H.S. Football - It doesn't get any tougher

I covered a high school football game last night for the first time in 26 years. I had forgotten how tough it is.

After many years of college football and professional football coverage -- as well as other college and pro sports -- from the comfort and calmness of those respective press boxes, I suddenly was at Kingston Stadium on Friday night looking for the press box announcer doing play-by-play, a typed play-by-play after each quarter, instant replays and a post-game news conference feed. Alas, none of those things were there.

You are on an island when you cover prep sports, doing your own play-by-play without the benefit of replay. As I've told countless of journalism students, there is nothing more difficult in this business. I've always maintained you could not watch one play of an NFL game and, through the press box play-by-play and provided post-game quotes and notes, you probably could produce a decent game story.

Today's sports journalists have it even tougher than when I first started covering high school sports in the late 1970s for The Tampa Tribune. One word - Internet. That means live blogging and Twitter updates during the games, and doing your own videos after the games. And, the  deadlines have not gotten any better.

What it does mean is that you get better coverage than ever before. I tip my scribe's hat (the one on this blog) to my colleagues at The Gazette who do it every Friday night - Jeff Linder, Jeff Johnson, K.J. Pilcher and Scott Dochterman as well as those on the sports desk at the office who are handling all that copy and more often than not save us (thanks Dale). I also appreciate the hard work conducted by those behind KCRG's "Friday Night Lights" -- John Campbell, Scott Saville and John Sears and all the videographers who hustle on the sidelines every week to produce that show.

 So, the next time you see a mistake or typo in a high school game story, cut the writer and editor a break and realize we're only human. The next time the Sports Ticker isn't working on "Friday Night Lights," give us a chance to explain that there were technical difficulties and we'll get it fixed ASAP. We strive to get it right and for perfection, but we make mistakes and it's an imperfect world.

If you don't believe me, try sitting in a high school press box or walking those sidelines some Friday night.