Becoming the story

[RedHotChiliPrepper]

I had an interesting, terrible and slightly scary experience tonight while covering a wrestling match and I'm hoping to get some feedback as to what everyone else here would have done and if I handled the situation correctly.

I'm 25, been covering high school wrestling locally for about 7 years. Tonight, the match I was at had our hometown coach going for his 600th career win. Match ends up tied at 36. So as the coaches and official are going over the tie-breaking criteria, I hover around the back of the table so I can hear the discussions and make sure I have the right criteria the match should be decided on.
Visiting team scorekeeper decides hometown team wins because it has a 6-5 advantage in six-point wins (pins, forfeits, DQs). Hometown coach, wrestlers and fans begin celebrating his 600th win. But the numbers I have in my notes don't add up to the decision made. I have them both with 5 six-point wins. So before the scorekeepers leave, I start going over my notes with the visiting scorekeeper to see where I screwed up.
Turns out, both scorekeepers screwed up and the six-point wins are tied at 5. Visiting scorekeeper runs to locker room to tell his coach. Coach comes to gym floor, pulls hometown coach politely out of post-match celebration and they go over criteria again.
Turns out they end up on criteria F (most first points scored) and visiting team wins, 37-36 on criteria F and hometown coach is stuck on 599 wins.

I can't help but feel like **** about this whole thing because I feel like I became part of the story. My assistant editor told me to write a column explaining the situation to run with the gamer — a la the Michelle Wie getting DQed by the SI guy.

So my question is, did I do anything wrong? Should I have done something differently? I feel like absolute **** because I've known hometown coach since I was a high school golfer for an opposing team and he and I have always gotten along.

It just sucks because I feel like I didn't do anything wrong, but my head keeps telling me I screwed up.

 

[Chi City 81]

I don't think you did anything wrong. You only came to the discovery by trying to be accurate in your reporting. No harm, no foul, IMHO.

 

[ADifferentOkie]

There is nothing wrong with checking your scoring with the official book. It's not your fault they screwed up in the first place, and based on what you've said, you didn't go over there and say, "Hey, retards, you're all wrong and I demand a recount."

 

[Tom Petty]

if you actually only did ask to have the scoring explained, you did absolutely nothing wrong ... i mean ****, you were the one who got it right.

 

[zebracoy]

Indeed. If you're just checking the facts and the methods to make sure you're right, that's not your problem.

What would have been an issue might have been if you wrote the story, said the coach won and then proved he didn't with your own stats.

 

[forever_town]

You definitely did not do the wrong thing.

If you hadn't approached the visiting scorekeeper, you would have been in the wrong, not just because the mistake wouldn't have been found, but you also wouldn't have had the information you needed for an accurate story.

I definitely understand feeling bad about the situation. I would for about two seconds.

 

[hockeybeat]

I agree with everyone here. You have nothing to feel bad about. You double checked your numbers and learned that the scorers made a mistake.

 

[HejiraHenry]

I'm impressed that you had the numbers right.

Nothing wrong there, and it's probably a good suggestion to write that column.

 

[Tom Petty]

I'm impressed that you had the numbers right.

Nothing wrong there, and it's probably a good suggestion to write that column.

disagree about the column, henry.

call the coach the next day? yup. column? not so much.

 

[mike311gd]

Keep the chin up, Flea. You're in the right on this one. It's your job to get things correct, and that's exactly what you did. The coach will get his 600th win -- and you'll probably cover it, too -- and he'll forget about what you did. He probably went home and talked about it with his wife, got a good laugh and decided he didn't want to win it that way.

Everything will work out all right.

 

[Diego Marquez]

The only thing you should have done differently is you should have checked with the home book (if it's the "official" one like it is where I'm from).
This will not be the last time you keep stats better than those who are serving their schools. Simply bask in the amazement that the scorekeepers listened to you, acknowledged your questions and didn't simply blow you off because they kept the books and they are ALWAYS right (at least that's what one 16-year-old basketball scorekeeper told me).
You asked a question to provide accurate coverage. The coach surely would want the milestone because his team actually won. Like Mike said, he'll get No. 600 and there will be no soap opera because of a scoring error.
Also, not a shot here, Mike, but I think "he'll forget about what you did" does not come into play. You, and the scorekeepers, did nothing to affect the outcome. The wrestlers did.
As for the column, that depends upon how important this story and wrestling are to your readers. Sounds like a big deal (600 is a lot of wins). Since you get along with the coach, did you get his reaction to the scoring correction? Make sure that is part of the column.

 

[Italian_Stallion]

What an asshole! The hometown coach should wrap a 9-iron around your neck the next time he sees you at the driving range.

No. You did what you were supposed to do. If you can write a good column, go for it. But don't think you're obligated to write one just because you corrected a mistake.

 

[mike311gd]

Also, not a shot here, Mike, but I think "he'll forget about what you did" does not come into play. You, and the scorekeepers, did nothing to affect the outcome. The wrestlers did.

I think that does come into play here, but not only in a journalistic sense, so to speak. Obviously the dude's upset that he took the win from a guy he's known since his high school years, so this goes beyond his working relationship. He's also a key source on the wrestling beat, so if RHCP feels awkward around coach Jobber, it might affect his work.

 

[Ace]

Good job, redhot.

Too bad criteria F wasn't for the coaches to have a wrestle-off.

 

[mike311gd]

Good job, redhot.

Too bad criteria F wasn't for the coaches to have a wrestle-off.

With broken bottles.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I know of a preps editor who has been doing it for about 20 years who was covering a hoops game that would determine who went to the state playoffs.

About halfway through the game, there was a scoring error (one that hurt the home team). At some point they stopped the game and the score was in dispute. The coaches and the refs were going over it and they couldn't figure out where the discrepancy was and they summoned over said preps editor, who is legendary for taking his own boxes and they asked him if he knew where the problem was...

He said, "You do your job, I'll do mine..."

The wrong team lost the game, but I think the preps editor was 100 percent in the right.

As far as RHCP is concerned, I think he had the best intentions, but I think he went over the line. I felt the same way about that golf writer who got someone disqualified a few years back.

You don't get involved.

Don't get involved.

 

[Batman]

I wouldn't worry too much about the coach, RedHot. If he's been around long enough to get 599 wins, he'll pick up No. 600 pretty soon. Unless this was the playoffs or state tournament, it sounds like you've got a good enough relationship with him to have a good laugh over this at some point.

 

[mojo]

Had a similar deal covering a road basketball game a couple of weeks. At a point in the second period, the scorekeeper stopped the game, informed the refs the score on the scoreboard was wrong, took a point from the visitors. But the official book was wrong, had made an error. I was certain of that, and at halftime I tried to figure out where "I had made a mistake." I could see exactly where the official book at blown (Mom was struggling all game long as it was, being a little more wrapped up in cheering for Son than keeping the book straight, a pretty common situation, lots of cheering at the scorer's table around here). The home AD comes over and basically says, No third party, end of discussion.

I walked walked away rather than press the issue b/c I didn't want to become the story.

Next game, also on the road... visitors on a fast break, hard foul... basket goes in but somehow all three refs miss it and call a two-shot foul. Home bench runs with it... it didn't go in, it didn't go in. Visiting coach, while the gym is erupting, walks up asks me, Did it go in? I shook my head yes. He eventually got his his basket.

At the prep level, sometimes a reporter has the information to set the record straight and is the only one, too, because everyone else at the table is either a total homer or a 16 year old manager keeping the visitors' book that no one will listen to. But trying to butt in to get it straightened out is a minefield, especially if you are on the road.

 

[mojo]

Oh, and wrote about the first deal in my gamer, because there was another incident in the second half where the book and the scoreboard got out of whack in the home team's favor as well, and that kind of became the theme of the game: If you want point take one. Heck, take two, they're small...

 

[GuessWho]

RHCP -- Have you talked to the hometown coach, certainly not to apologize because you did nothing wrong, but to explain the situation? Besides, 600 will come.