Preps Under Attack

[Dick Whitman]

You used to go to the paper for info on fantasy sports? First year we had a fantasy baseball league we did that, but only because we got our stats and standings mailed weekly from a state service, can't even remember the name of the place.

No. What I mean is that more interest in sports is driven by fantasy sports than it had been in the past, thereby rendering the information you can get from the newspaper less relevant.

 

[hondo]

Pet peeve of mine, regardless of coverage: we need to stop calling it "preps." No one outside reporters who cover high schools and the newspapers for which they work call those schools "prep schools" any more. It's an archaic term, with the odd exception of a school that actually has the word "prep" in its name (Tampa Berkley Prep, for example) and there aren't many of those. Call them what everyone else calls them: high schools. The only reason they're still called "preps" by newspapers is that the word fits in a one-column sig.

 

[silvercharm]

We're page-view centric at our joint, and high school sports still has a place. But all sports can't be covered equally. It's football, football, football first. Then boys basketball. The rest have very little interest. Perhaps girls basketball rises above the also rans, but not by much. The rest can be covered with photos, for the most part, outside of the odd compelling feature or state track or wrestling.

 

[Bronco77]

Pet peeve of mine, regardless of coverage: we need to stop calling it "preps." No one outside reporters who cover high schools and the newspapers for which they work call those schools "prep schools" any more. It's an archaic term, with the odd exception of a school that actually has the word "prep" in its name (Tampa Berkley Prep, for example) and there aren't many of those. Call them what everyone else calls them: high schools. The only reason they're still called "preps" by newspapers is that the word fits in a one-column sig.

Even though I used the term "preps" in my post, I agree. Our sports stylebook had an entry banning "preps" and specifying the use of "high schools" As was the case with so many things that made sense, it was a Craig Stanke edict.

 

[Liut]

Pet peeve of mine, regardless of coverage: we need to stop calling it "preps." No one outside reporters who cover high schools and the newspapers for which they work call those schools "prep schools" any more. It's an archaic term, with the odd exception of a school that actually has the word "prep" in its name (Tampa Berkley Prep, for example) and there aren't many of those. Call them what everyone else calls them: high schools. The only reason they're still called "preps" by newspapers is that the word fits in a one-column sig.

Not to thread jack, but I cannot stand the use of "falls" for a loss. Unbelievable how many clumsy teams exist today. OK, carry on.

 

[playthrough]

Which paper had the best preps coverage in the heyday of the 1990s and early 2000s, before the asteroid hit?

"Best" is subjective, but when I was at the St. Pete Times (when it was the St. Pete Times), there were about a dozen full-time high school writers, a half-dozen part-timers and an army of stringers covering stuff across five counties. There would be a full page of sports six days a week in each county's separate section, then live event coverage would go on a page in the main sports section, rotated out for the different areas. Once a week on the front of the main sports section would be a "prep focus" story of some kind, either a feature or issue-driven piece. And the Tampa Tribune was solid back then, making for some great turf battles.

That was a very, very long time ago, and mindblowing to think about now.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

The Times once paid me $50 for a seven-inch wrestling story.
Long time ago indeed, lot of water under the bridge since then.
There's part of the power bill, or at least some beer and book money.
I can recall days when a paper would staff the probable next playoff opponent - sometimes many miles away - of the local football powerhouse.

 

[playthrough]

We all knew guys back in the heyday who stashed some pretty good money stringing for multiple papers when the stringing budgets were fat. I remembered a guy who went to the state cross country meet and filed for eight different papers. Didn't have to be Hemingway, just had to track down Jenny from South High for a quote on her 39th-place finish and send agate.

 

[ChickenDinner]

People just don't care about it very much. They cared about it 50 years ago when entertainment options were more limited. Now there are 300 cable television channels and an endless number of apps, games, and websites to keep people occupied. Preps is a cheap night out when you have a kid, and it's great for participants. But as something newsworthy, in general, its time has long passed.

bingo. more entertainment choices than ever. dont need to see fbs-johnny on the gridiron or future 6-foot-2 naia hoops star brendan hitting 12-foot jumpers for kicks. nearly everyone has every major league and big college game available at the click of a button. or can binge-watch just about anything else.

 

[Dick Whitman]

bingo. more entertainment choices than ever. dont need to see fbs-johnny on the gridiron or future 6-foot-2 naia hoops star brendan hitting 12-foot jumpers for kicks. nearly everyone has every major league and big college game available at the click of a button. or can binge-watch just about anything else.

I even think it's reasonable to discuss, as a matter of ethics, whether run-of-the-mill high school sports played by 15- and 16-year-olds should be covered.

 

[I Should Coco]

I even think it's reasonable to discuss, as a matter of ethics, whether run-of-the-mill high school sports played by 15- and 16-year-olds should be covered.

Should ... you've obviously been out of newspapers for a while.

If play-by-play of animal husbandry prompted someone to take out an ad, we'd cover it.

 

[ChickenDinner]

I even think it's reasonable to discuss, as a matter of ethics, whether run-of-the-mill high school sports played by 15- and 16-year-olds should be covered.

there are reporters who think you cover the kids like the pros. i wouldnt want to be the one asking a kid why he "choked" and ive heard that line of questioning.

 

[Roscablo]

The Times once paid me $50 for a seven-inch wrestling story.
Long time ago indeed, lot of water under the bridge since then.
There's part of the power bill, or at least some beer and book money.
I can recall days when a paper would staff the probable next playoff opponent - sometimes many miles away - of the local football powerhouse.

There was a time when I moved for my wife's training before I could land a full-time gig that I made almost full-time money stringing for just the local mid-sized metro daily. I got paid $50 a story regardless of what it was, plus mileage if I turned it in. I covered mostly preps, but did a little of everything. Six-inch, one quick call to the head coach for a D-II basketball advance was my favorite. Those built up the funds pretty quick and there were more of those than the high school baseball doubleheaders that would take hours. Does anyone even have stringing budgets any more?

 

[Roscablo]

there are reporters who think you cover the kids like the pros. i wouldnt want to be the one asking a kid why he "choked" and ive heard that line of questioning.

This was always a hard balance for me. Well, not really hard, but definitely one to keep in mind. You sometimes would watch these amazing performances or know a kid was destined for at least D-1 success if not more, then talk to them and remember right away they were kids.

I had one editor who insisted we get quotes from both sides after a game if it was between two local teams. Not just coaches, that was fine, but actual players. Might not be the same as some other "pro" treatment of high school athletes, but it's not like they had a media obligation and I didn't exactly enjoy going up to a 15-year-old who just lost a big game. I think he was just wanting even coverage in case the parents or supporters of one side or the other claimed bias. Never had anyone else demand that.

 

[wicked]

We all knew guys back in the heyday who stashed some pretty good money stringing for multiple papers when the stringing budgets were fat. I remembered a guy who went to the state cross country meet and filed for eight different papers. Didn't have to be Hemingway, just had to track down Jenny from South High for a quote on her 39th-place finish and send agate.

Those were the days. I once got paid a healthy sum just to type in wrestling agate at states. Paid much more hourly than the full-time gig I’d just left. One editor in particular (he knows who he is, and I’ll always be grateful) used to set me up with those gigs, and it helped me get through the first couple years of college with relatively little debt.

 

[Dick Whitman]

This was always a hard balance for me. Well, not really hard, but definitely one to keep in mind. You sometimes would watch these amazing performances or know a kid was destined for at least D-1 success if not more, then talk to them and remember right away they were kids.

I had one editor who insisted we get quotes from both sides after a game if it was between two local teams. Not just coaches, that was fine, but actual players. Might not be the same as some other "pro" treatment of high school athletes, but it's not like they had a media obligation and I didn't exactly enjoy going up to a 15-year-old who just lost a big game. I think he was just wanting even coverage in case the parents or supporters of one side or the other claimed bias. Never had anyone else demand that.

Our policy was to prioritize players over coaches. I don't disagree. They played the game. Sometimes the losing coach will be a **** about it. But if you have developed rapport, you can usually get him to direct you to someone who can handle it. If you cover the team enough, you'll know who that kid is yourself.

If I had done features on kids or otherwise knew them already, they were typically more than happy to talk to me after tough losses.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

I knew a guy whose breadwinner wife had it made and he was pretty much a stay-at-home dad on the other side of 40 years old. As good a gig as there is if you can find it.
He had a burning passion for state tournaments of any kind and would rake in money during those months, stringing for what was then five or six papers in the region.
When you get to the point that you're covering preps essentially for leisure, then you can say you've had a good run in the business.
My error as a 23-year-old was thinking guys who are now my age, whether they had kids or not, find this interesting.
I can say the answer is no, as a father, old guy and severely lapsed sports fan.

 

[Roscablo]

Our policy was to prioritize players over coaches. I don't disagree. They played the game. Sometimes the losing coach will be a **** about it. But if you have developed rapport, you can usually get him to direct you to someone who can handle it. If you cover the team enough, you'll know who that kid is yourself.

If I had done features on kids or otherwise knew them already, they were typically more than happy to talk to me after tough losses.

I get it's about the kids, and I never had anyone who really had a tough time with it. Or at least I could get a little something out of them. But I don't think that was this editor's motivation, he was the only one I ever had that had such a requirement, and I do think it can put the kids in a tough spot. That said, despite my comment about definitely realizing they were just kids when talking to them, many are and were much more capable of facing these types of things than the Average Joe.

 

[ChickenDinner]

what should be under attack are those who think districts should be building stadiums that are better than many G5 fields

 

[silvercharm]

I don't quote high school kids nearly as much as I used to, and here's why: I have and raised teenagers. Would you interview your kid for a story? Some kids are equipped to answer questions from a professional reporter, but many are not. I talk to kids after games more for understanding of something, but not to necessarily quote him/her.
I have also had editors who wanted us to talk to both sides. That's fine in theory, but not always practical. I'd rather get depth from one or two particular subjects instead of asking questions of a player/coach while keeping an eye on the other team to make sure they don't bolt.