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Talk to us
By George Starks
As a kid growing up, my dad always told me to “practice what I
preached.”
It took me a long time to fully understand what he meant by that but
then again, he never set a lot of good examples himself. He was of the
do as I say and not as I do era.
As a sports journalist, I do my best to set a good example by being as
fair as I can in what I write and how I think. I have contemplated this
for several days now, trying to be objective in what I am going to say.
So here it goes.
It’s become commonplace that after every sporting event, the two teams
and coaches will meet in the middle of the field or court, shake hands
and tell the other that they had a good game. Sportsmanship is a big
part of what we teach our kids.
However, some coaches don’t exactly practice what they preach.
In years past, the print media would show up for big games, especially
ones that had conference implications. Wasn’t always a lot of radio
around doing live broadcasts and no one ever heard of the Internet.
Today, we not only have print media but everything else, including
television, depending on the situation.
In days past, rarely did a coach refuse to talk to the press unless
his/her team had just been embarrassed. Therefore, they had nothing
good to say about anything and in cases like that, it’s understandable.
Then there are those other times. Times when you just got beat by a
better team. Refusing to talk to the press sends a bad message. Not
only to the media but to the kids.
We all have a job to do and that is why we show up. We give the kids
coverage and we try to do it in a positive way. When an article is
written, 85-90 percent of any news/sports article is quotes from a
subject person. In my case a coach.
Ever read a sports article with no quotes? It’s not much of an article.
Every writer in this country has run into this problem and to put it in
mildly, it stinks. It leaves us scratching our heads trying to come up
with words to make for some kind of interesting reading.
But when we have to say things like, “coach so and so was not available
for comment or refused to comment,” it makes you, the coach, look bad.
Not only to your players but to the fans and the media. It tells
everyone you’re a sore loser.
No one wants to lose but when you exit and never say a word, everyone
loses.
Come on coach... talk to us!
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