Out of Bounds: Setting the record straight(er) By Jake Linger
It seems like every spring parents come out of the woodwork, demanding answers as to why their youth athlete has not been in the paper. Many times the complaints are masked by questions like, "Where is the team coverage?" or remarks such as, "The team doesn't even get a mention."
Last spring was especially difficult for me because I was new. I started in March '07 and just weeks later, while trying to learn a brand new job, I was thrust into covering the rabid high school sports season. I am happy to report that everyone made it through those three months alive, but not necessarily without a few bruises here and there.
I was raked over the coals for not attending this game, but then at the same time I was chided for not attending that game. For anyone who has ever started a new job, I'm sure you can relate. Now imagine covering 56,000 households in one city. Oh sure, I make it look easy now (he said with a hint of sarcasm). But alas, it is not easy to make time and space for every athletics team - youth or adult - in the city. What I appreciate, however, are the teams who truly are appreciative of the coverage they get.
I'm looking at you, Bowie Hockey Club and BCC Streeters.
Something I can do without is taking heat from parents while I am attending games and trying to provide fair coverage. One mother proclaimed, "He's from the Bowie Blade-News and they're never nice." Another proclaimed with sarcasm, "Oh yeah, he's the famous Jake Linger." This all happened while I was covering a game that each of these ladies' sons was participating in. In fact, the latter of the two parents commented on how she doesn't even read these pages anymore.
I feel bad because by not reading the Blade-News sports section, she missed her child being featured on Page B1 in a recent Behind the Athlete. Too bad.
I would like to thank the coaches and parents who chose to take the high road and work with me this year instead of working against the grain. These four pages that are dedicated to sports each week are really for the kids. Help me help them enjoy it. There should not even be a second option where the youth athletes' enjoyment is concerned.
In light of all of this, I wanted to share something with you folks. This is an excerpt from a column featured in The Capital - or The Mothership
- last Sunday. It was written by Capital-Gazette Communications publisher and editor Tom Marquardt. The same principles apply to the Blade-News, except instead of a four-person sports staff, we have one guy - me. While I am blessed with the help of Tim Sparks and various photographers, there is only one full-time employee on the Blade-News sports staff - me.
Enjoy.
From our "we can't win" file: (The Capital) got a letter complaining about the lack of coverage of track and field events, saying that the writer hadn't seen results in the newspaper and the sports staff was unresponsive.
We print whatever results the coaches give us. If we have failed to do so, please let the sports editor know how we can improve.
It is just plain wrong to say that we don't cover track and field - a huge job for our four-person sports staff. In fact, on April 2 we printed an entire page of previews of the top track and field athletes from each high school. There were more than a hundred names on that page.
Not everyone can be pleased, and I know that - not even the mother of a baseball player whose team has been featured in numerous stories as well as a personal profile on that player in the paper.
Sometimes e-mails become lost, or space in the layout begins to become limited. Call or write and let me know what's going on. The information will make it to the paper. If it doesn't, I will pay for your subscription! How can you beat that guarantee?
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Speaking of focusing on the athletes and keeping parents and coaches out of the spotlight, let me say something about the recent turbulence between Bowie Boys and Girls Club and the county boys and girls club.
Get over yourselves!
In all honesty, I've seen episodes of "CSI: Miami" that had less drama than this mess between BBGC and PGCBGC. Here is what I think I know. The county is saying that any boys and girls club that participates in a sport outside of the county parameters is subject to suspension or expulsion from the county level. Granted, this type of action requires an amendment to the current county bylaws, but, according to PGCBGC executive director Calvin Massie, the votes are there.
Now, if you ask someone with BBGC what is going on, the county is punishing them for seeking a higher level of competition and a more fairly operated organization. One fact is that county numbers are down. PGCBGC blames Bowie - one of the larger organizations in gorgeous Prince George's - for the drop because BBGC has taken teams to other organizations, such as WAGS (soccer) and Baltimore Beltway League (football). BBGC blames the poor manner in which they believe PGCBGC is being run. They argue that because of the county's ineffectiveness, they were forced to seek other means to provide their youth athletes with the best experience possible.
What about South Bowie Boys and Girls Club? They are sitting on the couch watching big brother arguing with dad. SBBGC is in a position to possibly gain numbers if BBGC is expelled from the county program - unless you ask BBGC, then there is little chance of that happening.
The truth is that BBGC is not going anywhere. BBGC will still be strong - just maybe not as strong as they've historically been. But let me say this: If one youth athlete from this city gets caught in the cross fire between the powers that be, who each share an awesome responsibility to these kids, I will make it a goal to investigate and find out the truth of what happened and why kids paid the price by playing against lesser talent or playing on sub-par fields or courts.
I wish I knew a better way to explain how confusing this entire mess has gotten. So, I will leave the explanation to former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who once said, "Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know."
