Lessons from the sidelines

This upcoming football season marks my 11th on the sidelines for The Citizen Newspapers. In 1998, Cal Beverly, the publisher and editor here, offered me a chance to cover sports.
“We’ll see how it works,” he told me, describing my time as a probationary period.

It has worked out fairly well so far, after all, I’m still here.

Although I had taken some journalism classes at the University of Georgia, I learned my craft on the job, thanks to the great colleagues I’ve had in the offices here on Glynn St. and also from the experience in the field.

Here are some of the things I’ve learned covering high school football.

• This isn’t ESPN and you’re not a sports columnist - My career in newspapers was almost over before it began. The first game I was slated to cover was McIntosh at East Coweta, a team that has had few winning records in its history at a school that has always fielded Division 1 college level talent and several NFL players. To give a sense of the atmosphere, I wrote something like, “Even during warm-ups, East Coweta looked like a team focused on a state title, while McIntosh looked like a team searching for the bus to take them home.”

Yes, I did catch 18 kinds of Hell for that one from parents and students, but also from Cal. The lesson I learned that day was you can’t criticize high school football teams, at least not with that much snark. Let the facts speak for themselves and take it easy on teenagers who are trying to have fun.

Cal, I know I thanked you profusely for giving me another chance back then, but let me thank you again. The job has become a career.

• Do not stand too close to the sidelines - Sandy Creek at Creekside, several years ago (and maybe further back than that), I’m shooting the breeze and shooting pictures near the reporters from the rival newspaper when a gaggle of players starts heading our way. I duck quickly out of the way, but the other reporter gets bumped and takes the camera to her mouth and loses a tooth. Since that game, I stand a few extra steps behind the sideline. It is better to be safe than in the emergency room.

• Pay attention to the line-ups - In my tenure at the paper I have had the privilege of covering Sandy Creek games featuring NFL players Calvin Johnson (Detroit) and Kedric Golston (Washington). I remember being on the sidelines and having to look up at them - and I’m not a small guy. Golston went to UGA and Johnson went to Tech and because I’m a reporter at their hometown newspaper I got to cover them in college and at The Dome when their pro teams pay a visit. It’s a neat feeling to say I’ve seen the best of the best come through here. I’m sure Creekside’s Eric Berry will get the call to the pros someday too. He was the kind of high school player you knew would be something special someday.

• Don’t be late - The two examples I have that illustrate this point that I can distinctly remember both involve Starr’s Mill. One game was at The Dome and by the time I made my way around the stadium to the media entrance and the press box, the opposing team had already scored several times. The other instance was a playoff game at East Paulding and, because it wasn’t the best marked area in the world, I parked about a mile and half from the entrance (the stadium lights looked so much closer). Each time East Paulding scored, a cannon would be fired. That dang cannon went off twice before I got in the stadium. The Panthers made it a game but came up short.

• Get there early - People show up for high school football games well before kickoff. If you show up 15 minutes to game time, you will be parking in East Bumble.

• Don’t wear a local school’s colors if two local teams are playing each other - This seems obvious, but sometimes you’re just looking to stay warm and you don’t think about what your clothing suggests about your impartiality. Many people feel that I have a certain bias towards one team or another and I can honestly say that I don’t. I’m looking for the clock to run and for the game to end. I love football, but I love being at home with my family more.

• The fourth quarter is when the best deals hit at the concession stand - When they realize that they have made more hot dogs and hamburgers than necessary, prices get cut in half. If you enjoy what Taco Bell calls “fourth meal,” it usually hits about 9:30 p.m. at high school football stadiums.

• You never know which games are going to be special. Two years ago, I attended a game at Whitewater and sent the other sports reporter (back in the good old days) to cover Sandy Creek at McIntosh. He witnessed arguably the biggest win in McIntosh’s history and the biggest upset in Sandy Creek’s. Another year, I was at the Whitewater game at Starr’s Mill that Whitewater won in the final seconds. It was the game that established one of the fiercest rivalries in county sports. Another example was Fayette County’s win over Whitewater the year they went undefeated during the regular season. You just never know. The game you choose to go to might just be one of the best you’ll ever see.

• People on the sidelines are among the friendliest ever - No matter which school I go to on a Friday night, there’s always at least one exceptionally nice person to talk to. If they are reading this, they know who they are. The games are fun and the atmosphere is electric, but the people I’ve met, on and off the field, have been the true highlights.

Lesser lessons that should be mentioned anyway:
• The part of the sidelines where the players stand smells bad, but the locker room smells 10 times worse.

• Wear a poker face on the sidelines. If someone sees you smiling or laughing while their team is playing bad, they might misunderstand and think you are laughing at them.

• Unless you have a kid participating in the homecoming court, bring a book the night of homecoming. That ceremony lasts forever and it is boring.

• Watch the band’s halftime show. At least once.
When the football players are doing their two and three a days, the band kids are out in the school’s parking lot for hours and hours going over their routine. They work hard and they have as much school spirit as the players, cheerleaders and fans.