Welcome to Part 3 of my 30-year memoir covering high school athletics and looking back on my days manufacturing shoe leather around Portage County. He could write a book about these experiences, covering roughly his 10 years from the mid-1990s to his early 2000s, but without a publishing deal, he could just write a few second-round columns. Masu.
So, in that spirit of brevity, I offer you…Part 3.
iron man
As I detailed earlier, I knew nothing about how to properly cover a high school track meet. I didn't run track in Mogador (they benefited from my absence), and I never participated in track meets. And the extent of my knowledge of this sport came from watching the Olympics on TV every four years. This fascinated me as a viewer. , you'll see expert commentary, instant replay videos, and tons of on-screen information graphics.
Within five seconds of starting covering my first high school track and field event in Crestwood in April 1994, I knew that if I wanted expert commentary or a ton of information, I would have to go find it myself. Ta. That led to her second lesson about 10 seconds after the first. To find that commentary and information, you had to have about the same level of physical conditioning as the Olympic athletes I grew up watching on TV.
I wasn't. At that time and from now on.
And that brings me to my third lesson. Just about everyone I had to track down for information, including the coaches (Larry Bailey at Rootstown, Bill Huntington at Field, and Brian Botzman at Kent Roosevelt were the most notable). I was in a better place – I was in a much better place. No one told me that to cover an athlete, you effectively had to be an athlete, but that's exactly the situation I found myself in. Even some of the sportswriters I used to pass by at the time. Akron Beacon Journal and EL Rogers cleveland plain dealer, They looked like they could step onto the course and dominate right away. (Chris is currently a sports analyst and commentator for Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports Radio, and as you may know, EL has written several books).
So I had to up my efforts, including spending quality time on the treadmill and stationary bikes that my wife and I had. By quality time, I mean occasionally. After a while, I realized that covering these tournaments was training in itself. In many of them, especially the dreaded All-Day Invitational, I swear I logged more miles than any other athlete there. By the time you're done chasing them for hours on end to get event results, chasing coaches, and running up stadium steps all day long, a treadmill or stationary bike won't be of much use to you.
Event results
Looking back 30 years later, I sometimes ask myself which was easier to get: a high school track and field invitation or a Kremlin secret. Then reality hit me in the face and I thought, what a stupid question. Of course, it would have been easier to obtain the secrets of the Kremlin.
Nowadays, you can go online and get the results you want from any invitation in near real-time, wherever you are. That would have been great in the mid-to-late 1990s. But back then, successful high school track and field invitationals required a little patience, a lot of luck, and maybe a cracker lawyer. For the keeper of the keys held the keys firmly.
As a reporter, I've clearly seen that most invitations have three types of people tracking the results: 1. Coach. 2. Athlete. 3. Everyone else on Earth except the media. And I suspected that an extraterrestrial species would have known the outcome before I did.
Some locations were worse than others. At one school, I had the audacity to reach into a slot in the wall of the press box and he grabbed a piece of paper with the results of a certain event on it. There should have been at least a stack of 30 papers in this slot. A voice called out to me from behind. “Please put that paper back!!'' It's for the coach!!!'' I knew then how the Scarecrow felt when he first met the Wizard.
When I turned around to see who the voice was, I saw an elderly gentleman sitting in the center of the press box. There was no one else in the press box except him, me, and the woman next to him. He looked at me like I had just committed a serious crime.
“But the coach said we can get results here,” I protested.
“The coach is not responsible!!” came the reply, which was probably news to the coach.
And then, clearly anticipating my next question, came these wise words: “The results will be mailed to the newspapers on Monday.” Of course, the good people of Portage County fully expected to read these results the next morning. record courier, Not in a week.
But the brown shirt in that press box was Mister Rogers compared to some other places. There, the press box…was completely off limits to members of the press. These companies tried to get around this problem by taping the result sheet to the glass of the press box. The problem was that these papers were often taped to the outside of the glass, which meant that if a strong wind blew or it started to rain, the match results would all be blown away or soaked. I did. And if that doesn't happen, often the athlete searches for the results of the event on the glass, finds it, peels that sheet off the glass and takes out the information necessary for your story. Perhaps they thought there would be more than one sheet of information available, but they were wrong.
And if you, as a member of the media, had the courage to enter the press box, which is off-limits to reporters, to get the missing results, no matter who was there or how crowded it was, it would be a crackerjack A lawyer could have been there usefully.
Event results II
Getting results with cross-border invitations can be equally adventurous. But since he only had two events to record instead of his 30 or more, he could pretty much do it himself by just standing at the finish line and counting the number of runners coming out.
Of course, this can be a dangerous situation in races where runners cross the finish line in groups, and even more so if one or more runners in that group crawl or trip. radio control The writers were discovered at a regional cross-country meet in the mid-90s.
Thankfully, that didn't happen to me. But it could have happened to any of us, anywhere. It was a cautionary tale about the importance of getting official results, no matter how unpleasant hoops you have to jump through.
On the day in question, our intrepid reporter was covering a Division I regional tournament in the Warren-Youngstown area. It was a rainy day in late October, and the reporter did not feel like hanging out for more than an hour in the chaos to wait for the result of the match. So he devised a plan. The idea was to park near the finish line and count the number of runners as they emerged, eliminating the need to wait for official results.
There, runners began crossing, and reporters began counting. The top 15 finishers qualify for the state championship next weekend in Columbus. Everything these athletes have worked hard for is at stake.
The slots are filling up quickly, and he's quick to note who among the Portage County runners finished where in the top 15. There are 14 runners in the race, and he has one spot left. At this point, two runners are near death, even though they are close to the finish line. One of them won't say it.
Our reporter noticed that one of the two was a Portage County runner. He appears to be running in front with 10 meters left before he loses his balance, trips and falls. He was knocked to the ground, but it didn't stop him from advancing and crawled to the finish line to claim his coveted 15th place.
That's it. Our reporters have regional state qualifiers. All that's left is the interview. As the reporter approached the runner as he crawled across the finish line, he smiled broadly. “Congratulations!” he said to the child, holding out his hand. “Well done! Climb up to 15th place and now it's time to declare!”
“No one!” the child answered. “I finished 16th. It didn't work out.'' And he walked away bitterly disappointed.
Our reporter miscounted.
Another day in my life.
Tom Hardesty is Portager's sports columnist. He previously served as assistant sports editor. record courier and the author of the book “Glimpses of Heaven”.