Story guilt?

[outofplace]

Well, there is also this little matter of coaches cheating by breaking the rules. So much for the idea of the coach as a role model, huh?

True. However, my point is that if "everyone" is doing it and no one is complaining and you write a story about one coach cheating because he was easy to catch, you did a poor job.

If you worked at it and did a story about how rampant it was and how schools ignore or bend the rules, you did a great job.

I was responding to the last part of your previous statement, which I took to mean you didn't think the breaking of that rule is a big deal as long as kids weren't being punished for missing the "non-mandatory" workouts.

I disagree with you on that. If you're breaking the rule and the players know you are breaking the rule, that is in appropriate behavior.

Don't get me wrong. I knew about half the coaches involved in a similar situation a few years back, when there were eight or nine teams in one area busted for illegal scrimmages. They got caught because of a story exposing what they were doing in one of the local papers.

I like and respect some of the coaches involved, but I still thought they were wrong in this particular case.

I do agree that if you only write about the school that is easiest to catch, you are doing a half-assed job. I still question the guy who caught those eight or nine schools because there were more doing it and I know the reporter was aware of that.

But if you work the story and you can't catch everybody that breaks the rule, even if you only have enough proof to write about one school breaking the rule. They are cheating and the coach is setting a crappy example for his players by ignoring the rules. And there will be consequences once you write about it, so the story definitely has value.

I agree that a story about coaches breaking the rules is a good story. I just put more importance on issues that harm kids.

For example, maybe the state has some weird-ass rules about practice seasons. And the only kids practicing out of season are baseball players who aren't playing another sport. As long as kids aren't forced to practice I don't see much harm -- though it is against the rules.

Now, say you have a team that has a fund drive and everyone is expected to sell $300 worth or candy or cards or raffle tickets or whatever. And the kids who don't are punished by not being able to play. Maybe they don't want to sell the stuff. Maybe they can't and they parent's can't just write a check.

That's perfectly within the rules but is unfair to kids. I've seen stories where coaches were called on that and thats a good story. Some programs get so caught up in having fancy field and equipment that the kids are secondary.

I see your point, but to me, when a coach at that level is breaking the rules for the sake of a competitive advantage, he is also losing sight of what is best for the kids. When you tell these young people cheating is ok because everybody does it or because we think we can get away with it, you are teaching them something inappropriate.

I guess it is a matter of whether you believe it is important for educators at the high school level to set a strong example for the young people in their care. And I believe coaches do have to be counted as educators, though with some of the ones I've met, that is a scary thought.

 

[Ace]

I concede your point, outofp.

 

[outofplace]

I concede your point, outofp.

Thanks.
I'm a real pain in the ass when I get on my soapbox, huh?

 

[Ace]

Yes you are.

 

[outofplace]

Yes you are.

Well, that fits. I'm a pain in the ass the rest of the time, too.

 

[Starman]

We have a minor league baseball team in our town. Some time ago, the beat reporter from the other paper that covers the team asked the manager about pitch counts, since his best pitcher was the parent club's top prospect and had been on pitch counts. The manager, as he did several times over the course of the season on various subjects, went on a long rant, the jist of which was basically that pitch counts could do a young pitcher a disservice in the long run because they don't learn how to pitch when they're tired later in a game and don't have their best stuff. A very insightful point, but not exactly one that mouthed the party line.

Anyhow, by the time this season is over, this team has made the playoffs for the second straight year and, most importantly, three more of the players this guy has managed in the minors have reached the major leagues. But instead of getting a promotion to the next level, he gets fired, with the explanation he received being that he put winning over development. And when the GM of the parent club is questioned on it, he says that he had seen the aforementioned story.

Not to totally threadjack here, but that's why farm-system minor league baseball is a complete fraud.

 

[chazp]

I have story guilt about a story I was not able to write. A few years back at my first job out of college as SE at a small weekly, I was doing a story on the summer workouts for area prep football teams. At one stop, I had the coach tell me his quarterback play would improve over last year because the booster club was paying a former college and CFL quarterback to work with his quarterbacks over the summer. Did some checking and this sorta of thing was not allowed in the state I'm in. Starting doing research and working on a story, about three weeks later I show the story to my ME, who tells me they can't run it. I'm told, "We don't want to be a fly in the ointment, we want to report positive news."
I still feel guilty I never got to inform the public about this. Later that fall, the team which had three straight losing seasons, makes the state playoffs, wins two playoff games before being eliminated and the starting QB makes HM All-State by the state's largest newspaper.
I'm sure, after learning what the state rules are on this, that the team would have been put on probation and not eligible for the state playoffs that season. Not that I want to see anyone get hurt, but if someone breaks the rules, I think it's my job to let the public know.
I'm glad I no longer work for that paper, and I just wonder how many other stories have been swept under the rug by the ME there.

 

[joe king]

I have story guilt about a story I was not able to write. A few years back at my first job out of college as SE at a small weekly, I was doing a story on the summer workouts for area prep football teams. At one stop, I had the coach tell me his quarterback play would improve over last year because the booster club was paying a former college and CFL quarterback to work with his quarterbacks over the summer. Did some checking and this sorta of thing was not allowed in the state I'm in. Starting doing research and working on a story, about three weeks later I show the story to my ME, who tells me they can't run it. I'm told, "We don't want to be a fly in the ointment, we want to report positive news."
I still feel guilty I never got to inform the public about this. Later that fall, the team which had three straight losing seasons, makes the state playoffs, wins two playoff games before being eliminated and the starting QB makes HM All-State by the state's largest newspaper.
I'm sure, after learning what the state rules are on this, that the team would have been put on probation and not eligible for the state playoffs that season. Not that I want to see anyone get hurt, but if someone breaks the rules, I think it's my job to let the public know.
I'm glad I no longer work for that paper, and I just wonder how many other stories have been swept under the rug by the ME there.

Wow. I hope he doesn't call himself a journalist.

 

[outofplace]

Excellent point, chazp. I think the stories I feel most guilty about are the ones I didn't write, whatever the reason.

 

[Football_Bat]

I have story guilt about a story I was not able to write. A few years back at my first job out of college as SE at a small weekly, I was doing a story on the summer workouts for area prep football teams. At one stop, I had the coach tell me his quarterback play would improve over last year because the booster club was paying a former college and CFL quarterback to work with his quarterbacks over the summer. Did some checking and this sorta of thing was not allowed in the state I'm in. Starting doing research and working on a story, about three weeks later I show the story to my ME, who tells me they can't run it. I'm told, "We don't want to be a fly in the ointment, we want to report positive news."
I still feel guilty I never got to inform the public about this. Later that fall, the team which had three straight losing seasons, makes the state playoffs, wins two playoff games before being eliminated and the starting QB makes HM All-State by the state's largest newspaper.
I'm sure, after learning what the state rules are on this, that the team would have been put on probation and not eligible for the state playoffs that season. Not that I want to see anyone get hurt, but if someone breaks the rules, I think it's my job to let the public know.
I'm glad I no longer work for that paper, and I just wonder how many other stories have been swept under the rug by the ME there.

Which is why I never run stories by the ME in the first place, unless it's to pitch it to news. It's easier to get forgiveness than permission, and besides, it's my sports shop and anyone who ******* about it can call me.