Dr. Ink,
My name is Michael Balakier and I am writing to seek your advice. I’m an aspiring journalist who will be entering my third year of college this fall. I write for a website, www.arenafan.com, on my area’s local arena football team, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers, as a voluntary correspondent. I’m granted press credentials for home games and, to put it short, work in the same manner as a newspaper reporter would. I just don’t get paid.
Recently, following a game in which the Pioneers defeated the visiting Greensboro Prowlers 43-40, I was conducting my usual interview with the Pioneers’ head coach. On four occasions, Greensboro committed penalties that resulted in a Pioneers first down. So, after the game, I asked the coach … given the amount of penalties that Greensboro committed, do you feel that your team still would have come out on top if the Prowlers were more disciplined?
Well, the coach starts flipping out. “I have no comment on that question … What kind of a question is that … Show some respect when you come in my office.” He went on and on, with just about every other word being “F” this and “F” that. I apologized to him numerous times, saying that I didn’t mean to insult him or his team.
The advice that I am humbly seeking from you is what would you have done in that given situation, and what advice can you give me about how to learn and get past an experience like that. The more I look back on what happened, I feel it can only be a learning experience, as I will ultimately have to deal with events such as this in the future. However, at the same time, my stomach feels like it’s twisted in knots. Any advice or help that you could share would be greatly appreciated. I deeply thank you for your time, and keep up the exceptional work.
Sincerely,
Michael Balakier
balakier@arenafan.com
Answer: Dr. Ink feels the pain of this writer. The Doc sees nothing wrong with the question. You don’t have to be John Madden to know that an excessive number of penalties can change the outcome of a game. Perhaps an open-ended question might have elicited a more productive response: “Coach: Can you evaluate your team’s play in light of so many Prowler penalties?”
But nothing this writer did deserved the profanity he received in return. The coach owes this writer an apology, and if Dr. Ink owned the team, he would get one. Many coaches are professional bullies and intimidators. They cultivate or blame the news media when it benefits them. So, Dr. Ink says to this writer: Keep the faith, young warrior. You have survived this rite of passage. Live to fight another day!
