What are you, as journalists, looking for from a sports info department

[UNCGrad]

I've recently jumped from working a sports editor at small newspapers into a small college sports information department. I'm enjoying the hell out of the work, maybe moreso that I expected. And perhaps ironically, after years of the ever-shrinking deadline, I'm writing more often and enjoying it more.

All that said, I came to the job with some preconceived ideas about what I expected as a journalist from an SID and have tried to incorporate some of those. But I was also hoping some of you might post some of the things you expect to get from an SID, what irks you about some, and maybe something that you've come across before that made you think, "That's great. That really helped. That person is really on the ball." Basically, I'm looking for more ideas and ways to benefit the media. That's my job now. I can schedule interviews and call people back on time, so I've got that part down. Give your best suggestions.

Many thanks. I love this board, and I really think it could be a valuable resource even in sports information.

 

[Stitch]

Don't lie to the media or play games. And don't put some kid who doesn't have a clue about athletics in charge of stats.

 

[SoCalDude]

If you're supplying the media with info on a game it didn't cover, get the info in fast. The faster the better.
We joke all the time when we know a team has played and we're waiting for an e-mail with the result.
"Game's been over for more than an hour. Where is the info?"
"The SID is probably still trying to get the jock straps washed and the towels picked up."

 

[apeman33]

Show the kids how to run the stats program sometime earlier than five minutes prior to game time/tip off.

"Hey, Apeman, we're going to be able to get some stats for you tonight, so you won't have to worry about doing that."

*Looks over and notices that the two baseball players are still going over the poor photocopy of the instruction manual*

"Um, that's cool, but I've been doing mine for so long that I don't think I even know how to be at a game without doing them. I'll be fine."

*Tells baseball players who carried/shot the ball two dozen times during the night*

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Get to know your local media, and their needs.

At my last paper, we had SIDs who would take forever with their results. We would wonder what the heck was taking them so long. Then we'd get the result, and it'd be this 1,000-word essay.
And we were only devoting one or two sentences to the game anyways. And these were small schools that really weren't going to get much coverage anyways from us, or anywheres else.

Also, learn when their deadlines are. They don't want to hear story pitches when they're on deadline.

 

[sgreenwell]

Also, learn when their deadlines are. They don't want to hear story pitches when they're on deadline.

Definitely this. It bugged the heck out of me.

 

[BTExpress]

Do not send in a story that is hopelessly written from your team's point of view when it looks ridiculous to do so.

For example, say your team (State U) loses a baseball game 12-2 to Tech.

Do not write the following (which I have seen ad nauseum).

"State U. first baseman Joe Blow had two hits and drove in a run Sunday in a 12-2 loss to Tech at State U. field."

The media will NOT put it in the paper like this. Instead, they will hunt for what REALLY happened (probably buried in the 8th or 9th graph) when Tech scored 8 runs in the fourth inning off State U. starter Lefty Koufax.

You work for State U., but your job is to provide the media with a report it can use, not one so slanted that it cannot be used without great difficulty.

 

[apeman33]

If you're planning to hand out 10 information packs for press row, make 20 of them. There are always people showing up that think those things are freebies and walk off with them, leaving none for the people who need them. It also ensures you'll have some extra on hand just in case someone loses their stuff.

I say this because this is one of the worst things that happens at games since the new AD took over here. Some weeks, he only brings up like 5 rosters. Except that there are 3 of the home team's coaches that want to look at one, 3 of the visitor's coaches that want to look, the clock operator who wants one to refer to, the PA announcer, home sports information, visitors sports information, home radio, visiting radio, me, and the visiting newspaper.

 

[TheMethod]

A story idea would be nice once in a while. I don't expect SIDs to help me break news, but a soft feature story idea from time to time would be great.

 

[rtse11]

Nearly every SID I work with emails me the same information he/she puts on the school website. I don't need that. I need an AP-style quick lede that includes information for both teams. You wanna send me your web story later? Fine. But on deadline, I only need 5-6 sentences.

 

[Ace]

From ADs a smaller school ....

We want live game recaps that we get quickly the day/night of games that detail the action, who scored, any pertinent information and don't get bogged down trying to make a 7-0 loss by your team sounds like some heroic stand.

If you have a release about a player of the week or other honor or something, put what high school the kids went to. I might be really interested in a player from my city who did something at your school but not so much if they are from Bolivia.

I am open to doing stories from any schools, but don't take in personally and sulk if we don't bite. Keep at it. Some weeks are really busy and we don't have space or manpower. Other weeks we are looking for something to put in the paper.

If you have a team doing really well, let us know. We probably don't have anyone assigned to your school specifically, so you are probably our best resource for news, story ideas. Likewise, if you have a good feature -- triplets, 40-year-old football player, Rhodes Scholar, whatever, pitch it.

If you have a story, send a photo. Have at least high-res head shots available. Most of the ones on the web are too low-quality to work for print.

Don't come with the attitude that we are obligated to write about your school or we are unfair or your players work just as hard as BIG STATE SCHOOL.

But as a former sports editor, I am sure you would never do that.

 

[kmayhugh]

"Small" is relative. If we're talking a small Division I school, the expectations are higher than from a small NAIA school.

I'm happy if I can get the following:
A web site with usable mug shots, rosters, bios, up-to-date stats and team history
Box scores in a timely manner, e-mail preferred over fax
Press releases for off-season personnel moves in non-major sports. I'll know if your football coach leaves. I might not know if you have a new swim recruit, but I'd probably want to throw it in the roundup. And like someone said: Always list the high school.

Anything else is gravy. Usable submitted photos and feature pitches are nice but not necessary.

 

[PaperDoll]

Be aware of the newspaper's college coverage schedule.

My paper runs its weekly college roundup on Tuesdays. We need information for that on Monday morning, or even Sunday night.

Also, find out the correct contacts. Some papers have one person who deals with all the college stuff. Others, like mine, break down the athletes by sport -- so pitching me a field hockey story won't be nearly as effective as if you send it to one of my colleagues, who actually covers field hockey. And sending e-mail to the top individual on our masthead, thinking you'll go over the reporter's head, won't do anything but annoy everybody in the department.

Right now, I'd be happy just to get any consistent information from our local colleges. :-\ We used to get multiple faxes each day, and we actually had a daily roundup of the local results. But that stopped more than a year ago, and was replaced by... silence. Well, at least until the postseason is underway and the coach (no, not the SID!) reaches out to ask why we haven't done anything on the team we didn't know was still playing!

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I was spoiled because early in my career I worked with one of the best SIDs in the country and a few years later I worked with one of the worst.

Here's my story about what the best one did for me once. There was a specific player who all of the beat writers needed and when we were told by that SID that he wasn't coming out, we went back to write our stories and two other beat writers stayed back because they were waiting for a different player to come out. During that time, the player we all needed came out and spoke to the other two beat writers. The SID in question stood there with his recorder and taped the interviews and came back and had an intern transcribe the quotes and gave them to us. His response was, "It wasn't your fault that you missed him. I told you he wasn't coming out, so it's not fair that someone else would get him just because they were lucky and were waiting for someone else."

Considering the magnitude of what this was, he saved my ass and the other beat writer's ass. The other beat writers weren't mad because they recognized what the SID was doing as being "only fair"

 

[Mira]

If you hire interns to help write profiles, game stories or features for your Web site, please edit them prior to slapping up on the Athletics site, or have someone in your office give them an extra read ... especially players' stats in stories.

 

[Ace]

Another small, but nice thing ...

If you are sending an email, put something useful in the subject field:

Podunk men's soccer beats No. 18 Central, 2-1

or

Podunk athlete wins Nobel prize

It helps to get the proper attention. We get thousands of emails. Many I delete without reading, just by looking at who sent them or the subject field.

I really hate it when schools send emails with a vague or blank subject field. And I especially hate it when you click on the email and it just says "See attachment from Podunk U."

I get hundred of emails a day. Yours could get lost if I don't know what I am looking at.

 

[hondo]

Don't have anyone on your staff named Steve McClain.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Don't have anyone on your staff named Steve McClain.

Probably the name we see the most frequently on those "Worst SID" threads.

 

[Wenders]

Knowing your media's deadline is a must. The last sports info department I worked with had a few people who were notoriously slow in trying to get us stuff on Saturday night. If it was an away game, I was likely not there because my paper wouldn't cover travel expenses. Finally, after a few times of waiting until deadline for them to get me a story (that I would have to extensively rewrite -- that's another thing. If you write stories, at least try to get your people something that requires little editing before it goes into the paper) I finally started just doing it myself. Sometimes, I had to go to other websites to find stats, a play-by-play, etc. Generally, I would get the stats and have called the coaches and written a better story before they could get me just a bare-bones story.

Also, you have coaches and players at your disposal. Ask them a few questions and throw a quote or two in the story. None of the stories that the department that I dealt with had a quote from any source in there, which was one of the main reasons that I started doing my own stories on away games. It was a smaller school, so I would listen to it on the radio and follow a stat updater and have a better idea of what went on in the game than the SID who was actually in attendance. There were times where I knew more about injuries, recruiting and story ideas involving the players than the SIDs did because I actually talked to the players and developed good relationships with the coaches, who would feed me information discreetly.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

What do I want from a SID?

I want them to do it the way Georgia does. Period.