Get off my field!!!

[flexmaster33]

Sent out a reporter to cover one of the later-round games at the local Little League majors tourney tonight, and he was met with a bunch of restrictions and eventually told by the Little League administrator to "Get of my field!!!"

He called wondering how to proceed, I told him to go ahead and get off the field...we'll cover Legion baseball this summer. ;D

We usually reserve a good amount of space for Little League in July, but have never run into something like this...our reporter was asking the umpire where he could be to shoot photos of the game when the onslaught occurred from the league administrator -- also the only league in our area not to respond to our request for all-star rosters a month ago. Perhaps, they should bring in someone with an ounce of PR sense -- most likely some guy with something against our paper. You know, 10 years ago we misspelled his wife's name in a road race agate or something

 

[Football_Bat]

**** him. And FOI every scrap of paper his office produces.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Forward every parent complaint call to the guy after explaining to them what happened. He'll have a fun time talking to all those parents.

 

[Mark2010]

Yet another reason we don't cover little league. UGH!!

 

[silvershadow1981]

Goodness gracious.

 

[flexmaster33]

Forward every parent complaint call to the guy after explaining to them what happened. He'll have a fun time talking to all those parents.

exactly my plan

 

[Rhody31]

Flex, I feel like you're not giving us the whole story or your reporter didn't tell you everything that happened.
Having covered a slew of Little League, photographers are not supposed to be on the field if there is no designated area. If the umpires say fine, then it's a different story, but the administrators can overrule them.
If your reporter put up a fit to the admin about needing field access to properly do his job - which on a field that small is not true - and trying to fight a battle he wasn't going to win, then this is on him.
I'm going to the state tournament today and already know I'm not getting field access. I'm going to try and try to get it, but I'm not gonna throw a **** fit if I don't.
Flex, if you're the boss, I'd talk to the admin to get his side of the story.

 

[slappy4428]

I think the "Get off my field" was what set Flex off....especially if it's a community field.

 

[lesboulez]

he work for BP?

 

[rpmmutant]

There is no reason to cover little league baseball. Not now. Not with year-round sports like golf, tennis, swimming, baseball and softball to cover. Maybe there was a time it made sense, but it has passed. The only people who care about little league baseball are the parents who have kids on the team. Maybe some extended family, but that's it. It doesn't sell papers and it generates minimal interest.
As for other sports, I have been able to write stories on a summer high school baseball league, not American Legion, thank goodness, USGA and AJGA golf tournaments with high school kids, and auto racing on teenagers racing in Bandeleros and late model stock cars.
There are plenty of other things to cover instead of little league baseball over the summer.
Get off my field? How about get out of my newspaper.

 

[rtse11]

There is no reason to cover little league baseball. Not now. Not with year-round sports like golf, tennis, swimming, baseball and softball to cover. Maybe there was a time it made sense, but it has passed. The only people who care about little league baseball are the parents who have kids on the team. Maybe some extended family, but that's it. It doesn't sell papers and it generates minimal interest.
As for other sports, I have been able to write stories on a summer high school baseball league, not American Legion, thank goodness, USGA and AJGA golf tournaments with high school kids, and auto racing on teenagers racing in Bandeleros and late model stock cars.
There are plenty of other things to cover instead of little league baseball over the summer.
Get off my field? How about get out of my newspaper.

Can you be my boss?

 

[BYH]

There is no reason to cover little league baseball. Not now. Not with year-round sports like golf, tennis, swimming, baseball and softball to cover. Maybe there was a time it made sense, but it has passed. The only people who care about little league baseball are the parents who have kids on the team. Maybe some extended family, but that's it. It doesn't sell papers and it generates minimal interest.
As for other sports, I have been able to write stories on a summer high school baseball league, not American Legion, thank goodness, USGA and AJGA golf tournaments with high school kids, and auto racing on teenagers racing in Bandeleros and late model stock cars.
There are plenty of other things to cover instead of little league baseball over the summer.
Get off my field? How about get out of my newspaper.

Love every word of this post, but if your CEO thinks you should cover Little League baseball, well, it doesn't matter what you think.

 

[Batman]

There is no reason to cover little league baseball. Not now. Not with year-round sports like golf, tennis, swimming, baseball and softball to cover. Maybe there was a time it made sense, but it has passed. The only people who care about little league baseball are the parents who have kids on the team. Maybe some extended family, but that's it. It doesn't sell papers and it generates minimal interest.
As for other sports, I have been able to write stories on a summer high school baseball league, not American Legion, thank goodness, USGA and AJGA golf tournaments with high school kids, and auto racing on teenagers racing in Bandeleros and late model stock cars.
There are plenty of other things to cover instead of little league baseball over the summer.
Get off my field? How about get out of my newspaper.

I wish I lived in your area. Our summer baseball season (which is as worthless as Little League in terms of news value) wraps up at the end of June. The golf tournaments are mostly out of state, or at least out of our coverage area, and only a few kids from our area play. Auto racing? Not here. Other youth sports are mostly individual sports that cater to an even smaller audience than Little League -- or, worse, have parents even that are even more insane.
High school football practice starts at the end of July this year, so we only have a few weeks of truly dead time. Until then, it's Little League and whatever else we can scrape together.

 

[rtse11]

There is no reason to cover little league baseball. Not now. Not with year-round sports like golf, tennis, swimming, baseball and softball to cover. Maybe there was a time it made sense, but it has passed. The only people who care about little league baseball are the parents who have kids on the team. Maybe some extended family, but that's it. It doesn't sell papers and it generates minimal interest.
As for other sports, I have been able to write stories on a summer high school baseball league, not American Legion, thank goodness, USGA and AJGA golf tournaments with high school kids, and auto racing on teenagers racing in Bandeleros and late model stock cars.
There are plenty of other things to cover instead of little league baseball over the summer.
Get off my field? How about get out of my newspaper.

Love every word of this post, but if your CEO thinks you should cover Little League baseball, well, it doesn't matter what you think.

That's us. Ten years ago we were a 60,000+ circ., news-gathering organization. Today, we're barely above 50,000 and a scrapbook for soccer moms.
Last week, we put a Little League district championship game on our cover. The first - and only - call we've received since then was from a mom of another team that won a district championship demanding we do a story about her team. And she was right, so we did.

 

[MileHigh]

There is no reason to cover little league baseball. Not now. Not with year-round sports like golf, tennis, swimming, baseball and softball to cover. Maybe there was a time it made sense, but it has passed. The only people who care about little league baseball are the parents who have kids on the team. Maybe some extended family, but that's it. It doesn't sell papers and it generates minimal interest.
As for other sports, I have been able to write stories on a summer high school baseball league, not American Legion, thank goodness, USGA and AJGA golf tournaments with high school kids, and auto racing on teenagers racing in Bandeleros and late model stock cars.
There are plenty of other things to cover instead of little league baseball over the summer.
Get off my field? How about get out of my newspaper.

Agree with you up to the state tournaments for the 11- and 12-year-olds. If the local team is at the state level -- unless you're a podunk state that has zero chance -- and rolling toward a shot at Williamsport, sorry, you need to jump on that train early. Because once you get to regionals and certainly the World Series, it'll be "Where were you when we won district?"

 

[Rhody31]

Flex, I was just playing devil's advocate there.
RP, we're not - at least I'm not - talking regular season or even playoff stuff. We cover the district playoffs pretty heavy. The Major division gets most of the coverage, but as teams get further in their respective tournaments, we start covering them.
You're wrong if you think they don't sell papers. Our sales go nuts when we're covering this stuff because when little Johnny gets his photo in the paper, mom and dad get extra copies, grandma and grandpa get extra copies and then the other relatives buy some. It's really insane.
And it's part of the reason we're winning the battle of papers in our area.

MileHigh, I think it depends on your paper and your area. We have five weekly papers and one twice-a-week paper. None have a circ of more than like 5K. I'll try to throw the other divisions a bone when I can, but the 11-12s come first. Plus, in RI, the road to Williamsport is a lot shorter than it is out in bigger states. You win a 15-team district tourney, then a four-team state tourney, then you're on to regionals with like what, seven states (RI, Maine, NH, Vt., Conn., Mass., NY?).

Plus, this stuff is great training ground for when these kids get to high school. I'm starting to cover kids now that I saw when they were 12, which makes them more comfortable talking after a high school game.

 

[MileHigh]

Flex, I was just playing devil's advocate there.
RP, we're not - at least I'm not - talking regular season or even playoff stuff. We cover the district playoffs pretty heavy. The Major division gets most of the coverage, but as teams get further in their respective tournaments, we start covering them.
You're wrong if you think they don't sell papers. Our sales go nuts when we're covering this stuff because when little Johnny gets his photo in the paper, mom and dad get extra copies, grandma and grandpa get extra copies and then the other relatives buy some. It's really insane.
And it's part of the reason we're winning the battle of papers in our area.

MileHigh, I think it depends on your paper and your area. We have five weekly papers and one twice-a-week paper. None have a circ of more than like 5K. I'll try to throw the other divisions a bone when I can, but the 11-12s come first. Plus, in RI, the road to Williamsport is a lot shorter than it is out in bigger states. You win a 15-team district tourney, then a four-team state tourney, then you're on to regionals with like what, seven states (RI, Maine, NH, Vt., Conn., Mass., NY?).

Plus, this stuff is great training ground for when these kids get to high school. I'm starting to cover kids now that I saw when they were 12, which makes them more comfortable talking after a high school game.

You get to state, and a state that has "traditional" cache, it's a big deal. Each regional now is like six, seven teams because the World Series has been watered down. But Williamsport is still Williamsport. And the regional finals are still on ESPN ... incredibly. But you're right, people eat up that stuff. They think "Williamsport" and "ESPN." They want the locals on board early. And often. And as a veteran of the Little League wars, you want to be on that train early.

 

[HanSenSE]

Here how it works here, unfortunately. Local leagues love to send us info on signups, Opening Day is usually a must-shoot, and we'll hear when the board meetings are. Scores? Standings? It's like no one can be bothered to do that.

If a team wins regional and goes to state, we'll get a team photo and story saying they need money for the trip, please run and send cash (I'll run the photo, but you don't get to use the paper to beg, unless you have something scheduled like a car wash or bake sale). They go off to state, and we don't hear from you again. Gee, do you think all the people that had their cars washed and ate your cookies just =might= be interested in how you did in the tournament? And don't you think the Podunk Press just might be interested? Oh, let me guess:"Well, we lost both the games and the kids feel so bad we just didn't want that in the paper." Well, fine. But you know what happens? I get the calls or emails "Gee, doesn't the paper cover local sports any more?" or "Don't you care about kids?" Yes, I do ... but I care more when their parents use some of those unlimited nighttime and weekend minutes after the game ...

A week or so later, we finally hear from the team, with the scores, but what they really want to do is run a story thanking all the local merchants who made a donation. Uh, you read the paper? Ever seen a story doing that? You're right you haven't ... and we aren't breaking the rule for your team!

 

[Rhody31]

Flex, I was just playing devil's advocate there.
RP, we're not - at least I'm not - talking regular season or even playoff stuff. We cover the district playoffs pretty heavy. The Major division gets most of the coverage, but as teams get further in their respective tournaments, we start covering them.
You're wrong if you think they don't sell papers. Our sales go nuts when we're covering this stuff because when little Johnny gets his photo in the paper, mom and dad get extra copies, grandma and grandpa get extra copies and then the other relatives buy some. It's really insane.
And it's part of the reason we're winning the battle of papers in our area.

MileHigh, I think it depends on your paper and your area. We have five weekly papers and one twice-a-week paper. None have a circ of more than like 5K. I'll try to throw the other divisions a bone when I can, but the 11-12s come first. Plus, in RI, the road to Williamsport is a lot shorter than it is out in bigger states. You win a 15-team district tourney, then a four-team state tourney, then you're on to regionals with like what, seven states (RI, Maine, NH, Vt., Conn., Mass., NY?).

Plus, this stuff is great training ground for when these kids get to high school. I'm starting to cover kids now that I saw when they were 12, which makes them more comfortable talking after a high school game.

You get to state, and a state that has "traditional" cache, it's a big deal. Each regional now is like six, seven teams because the World Series has been watered down. But Williamsport is still Williamsport. And the regional finals are still on ESPN ... incredibly. But you're right, people eat up that stuff. They think "Williamsport" and "ESPN." They want the locals on board early. And often. And as a veteran of the Little League wars, you want to be on that train early.

All our 11-12s are done. I spent three hours this afternoon covering a 9-10 team at the state tourney. They've been our main story in their paper the last two issues with a dramatic run through the district tourney (although the first time they were the main story b/c my freelancer screwed me on my art).
I have a Senior division team that won the district last week and a junior team from the same area that plays for a district title Monday.
I don't mind covering it because people seem to care a lot more than they do about Legion.

 

[rpmmutant]

Here how it works here, unfortunately. Local leagues love to send us info on signups, Opening Day is usually a must-shoot, and we'll hear when the board meetings are. Scores? Standings? It's like no one can be bothered to do that.

If a team wins regional and goes to state, we'll get a team photo and story saying they need money for the trip, please run and send cash (I'll run the photo, but you don't get to use the paper to beg, unless you have something scheduled like a car wash or bake sale). They go off to state, and we don't hear from you again. Gee, do you think all the people that had their cars washed and ate your cookies just =might= be interested in how you did in the tournament? And don't you think the Podunk Press just might be interested? Oh, let me guess:"Well, we lost both the games and the kids feel so bad we just didn't want that in the paper." Well, fine. But you know what happens? I get the calls or emails "Gee, doesn't the paper cover local sports any more?" or "Don't you care about kids?" Yes, I do ... but I care more when their parents use some of those unlimited nighttime and weekend minutes after the game ...

A week or so later, we finally hear from the team, with the scores, but what they really want to do is run a story thanking all the local merchants who made a donation. Uh, you read the paper? Ever seen a story doing that? You're right you haven't ... and we aren't breaking the rule for your team!

Here's the deal. If it's so important to cover a team when it makes regionals or state, why not send a reporter? Oh that's right, newspapers can't afford to send reporters to cover stories outside of its coverage area. Heaven forbid regionals take place three counties over and it might cost the paper a couple nights at a hotel to get results and cover the team.
If it's not important enough to send a reporter to cover it, it's not important enough to put in the paper. I realize sometimes papers need to rely on parents or coaches to provide scores and results. But at the youth level, most parents are unreliable. They're also myopic and have no sense of deadline or objectivity, especially when it comes to their kids' teams.
Bottom line is little league baseball is not that important.