What's The Question?

One would have to be in (isolated) confinement not to know that our President is in a full all-out attack mode against the media. One would be stupid not to observe our President's love for media exposure. The man absolutely thrives on media coverage.

This ongoing Trump-media saga causes me to think about my own far less intense media relationship as a sport participant and a long time high school coach. My East St. Louis sport participation days were widely documented by the media. Newspapers, i.e., the East St. Louis Journal along with St. Louis papers: The Globe-Democrat and Post Dispatch covered the greater St. Louis area prep teams extensively. For the large part those scribes were friendly in interviews and kind with their words. The same could be said about sports writers at the Bloomington Pantagraph, which covered my Illinois State action.

It was when I became 'the coach' of teams that the questioning language from sports' writers was presented differently and thus called for a much different and more calculated response. My three years as the Mason City high school coach, my teams were covered by the State Journal Register (Springfield), the Pekin Times and Peoria Journal Star. The following three years, I was covered by the Pekin and Peoria papers. My seven year stint in Edwardsville reconnected me with the familiar St. Louis Area media. Finally, the long 21-year tenure in Jacksonville re-united me with the State Journal Register and introduced me to the Jacksonville Journal Courier and the local radio stations of WLDS and WJVO.

Early in my coach-media experience, I learned a very significant lesson. Pre-season, pre-game, post game and any other time the media contacts you for 'a story' know in your heart that the sport scribe already has a good idea for the story' he wishes to pen. That does not make scribes bad people but if you as the interviewed don't seize the moment to redirect the story as you prefer it to read then it makes YOU vulnerable. I never viewed the media as my enemy but potentially a tool or vehicle to promote my team, my program or myself. I shared with writers my logic and reasoning before and after contests. They had a job to do as did I.

Later, I became a part of the media hosting a weekly radio show for nineteen years and a daily radio program for four years. The IHSA tabbed me to do the large school State Finals as television game-analyst. I have been fortunate and blessed in many relationships and I count the media folks in those numbers.