Stupid Interview Question

[Point of Order]

Beat writer was on vacation once and somebody filled in from the sports desk. His first question to my football coach was, "How do you spell your name?"

Classic. Absolutely Classic.

at the final four one year i interviewed a player in one of the hotels when the team had just arrived in town and then asked his name. i was pretty embarassed to ask but i was in a rush to go back and write, i'd never seen this dude before and wasn't confident that i could figure him out by looking at the team media guide and somehow i was the only person left in the interview room so there was no one around i could ask.

i've since learned to ask how to spell the person's name whenever i don't know the name and am expected to know it.

That works fine unless the guy starts spelling, "First name: J-I-M, last name: S-M-I-T-H"

 

[HeinekenMan]

It's cool that people are willing to admit their mistakes. I don't recall any specific stupid questions, but I've asked more than my share. In most cases, I was at less than 100 percent for some reason. Lack of sleep, distractions, having to do two things at one time, flu-like symptoms, tight deadline, boring asshole interview subject. I guess everybody is entitled to a few mistakes.

 

[Batman]

Beat writer was on vacation once and somebody filled in from the sports desk.  His first question to my football coach was, "How do you spell your name?"

Classic.  Absolutely Classic.

That might not be as dumb as it sounds. Even with simple names it's sometimes best to ask. We had a coach whose last name was Lyell. We just heard the pronunciation and spelled it "Lyle" in our section for half the season before somebody pointed it out to us.

 

[Buck]

Nothing wrong with checking the spelling of a name.
I also don't have a problem with 'How do you feel?' 'What happened?' 'What were you thinking?' or 'What was going through your mind?'
Some times you ask a question knowing there's a good chance it sounds dumb, but you have to ask it anyway. You should worry more about getting quotes that are going to advance a story, clarify a story or provide insight to the reader than you should about sounding dumb.
I don't tell my reporters not to use 'talk about ...' They use it all the time. If it works for you, then use it.
I just tell I think it's lazy and lame, and if I was a coach I wouldn't respond to it.