Have you ever been called out in public?
July 14, 2008 @ 8:59 a.m. by Joannaby joanna
The reason I ask this question is because a friend of mine was recently called out by an athlete for a reason he still can’t quite figure out.
So let me ask you, through your job or in your playing days (past or present), have you ever been called out in a public manner?
It’s happened to me a couple times. I’ve written often about Southeast boys coach Carl Taylor getting mad at me after a game and telling me that if I want to talk to his players, I need to ask him first — this was in front of about 30 people. I think the reason I remember that so vividly is because he apologized right there after I pointed out that he doesn’t mind if I grab a player when they win, but it changes when they lose?
When I was at Mizzou, I covered a men’s game at OU when Kelvin Sampson was coaching (mid-1990s) and OU had won after getting something like 55 free throw attempts to Missouri’s 20 (or something like that). So I asked him if it made a difference in the game. Oh. My. God. He went off on me. I was all of 22 and the press conference was packed with media and boosters and everyone is staring at me. I was shaking, I’m serious. After his rant he looked at me and I said, “So coach did those free throws make a difference?” And he responded as if nothing had happened and said that of course it did, blah, blah, blah.
Whew. I can still remember how my legs felt so shaky and there was sweat trickling down my back. Ugh.
I know athletes go through this with coaches — during a game or a practice. Has it happened to you? Maybe you’ve done it to someone.
I’d love to hear about it.
July 14th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Joanna I think that people (like me have to under stand is you are reporting what you see and there are always two side to every thing and I am sure that if someone try to get both side the best you can that is all we can ask of you, sorry that people are so miss under standing.
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July 14th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I”m surprised ol’Kelvin didn’t whip out his cell phone and phone in his answer to you, since he’s so well versed in how to use it.
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July 14th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Great Job, you forgot to close you parenthasese.
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July 14th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Was Kelvin Sampson angry, I don’t know why he would if he got 55 free throws to Mizzou’s 20. I’m not sure what he was yelling about.
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July 15th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Lion’s Roar, want to know the reason I never correct anyone’s grammar here? Because of what you did — you misspelled the word. It’s parenthesis or parentheses (check out m-w.com).
As for Kelvin Sampson, when I look back on it, I’m not that surprised that he got angry because coaches don’t like to take anything away from their players and because it sounds as though the refs helped them win.
But his reaction was so over the top and the disparity in free throws was so obvious that it was an advantage, regardless of how it happened.
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July 15th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I googled parenthesis, dang you google.
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July 16th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Come on, didn’t they ever tell you not to trust the Internet? (um, forget that I checked it at m-w.com, if you don’t mind.)
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July 16th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Who are these parent-thesis people anyway? Sounds too highly educated for sports banter. Besides, it’s probably some college master’s course thing…
Enough with the jokes… as for the topic: Funny, JoA and I had a discussion this year following the 2nd epic East vs. SE BB game about a call I had (she didn’t specify me, by name, but referenced the call via blog). It wasn’t an out and out public calling-out, but those that were there and know me… you get the point. I questioned her about her angle and opinion vs. facts, we had a very civil disagreement of the situation, no biggie.
As an official, the ones we really hate are the people that go over the top with “you’re an idiot” kind of rants. They don’t know me long enough to know I’m an idiot. while true, they should have some better information than a HS or college BB or BSB game to go by. I hate the annonymous ones. the ones that hide. I always felt that you shouldn’t say or do anything at a game that you wouldn’t comfortably say/do face to face in a bar where you might catch a bottle to the middle of your head.
Brent Kemnitz, a famous ranter when he’s on fire, always laughed and said it gets to him when people in the stands yell at his pitcher, or even at times at an umpire. He wants an umpire to show up at that person’s work and wear them out for how they pull staples from papers, file the charts, or get coffee for the boss. I’d love to show up at some of the fan’s place of employment and break them down on how they handle a customer service problem, or try to sell a car to a person.
too many fans in sports think a guy or gal honestly shows up to screw their team… seriously! we have better things to do than that.
G
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July 16th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
greg, I think you just called me out. I do have to tell you, though, that I went up to talk to Jordan Cyphers later in the season to ask him about that play. I did. I liked what I heard.
By the way, nice post on the parent-thesis. Funny.
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July 16th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
I believe that it isn’t healthy to interview players after a win or a loss, and some coaches actually forbid players from talking with the press. Carl Taylor would do himself a favor if he stopped allowing player interviews after all games. It doesn’t do justice to the team. It really only singles out the “star” players and as a result could* hurt team chemistry. And on many occassions I have seen the immaturity of student athletes in the paper. Comments that leave you thinking “What was he thinking saying that?”
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July 16th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
sam, really? You don’t think that players should be interviewed by the media? Or is it just Southeast players? What happens when they get to college? Think that will last?
As for the immaturity of players, yeah, some are dumb. Most of the time, there are a few comments here or there that just need to be ignored. But there are a lot of thoughtful athletes, intelligent athletes, so why not let them talk about what they love to do? Many coaches talk to their kids about how to handle the media, and frankly, it’s information anyone should get. Wouldn’t it be smart if we all were a little less knee-jerk? A little more respectful? A little more humble? Crazy, I know. But then, that’s my knee-jerk response.
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