Iowa Prep Sports, Puglieses Point, Sports
H.S. Football – It doesn’t get any tougher
Posted on Oct 17, 2009 by Nick Pugliese.
Tayler Bontrager of Iowa City West makes a catch Friday night.
I covered a high school football game last night for the first time in 26 years. I had forgotten how tough it is.
After many years of college football and professional football coverage — as well as other college and pro sports — from the comfort and calmness of those respective press boxes, I suddenly was at Kingston Stadium on Friday night looking for the press box announcer doing play-by-play, a typed play-by-play after each quarter, instant replays and a post-game news conference feed. Alas, none of those things were there.
You are on an island when you cover prep sports, doing your own play-by-play without the benefit of replay. As I’ve told countless of journalism students, there is nothing more difficult in this business. I’ve always maintained you could not watch one play of an NFL game and, through the press box play-by-play and provided post-game quotes and notes, you probably could produce a decent game story.
Today’s sports journalists have it even tougher than when I first started covering high school sports in the late 1970s for The Tampa Tribune. One word - Internet. That means live blogging and Twitter updates during the games, and doing your own videos after the games. And, the deadlines have not gotten any better.
What it does mean is that you get better coverage than ever before. I tip my scribe’s hat (the one on this blog) to my colleagues at The Gazette who do it every Friday night – Jeff Linder, Jeff Johnson, K.J. Pilcher and Scott Dochterman as well as those on the sports desk at the office who are handling all that copy and more often than not save us (thanks Dale). I also appreciate the hard work conducted by those behind KCRG’s “Friday Night Lights” — John Campbell, Scott Saville and John Sears and all the videographers who hustle on the sidelines every week to produce that show.
So, the next time you see a mistake or typo in a high school game story, cut the writer and editor a break and realize we’re only human. The next time the Sports Ticker isn’t working on “Friday Night Lights,” give us a chance to explain that there were technical difficulties and we’ll get it fixed ASAP. We strive to get it right and for perfection, but we make mistakes and it’s an imperfect world.
If you don’t believe me, try sitting in a high school press box or walking those sidelines some Friday night.
And don't forget. all the so called sports writers had their own sets of stats and didn't know if a sack meant yards off rushing or passing yards; at the end of the game one writer may have 135 yds. rushing while another may have 225. Forget about the team's official log book as that wasn't always accurate according to my stats either! And best of all after the game one had to dash to the nearest phone booth and dictate the game and stats word for word to the main desk to make morning news before 11 p.m. deadline. There were no portable phones or computers before the 90's and you had to be a Clark Kent to get your story in!!
Somewhere Roland Acosta is smiling!!! Wishing you and family well in Iowa.
Wow interesting stuff. Nobody realizes what goes on behind the scenes or how difficult other people's jobs are. We always think the internet has made all jobs easier but never stop to think how much more it really entails. Thanks for the enlightenment!