The lost art of the 'gamer'

[I Should Coco]

Pleasant Valley trailed by one point, had the ball at midcourt with five second left, and featured a Mr. Basketball candidate who'd already scored 32 points. Everyone in the gym knew who would take the final shot.
Surprise!
Swarmed by defenders, Spartans standout Jim Jones found a wide-open Albert Thomas, whose 15-foot jump shot fell through the hoop at the buzzer for a 59-58 victory.

With football season starting in many areas tomorrow night, it's time for another thread on prep sports gamers.

They're becoming an endangered species, it seems. With earlier deadlines, an emphasis on social media to provide game details/quotes, and a lack of reporters to attend games, you'll see fewer and fewer gamers in Saturday sports sections.

Call me old-fashioned, but that's a shame. I got my start writing them as a stringer, and always found it a challenge to come up with a unique lede while writing under a tight deadline. (My go-to technique in the pre-Internet days was to think of the first couple graphs in my car as I drove to find a pay phone).

I still enjoy reading them and occasionally writing them, even if it's for teams I don't know. As a fan of prep games and of small-town journalism, high school gamers contain information you can't get anywhere else, and I hope they still have a place.

The above quote is a (slightly altered) version of one of my favorite basketball ledes, written by an old pro who gave me invaluable advice when I first started covering games.

For those of you heading out to football fields (or other sporting events) this weekend, bring some bug spray, enjoy the hot dog and pray for a clock that keeps moving.

 

[CD Boogie]

With football season starting in many areas tomorrow night, it's time for another thread on prep sports gamers.

They're becoming an endangered species, it seems. With earlier deadlines, an emphasis on social media to provide game details/quotes, and a lack of reporters to attend games, you'll see fewer and fewer gamers in Saturday sports sections.

Call me old-fashioned, but that's a shame. I got my start writing them as a stringer, and always found it a challenge to come up with a unique lede while writing under a tight deadline. (My go-to technique in the pre-Internet days was to think of the first couple graphs in my car as I drove to find a pay phone).

I still enjoy reading them and occasionally writing them, even if it's for teams I don't know. As a fan of prep games and of small-town journalism, high school gamers contain information you can't get anywhere else, and I hope they still have a place.

The above quote is a (slightly altered) version of one of my favorite basketball ledes, written by an old pro who gave me invaluable advice when I first started covering games.

For those of you heading out to football fields (or other sporting events) this weekend, bring some bug spray, enjoy the hot dog and pray for a clock that keeps moving.

I might miss reading them, but I sure as hell don't miss writing them. Last shop I was at, I would be writing gamers remotely from a Wendy's bc I wouldn't have time to go back to the news room and do it from my desktop. Not only writing the gamer, but including the stats and drive summaries -- and all in under 30 minutes from the last whistle. OK, fine, the thrill of pulling that off is pretty unbeatable, but damn if it didn't age me.

 

[I Should Coco]

It's true, high school football has all sorts of potential delays that make filing by deadline a high-blood-pressure scramble. Homecoming festivities, pre-game introductions, halftime band performances that run long ... not to mention the increasing use of the spread-type offenses (with subpar QBs and receivers trying to run them).

And forget about it if you're in a state/region that plays JV games before the varsity on Friday night.

 

[HanSenSE]

It's true, high school football has all sorts of potential delays that make filing by deadline a high-blood-pressure scramble. Homecoming festivities, pre-game introductions, halftime band performances that run long ... not to mention the increasing use of the spread-type offenses (with subpar QBs and receivers trying to run them).

And forget about it if you're in a state/region that plays JV games before the varsity on Friday night.

Oh yes. And where I worked last, they had a "hard" start time for varsity. Rightly so, I may add, since only relatives of the players show up for the JV game.

 

[wicked]

I was fortunate that I worked at places that had late deadlines.

It's amazing how much they've been cut back in the last 10 years. I doubt I'd wanna deal with it anymore.

 

[Bronco77]

It's true, high school football has all sorts of potential delays that make filing by deadline a high-blood-pressure scramble. Homecoming festivities, pre-game introductions, halftime band performances that run long ... not to mention the increasing use of the spread-type offenses (with subpar QBs and receivers trying to run them).

Seems as if weather delays are more frequent than they used to be, too. Same can be said for college football.

Had several games last year disrupted by bench-clearing brawls, which make the reporter's task on deadline that much more difficult.

On the positive side, a reporter friend who's been covering high school football for 35 years says he's gotten to the point where he enjoys blowouts, because the running-clock rule in one-sided games in his state is his best friend on deadline.

 

[Batman]

On the positive side, a reporter friend who's been covering high school football for 35 years says he's gotten to the point where he enjoys blowouts, because the running-clock rule in one-sided games in his state is his best friend on deadline.

The private school association in our state has that. I covered one early-season football game where it was in full effect. Kickoff was at 7 p.m., and I was heading back to the office by sundown.

The basketball running clock is terrific, too. One year, we had a school with a god-awful girls team and a state championship boys team, so we often got the running clock in both games. It was like Nirvana. Tip off for the girls was usually at 6, and I remember one night walking out of the gym at 7:30 after a varsity doubleheader.

 

[wicked]

I loved Mass. when they did the 16-minute halves. Now that they do the 8-minute quarters, it's more of a pain.

 

[QYFW]

With football season starting in many areas tomorrow night, it's time for another thread on prep sports gamers.

They're becoming an endangered species, it seems. With earlier deadlines, an emphasis on social media to provide game details/quotes, and a lack of reporters to attend games, you'll see fewer and fewer gamers in Saturday sports sections.

Call me old-fashioned, but that's a shame. I got my start writing them as a stringer, and always found it a challenge to come up with a unique lede while writing under a tight deadline. (My go-to technique in the pre-Internet days was to think of the first couple graphs in my car as I drove to find a pay phone).

I still enjoy reading them and occasionally writing them, even if it's for teams I don't know. As a fan of prep games and of small-town journalism, high school gamers contain information you can't get anywhere else, and I hope they still have a place.

The above quote is a (slightly altered) version of one of my favorite basketball ledes, written by an old pro who gave me invaluable advice when I first started covering games.

For those of you heading out to football fields (or other sporting events) this weekend, bring some bug spray, enjoy the hot dog and pray for a clock that keeps moving.

I would start "writing" on my walk to the car after my postgame interviews.

 

[Tarheel316]

My game last Friday was a blowout that started 50 minutes late because of lightning. We have a much earlier deadline now so I was writing on my iPad the entire game. Story was done as soon as the game was over. Emailed it to the desk, went down and got some quick interviews and added them to the story. Somehow made deadline. It was stressful.

 

[HanSenSE]

Where I was stringing last fall, we had to file a bare-bones story soon as the final gun went off to meet print edition deadline (thank God no one runs the spread out here), then do a writethru with quotes (just like AP) for the web.

 

[DanOregon]

If you have a day's delay, (and the space) make it work for you. Give it a feature-y feel. Find out if the "player of the game" had anything interesting happen to him earlier in the week - root canal, Chemistry test, got his driver's license, etc. Maybe he had a special guest (a grandma, cousin) attending the game or had some special meal "Normally I just go with a cheeseburger, but i went with a chicken sandwich this week."
Yes - it's stupid, but SI has people spend days following players and coaches leading up to the Super Bowl ready to incorporate such stuff into their Super Bowl gamer depending on who wins.

 

[spikechiquet]

After a 7-year absence, tonight I am back at covering prep football as a reporter. The last few years, I was a desk monkey and only wrote small recaps from the phone.
The local city weekly posted they needed a writer for the games and I sent in my resume. She actually called me to make sure I understood this wasn't a full-time position, just a freelance spot and just for football. I said I knew and she was blown away someone with 20-plus years wanted to do it for peanuts. hahaha

This will also be the first time I have no deadline pressure. My deadline is Monday, 9 a.m. LOL I'm actually going to meet the coach after Saturday film to get quotes. I'll just talk to the kids after the game. I'm looking forward to actually having a narrative to the game, not just play-by-play. It should be fun to write "gamers" although it's not the traditional version.

 

[playthrough]

I loved, loved writing Friday night gamers and all the camaraderie around it. At my first paper, in Central Florida, a half-dozen of us would always hit Sonny's BBQ near the office before heading out in every direction for games while the editor went back to the office. At my bigger paper, with writers in multiple bureaus, everyone would be slinging scores and wisecracks along the internal messaging system.

My brother-in-law is the head coach at a big area high school so I still go to games, only now it's as a fan in the stands. But I still watch thinking of how I'd write certain parts. After the game we go catch up with him but usually have to wait while he finishes interviews on the field with reporters. I often wish I could sneak in and listen, partially because he never tells his family as much about the game as he does the reporter!

 

[jr/shotglass]

For close to two decades, we would tailgate in the parking lot after deadline on football Friday nights. Grill, beer, assorted goodies.

It became so popular that when out-of-town writers came in to cover a game, they'd often file from our office and join us for the tailgate.

 

[Bronco77]

For close to two decades, we would tailgate in the parking lot after deadline on football Friday nights. Grill, beer, assorted goodies.

At the late, often great Dallas Times Herald, we used to do that in the parking garage next to the building. No grills, but plenty of beer, snacks and great conversation. Sometimes we'd be there until about 4 a.m. (which could be problematic because several of us had to be back Saturday in the early afternoon to prepare for the college football crunch).

This thread is a reminder how different things will be at work tonight from a desk perspective. Staffing of live games for print at our shop is down to a bare minimum because of early deadlines. Yes, it's less work, less stress and Fridays now will be more like every other night, but it's also a stark reminder of the changes in the business.

 

[BTExpress]

Tonight's high school design work likely will involve Sports centerpiece, one other staffed game and a roundup inside.

A far cry from doing a sports centerpiece and 3 open pages inside for one edition . . . and then changing your centerpiece to a bordering county's big game and doing 3 different open pages inside with that county's games for the next edition.

 

[swingline]

This thread is almost making me nostalgiac for football Friday nights. Almost.

 

[jr/shotglass]

A couple of outlets around here asked me if I'd string for them this fall. I told them I'd rather just go watch my old high school team play as a fan. I've rediscovered how cool that can be.

Well, it's partly that ... and partly because of how this thread started, the death of the game story. I don't want to go to tweet, put together a video and write a five-highlight blurb on the game.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

I loved, loved writing Friday night gamers and all the camaraderie around it. At my first paper, in Central Florida, a half-dozen of us would always hit Sonny's BBQ near the office before heading out in every direction for games while the editor went back to the office. At my bigger paper, with writers in multiple bureaus, everyone would be slinging scores and wisecracks along the internal messaging system.

My brother-in-law is the head coach at a big area high school so I still go to games, only now it's as a fan in the stands. But I still watch thinking of how I'd write certain parts. After the game we go catch up with him but usually have to wait while he finishes interviews on the field with reporters. I often wish I could sneak in and listen, partially because he never tells his family as much about the game as he does the reporter!

"Hey bro you forgot to tell him how Joey Star Running Back wasn't really sick last week, he got suspended for showing up to school drunk!"