off-shoot to pearlman rocker thread

[shockey]

didn't want to threadjack 'cause this is different: do we all have a story we wish we had never hit the "send" button on? for whatever reason, other than simply "it sucked."

mine: i'll spare the details unless this thread becomes something worthwhile, but 10 years ago i did a piece about an nfl team/coach in which the said coach was pretty good friend. too good.

so good he felt comfy enough to say some things even with my recorder clearly on and me taking notes he did not think i'd write about the upcoming opposing coach/team. since he never said anything approaching "off-the-record," i just figured he was feeling good about his team's fast start and wrote it.

long story short, story hits the fan the next day. the guy flips. calls me at home. long story shorter, by the time the game folo's are done, we never speak again.

a great relationship lost over a silly, everyday story. coach is fired by year's end. is living happily ever after as one of the most successful college coaches around.

couldn't be happier for him. but the whole episode haunts me, obviously, to this day. anyone else ever experience anything like this? ??? ??? ???

 

[Jim_Carty]

He's a good guy, you're a good guy, I'd be very, very surprised if he was still holding any animosity over it. You should drop him a note if it's really haunting you.

 

[Some Guy]

This sounds like something you both would laugh about now.

This stuff can be tricky. I once covered a high school basketball coach who was waaaaay too comfortable around me. Would say some outlandish ****. He knew I knew what to print and what not to print. Most of it was about stuff so unimportant that the only reason to run it would be to burn him, so I didn't.

 

[TheMethod]

Is this coach Pete Carroll by chance?

 

[As The Crow Flies]

Good thread idea.

I was covering a major college coach who I had a good relationship with when he got into some trouble with the law.

There were some explosive allegations in the charges. Race was part of it.

A few days afterward, his team lost big at home. I wrote a story detailing the game and mood of the program. Everything was true, but it was harsh. Very harsh.

The team's coach hasn't really talked to me since that incident. That's been a few years ago.

Do I wish I could take back what I wrote? Not exactly. But it was a valuable lesson on what a beat writer has to weigh when it comes to stories on difficult subjects. You obviously have to report the facts, but the way you do it has meaning as well.

 

[mediaguy]

Is Shockey actually Will Ferrell?

 

[shockey]

Is this coach Pete Carroll by chance?

not important.

 

[imjustagirl]

Is this coach Pete Carroll by chance?

not important.

Really? You've talked about your job in the past, what you've covered. You say the coach was fired, and now is one of the most successful college coaches around...and you don't think that's easily figured out?

****, I knew and I don't care enough about any of the people involved to even think about it.

 

[YGBFKM]

Wait, it's not Rich Kotite?

 

[shockey]

Is this coach Pete Carroll by chance?

not important.

Really? You've talked about your job in the past, what you've covered. You say the coach was fired, and now is one of the most successful college coaches around...and you don't think that's easily figured out?

****, I knew and I don't care enough about any of the people involved to even think about it.

i simply said it's not important. it has nothing to do with the question posed. please try to stay on point. i was simply asking if others had any similar experiences/regrets.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

Wait, it's not Walt Walton?

 

[shockey]

Wait, it's not Walt Walton?

ya mean joe walton?

again, not important.

 

[imjustagirl]

I know what you're saying, shockey, and obviously he wasn't fired because of that story. But it's his loss, if he's going to be that petty. He knew how it worked, you had a recorder going and were taking notes. If he's going to be like that, then there's nothing you can do.

Do you just ignore the coach basically saying he's going to hand his opponents their asses on a silver platter?

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

Wait, it's not Walt Walton?

ya mean joe walton?

again, not important.

No... I was making light of the consecutive Jets coaches in your prime who had the near-identical last name and first name.... Thought we were about to list them all on this thread

 

[Killick]

Only time I came close was on a news obit of a longtime local police chief. He was eventually forced out, did time for theft while in office. He went on to become a fairly beloved security guard in the same town. Anyway, we went back and forth on whether to include his crime in the story - I finally came down on the side of including it and the editor agreed.

Family was pissed. PISSED.

I'd do it the same way today, since it was a NEWS obit after all. But that's about as close as I've come to wanting a do-over.

 

[wicked]

Had an obit a few years ago where it mentioned the man, now living in a different state, was "predeceased by his wife." Well, a quick Google finds that he was predeceased by his wife because, the local sheriff said, he put a bullet in her head before blowing his brains out. His family and the funeral home called up bitching about that one, but we still did news-style obits then. No qualms on my end ethically, but I did not enjoy writing that one.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Very early in my career I was covering baseball and a star player was benched for slacking a bit in the field. The three of us who traveled were at his locker after the game and he went off on the manager and said, "Who gives a ****, he's living on borrowed time anyway."

It's the lead quote in my story. Both of the other papers, with two veteran beat writers, never used the quote.

This was pre-Internet, but my SE calls me the next morning to ask me about the quote. I end up playing the tape to him over the phone so it was clear the words "Off the record" were never uttered. My boss (the best boss I've ever had) says, "I'm sorry I doubted you, nice work..."

The PR guy calls me and says, "Player X said he never said that." I told him, "Call my SE, I played him the tape."

In the locker room that day, nobody would talk to me. The other writers wouldn't talk to me. The players wouldn't talk to me. The PR guy wouldn't even acknowledge me until he tells me the manager wants to talk to me.

The player didn't talk to me the rest of the year. Several other players didn't either. It made my life very difficult for the remaining month of an awful season.

14 years later, I know I didn't do anything wrong, but if I had to do it again, I'm not sure that quote probably wouldn't have made my gamer.

 

[Some Guy]

Very early in my career I was covering baseball and a star player was benched for slacking a bit in the field. The three of us who traveled were at his locker after the game and he went off on the manager and said, "Who gives a ****, he's living on borrowed time anyway."

It's the lead quote in my story. Both of the other papers, with two veteran beat writers, never used the quote.

This was pre-Internet, but my SE calls me the next morning to ask me about the quote. I end up playing the tape to him over the phone so it was clear the words "Off the record" were never uttered. My boss (the best boss I've ever had) says, "I'm sorry I doubted you, nice work..."

The PR guy calls me and says, "Player X said he never said that." I told him, "Call my SE, I played him the tape."

In the locker room that day, nobody would talk to me. The other writers wouldn't talk to me. The players wouldn't talk to me. The PR guy wouldn't even acknowledge me until he tells me the manager wants to talk to me.

The player didn't talk to me the rest of the year. Several other players didn't either. It made my life very difficult for the remaining month of an awful season.

14 years later, I know I didn't do anything wrong, but if I had to do it again, I'm not sure that quote probably wouldn't have made my gamer.

****, I don't know how you sit on that quote. I'd be worried the competition would be running it if I didn't.

 

[Moderator1]

Yeah, you have to use that. I would have told the PR guy, "He's a liar, here's the tape."
What the hell did the manager want? He try to send you to AAA?

 

[awriter]

Very early in my career I was covering baseball and a star player was benched for slacking a bit in the field. The three of us who traveled were at his locker after the game and he went off on the manager and said, "Who gives a ****, he's living on borrowed time anyway."

It's the lead quote in my story. Both of the other papers, with two veteran beat writers, never used the quote.

This was pre-Internet, but my SE calls me the next morning to ask me about the quote. I end up playing the tape to him over the phone so it was clear the words "Off the record" were never uttered. My boss (the best boss I've ever had) says, "I'm sorry I doubted you, nice work..."

The PR guy calls me and says, "Player X said he never said that." I told him, "Call my SE, I played him the tape."

In the locker room that day, nobody would talk to me. The other writers wouldn't talk to me. The players wouldn't talk to me. The PR guy wouldn't even acknowledge me until he tells me the manager wants to talk to me.

The player didn't talk to me the rest of the year. Several other players didn't either. It made my life very difficult for the remaining month of an awful season.

14 years later, I know I didn't do anything wrong, but if I had to do it again, I'm not sure that quote probably wouldn't have made my gamer.

Something sorta similar happened to me when I was covering an NBA team. The backups led a big rally back in the fourth quarter and then got replaced by the starters with about two minutes left. Team loses and player goes off on the coach in the postgame to me and a couple radio reporters.
Before the game the next day, the player comes after me in the locker room and the coach is the one restraining him.