talk about..." is an effective way to do so at times.

 

[wickedwritah]

To me, it's all about the conversation, as Moddy said. Sometimes when you have a rapport with someone, you aren't saying, "So, how was your weekend?" You'll say something more informal.

I think "talk about" is OK, as long as you pry the information you want out of the source.

 

[zeke12]

Questions, yeah, I got a question.

Does Barry Manilow know you raid his warddrobe?

 

[Your Huckleberry]

What's wrong with these people? I'm out covering a game cause I gave most of my crew the weekend off. And while there, mixed in with a bunch of reporters, I notice none of them asked a ****in question.
It was a bunch of, "good game coach. you all blah, blah, blah." Then wait in awkward silence for the coach to say something.
But nobody asked a question. It just amazes me that they did an entire interview without asking one friggin question.
And the worst was the reporter who said everything that happened in the inning, and at the end of his STATEMENT, says, "tell me about that."
Don't they teach reporting skills in j-school anymore?

Riddick,

Got a sincere question here and trying to ask it without pissing you off. I respect almost all of what you say on here, so don't think I'm being a little piece of you know what or that Im being a smart@$$.

I just wondered if all these Gomers were sitting around acting like Gomer Pyle doing an interview, then why didn't you just ask a couple of relative questions? Your post made it sound like you went through an entire interview and the guy never was asked a question, or at least a legitimate one. Maybe you did. Just wanted that clarified for my own sanity.

Oh and by the way, I hate the "Talk about That" method of interviewing. It's a crutch for when a reporter doesn't see the importance of a situation or can't adequately assess its importance to ask a legitimate question. It also comes across like your demanding the coach to "Talk about That" rather than asking a question. Not very thought-provoking in my book and almost always leads to crap that can't be used.

 

[Chi City 81]

Questions, yeah, I got a question.

Does Barry Manilow know you raid his warddrobe?

I'll give you the answer to that question, Mr. Bender, next Saturday.

 

[Riddick]

Huck,
In a situation like that, I usually just walk away. Call me a selfish prick, but I don't want those assholes using my quotes. So, I walked away after a couple of minutes of that ****, conducted a couple of other interviews, then went back to the coach. I usually avoid the gangbang interviews if at all possible.

 

[Boobie Miles]

"How do you feel...?"

What do you mean? How do they feel?
That is the worst question. Please don't ask it.

I'm with you on that. "How did you feel when you hit the game winning homer" ... "Umm, good." I don't care what people ask (unless you got some jackass hi-jacking a press conference on deadline trying to get answers for his inane sidebar) but I don't really get the "How did it feel" question. I just don't see how you'd ever work the answer into a story.

Bob Jones homered in the ninth to give Podunk the win.
"It felt great to hit the home run."

Riveting stuff.

 

[TyWebb]

I agree on the "How did it feel..." question. Especially when you are talking to high school kids. The usual response is "Ummm...good."

On the "Talk about" subject, I just think there are better, more specific questions that will get better responses. Instead of saying "Talk about the double steal in the third," Ask something like "What prompted that call?" "Have you had success with it in the past?" "Did you see something from the pitcher/catcher that made you think you could pull it off?" "Think you'll try it again?"

 

[Your Huckleberry]

Huck,
In a situation like that, I usually just walk away. Call me a selfish prick, but I don't want those assholes using my quotes. So, I walked away after a couple of minutes of that ****, conducted a couple of other interviews, then went back to the coach. I usually avoid the gangbang interviews if at all possible.

I understand. Hadn't thought about just walking away. I usually wade through all the crap but I often do ask a few questions alone with a coach in that scenario just so that I have something unique rather than the mindless garbage that the flock seems to generate.

 

[PhilaYank36]

Getting them talking at first is a good way to start a conversation and then you can get to the more direct questions on certain parts/points from the game you want to write about. Starting with, "Talk about..." is an effective way to do so at times.

I agree with Chaz on this, in that using the "Talk about..." line is fine if you use it as an ice-break & then follow up with actual & precise questions, but the idiots that try to gather most of their quotes from such crap are really dragging the biz down.

 

[outofplace]

Getting them talking at first is a good way to start a conversation and then you can get to the more direct questions on certain parts/points from the game you want to write about. Starting with, "Talk about..." is an effective way to do so at times.

I agree with Chaz on this, in that using the "Talk about..." line is fine if you use it as an ice-break & then follow up with actual & precise questions, but the idiots that try to gather most of their quotes from such crap are really dragging the biz down.

Oh, come on. Nothing useful can EVER come from starting with a relatively non-specific opening for a coach or player to talk. Just jump right into the heavily-detailed grilling no matter what! :

There are plenty of blatantly wrong things to do in this busines. "Talk about..." isn't one of them. If that's all you bring to the table, then yes, that's a problem. But it's not a flat-out wrong thing to use as part of the problem.

 

[kingcreole]

On the "Talk about" subject, I just think there are better, more specific questions that will get better responses. Instead of saying "Talk about the double steal in the third," Ask something like "What prompted that call?"

We wanted to move our runners up 90 feet.

"Have you had success with it in the past?"

No, we've never done a double steal in history of our team

"Did you see something from the pitcher/catcher that made you think you could pull it off?"

We had a fast guy at second base.

"Think you'll try it again?"

No.

 

[21]

What's wrong with these people? I'm out covering a game cause I gave most of my crew the weekend off. And while there, mixed in with a bunch of reporters, I notice none of them asked a ****in question.
It was a bunch of, "good game coach. you all blah, blah, blah."

I can handle the pointless 'talk about' moments.... but I will never understand reporters who call the coach 'Coach.'

He's not your coach, he's not a priest or a doctor or a senator. You're not required to use his 'title.' I can understand it in the rare case of someone who truly commands and deserves the recognition--ie, Coach Wooden--but otherwise, it's obsequious.

 

[MartinEnigmatica]

Obsequious, nice word. Put that in the slot machine and pull the handle.

And someone who says "talk about" is infinitely better than someone who doesn't talk at all, waits to see when you interview, walks up, and starts writing/recording after you do the work. Step off, piggybacker!

 

[SCEditor]

What's wrong with these people? I'm out covering a game cause I gave most of my crew the weekend off. And while there, mixed in with a bunch of reporters, I notice none of them asked a ****in question.
It was a bunch of, "good game coach. you all blah, blah, blah."

I can handle the pointless 'talk about' moments.... but I will never understand reporters who call the coach 'Coach.'

He's not your coach, he's not a priest or a doctor or a senator. You're not required to use his 'title.' I can understand it in the rare case of someone who truly commands and deserves the recognition--ie, Coach Wooden--but otherwise, it's obsequious.

I disagree with this, but here's why. I'm 24 years old. I have a hard time, personally, walking up to a person I'm interviewing who's 50 years old and calling them Bob. I was raised in the South, so there's a lot of "yes sir" and "no ma'am" with me. So I call a lot of coaches "Coach," because it sounds stupid calling a football coach Mr. Smith and I'm not calling some old guy by his first name. So I call him "Coach" or "Coach Smith."

 

[SCEditor]

And I'm one of the people who says, "talk about." It gets people going, and then you can narrow your questions down from what they said during the "talk about" moment.

Like Moddy said, the best way to handle an interview is to make it a conversation. If it's a tense interrogation, then you're not going to get what you want or need.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

What's wrong with these people? I'm out covering a game cause I gave most of my crew the weekend off. And while there, mixed in with a bunch of reporters, I notice none of them asked a ****in question.
It was a bunch of, "good game coach. you all blah, blah, blah."

I can handle the pointless 'talk about' moments.... but I will never understand reporters who call the coach 'Coach.'

He's not your coach, he's not a priest or a doctor or a senator. You're not required to use his 'title.' I can understand it in the rare case of someone who truly commands and deserves the recognition--ie, Coach Wooden--but otherwise, it's obsequious.

I disagree with this, but here's why. I'm 24 years old. I have a hard time, personally, walking up to a person I'm interviewing who's 50 years old and calling them Bob. I was raised in the South, so there's a lot of "yes sir" and "no ma'am" with me. So I call a lot of coaches "Coach," because it sounds stupid calling a football coach Mr. Smith and I'm not calling some old guy by his first name. So I call him "Coach" or "Coach Smith."

It's case-by-case with me, but I'm largely with SCE.

If it's someone my age, I'll usually call them by first name, except when many of the coach's players are around. It's similar to the code many teachers and principals and such use at school around students.

If they're clearly older, have been around the scene a long time or something like that, I'll address them as "coach" unless I have a really strong rapport and/or have a clear signal that something more informal is acceptable or encouraged.

I understand not leaning on the "talk about" questions too much, but sometimes it's a good interview starter. Sometimes the interview subject will say something that leads to the more specific questions. Again - the familiarity issue - the reporter occasionally becomes familiar enough with the subject's likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses and such to be about to ask more specific questions later in the season or years down the road.

 

[21]

What's wrong with these people? I'm out covering a game cause I gave most of my crew the weekend off. And while there, mixed in with a bunch of reporters, I notice none of them asked a ****in question.
It was a bunch of, "good game coach. you all blah, blah, blah."

I can handle the pointless 'talk about' moments.... but I will never understand reporters who call the coach 'Coach.'

He's not your coach, he's not a priest or a doctor or a senator. You're not required to use his 'title.' I can understand it in the rare case of someone who truly commands and deserves the recognition--ie, Coach Wooden--but otherwise, it's obsequious.

I disagree with this, but here's why. I'm 24 years old. I have a hard time, personally, walking up to a person I'm interviewing who's 50 years old and calling them Bob. I was raised in the South, so there's a lot of "yes sir" and "no ma'am" with me. So I call a lot of coaches "Coach," because it sounds stupid calling a football coach Mr. Smith and I'm not calling some old guy by his first name. So I call him "Coach" or "Coach Smith."

I understand that, completely. I think it's just one of those things that becomes an unnecessary habit over time.

You'd never call a baseball manager 'coach'....what do you call him? Skipper?

 

[SCEditor]

I call 'em coach, too. I ain't calling somebody Skipper.