Devlin and more

I had a busy week last week.
It started with a call late Saturday night. I saw that I had a missed call from five minutes ago at about 10 pm Saturday night from the Inquirer. I stepped outside of the party I was at to listen to the voicemail. Lou Rabito, the new high school editor, wanted me to cover a baseball game on Tuesday afternoon. I called him back immediately and said I would.

On Tuesday, I prepared myself to go to the baeball game. It was between Cardinal O'Hara and Monsignor Bonner at Cardinal O'Hara high school. First I called the high schools and asked them to send me rosters. I learned my lesson covering high school games in the fall that rosters are almost never provided at the game. And, when you're a reporter, it's important to have one. O'Hara emailed me a roster immediately, but Bonner was a little slow. I called them back and asked them again, and they sent me one on the spot. There was only one problem: the roster didn't have player numbers, so I had no way of telling who was who.

Oh well, I figured. I had to figure out numbers on my own but at least I'd be able to spell names right. Again, it served as proof that covering college and professional sports is much easier than covering any high school game. It's odd how the better, more experienced reporters end up with the easier job and higher salary.

Regardless, the game ended, I got m interviews and went back to the newsroom. I talked to the Bonner coach and the winning pitcher (on Bonner.) After I was done, O'Hara had already retreated to the locker room. I figured at least I had quotes from the winning side and that was alright. Lou, on the other hand, didn't agree. It was another rookie mistake - one that I knew would be an issue but I didn't think was a mistake that was all that bad. Next time I'll make sure to post up outside the other team's locker room to get the quotes.

On Wednesday, when I usually go into the office, I stayed in Newark last week. I stayed because I had an interview with Delaware quarterback Pat Devlin for the Inquirer. Delaware football coverage is something I'm used to, but this time I was taking on a different angle. John Quinn, the college editor, wanted me to ask him about his decision to leave Penn State and write a story from a Philadelphia-area/Penn State perspective.
I thought it went pretty well. Devlin is a good interview and generally gives you good answers. I wrote the story up that night and it ended up running on Friday.