Our sports editor Dave Poe can come up with some good lines.
He's always got a lot of insight into things, but the other day he just made me laugh and nod my head.
"You can't make them call us," he said.
Well, that is a very true statement.
Twice this week our photographer Jeff Baughan has been to area sporting events to take a standalone photo to run in the sports section. However, it just so happened that neither of the events he recently shot were called in.
Without knowing what transpired and having a result given to us by the area coaches, a couple of kids didn't get their picture in the paper.
Having worked in the sports department for more than a decade, I can honestly say these things tend to go in phases it seems. Sometimes, depending on the season, we might get just about every call we're supposed to get while at other times we're left wondering if anyone even played a contest.
Thus far into the spring, it looks like it's going to be a record breaking season for a lack of phone calls by Mid-Ohio Valley coaches.
I've had the pleasure of knowing a lot of great coaches by working in this business. It's one of the many reasons I enjoy what I do.
However, when a coach or a program fails to make the effort to give their local newspaper basic information from their event it's bothersome. Personally, it's a little bit irritating.
One of the basic jobs of the sports department is to report the information so readers can digest it. Another job comes in the form of promoting players toward the end of the season for sports which have all-state honors given out.
As I've said numerous times, stats never should be the sole indicator of who makes an all-state team, but when I don't have anything going into the all-state baseball or volleyball meeting, for example, it's really quite difficult to push a player.
Getting back to not having a lot of games from the Mid-Ohio Valley called in thus far this spring, at least I know there are a lot of coaches we can count on.
It really doesn't take a lot of effort to send an email, use our virtual newsroom or call our toll free 800 number to get us information. Each year when we do our spring tab, if I have any new coaches taking the reigns of a team, I make it a point to try and get them the necessary information so they understand what we are looking for when they send in their results.
In the spring, my favorite coach to talk to on the phone is veteran Magnolia baseball skipper Dave Cisar.
Let's just say it's a good thing I have quality typing skills when Cisar calls in because we can get through a baseball box in less than a minute sometimes.
He called in the other night and we were done in a flash. Coach Cisar noted, "that was fast," and I said well, we know what we're doing.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com
