David Hill: Cheering from the press box is allowed

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Sports editors have an old saying about their work: There’s no cheering from the press box.

In the all-serious pursuit of writing about fun and games, the people who chronicle balls and strikes and down and distance aren’t supposed to be fans. They are supposed to be dispassionate observers of the passionate pursuits that happen below their exalted position above the fray.

So, you have to forgive Brian Heinemann, the Daily Reporter’s sports editor, for his excitement over New Palestine High School’s recent march to the IHSAA Class 5A state football championship.

It’s not because it’s easier to write about winning teams than losing ones — although that’s certainly true. It’s mostly because Brian — like every sports editor I’ve ever worked with at the Daily Reporter — feels a duty to readers to chronicle the success of young people in our communities. In this case, it was a heckuva story, and Brian wouldn’t be human if he didn’t feel some excitement on behalf of the young men he was writing about. That was evident in our conversations about the run-up to the title game as the Dragons cleared hurdle after hurdle on the way to Lucas Oil Stadium. It was evident as he talked to coaches as he prepared to name the county Players of the Year (which, with apologies to the fine contributions by players at our other schools, really was no contest). And it’s evident in our final look back at the season.

The Daily Reporter next Friday will celebrate the Dragons’ championship with a special 48-page magazine featuring new stories by Brian chronicling New Palestine’s run to the title; photographs by the Daily Reporter’s Tom Russo and contributor Rob Baker; and design by Amanda Waltz of AIM Media Indiana’s design studio. The magazine will be available at our offices in Greenfield and at New Palestine High School. Thanks to all who supported this effort.

Stories like this are a joy, because covering sports for a small newspaper like ours is a tough, thankless task. For every call or email expressing thanks for a story, there are three or four unpleasant ones suggesting we aren’t paying enough attention to a particular team or athlete. I once took a call from an irate parent whose child’s name had shown up in our coverage more than two dozen times in the previous year; the parent was complaining because we hadn’t covered the player enough.

With well over 50 teams and upwards of 750 students playing high school sports, the task of writing about all of them falls to one full-time person on our staff. Another reporter pitches in for 15 to 20 hours a week. As you might guess, we rely a lot on submissions from coaches and parents, because there’s no way to personally cover hundreds of games, meets and matches.

The career life expectancy of a sports editor at the Daily Reporter is about three to four years. The four editors I worked with before Brian — Andrew Smith, Ben Boldt, Casey Temple and Brian Harmon — left daily journalism, in part because of the grind of working every Friday night (and many in between) nine months out of the year. That takes a toll on a family. All of them, of course, knew what they were signing up for. But the challenges are still steep despite their passion for the work.

So, the next time you see Brian at your child’s game, you’ll know that he’ll exalt a little if your team wins and will feel a little deflated if they don’t. And you’ll know that he’ll probably do it all over again tomorrow.

David Hill, editor of the Daily Reporter, writes occasionally about the newsroom and the way it covers our communities. You can write to him about this or any story at [email protected].