Pound for Pound: Off the record, pt. ??

Published 11:38 am Wednesday, April 2, 2025

It’s too early in the Major League Baseball season for me to write my “calm down, Braves fans” column. So early, in fact, that I don’t know for sure whether things will actually turn around after Atlanta was swept in its first four games in San Diego. To be determined.

Instead, I’m taking this opportunity to write another ‘Off the record’ piece where I share stories that happen while I’m on the job but not engaged in actual interviews. These interactions would normally never see the light of day, but I’m working around that by leaving names of schools and individuals out. Other details have also been lightly scrubbed in order to protect the parties involved.

I think this is my fourth ‘Off the record’ installment, but I’m not sure. Actually, don’t use that. That sentence is off the record.

People always ask what summers are like as a local high school/college sports reporter. It’s definitely a slower time and working hours do normalize. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing going on, though. Summer workouts/camps are where you can learn some of the juiciest pieces of information, like which athletes are switching schools. High school coaches in small towns don’t love the word “transfer” being said out loud. It’s often linked to another word they don’t enjoy hearing – “recruiting.”

Some years ago I went to watch one of our local teams practice during the summer period. I heard a coach shout instruction to a player with a name that made my ears perk up. This kid was elsewhere the year prior and was going to be a real difference-maker.

I used my eyes to confirm, then approached the head coach to ask about their new player. “Oh, [redacted gender] just showed up,” was the response. My foot.

Illegal recruiting is really difficult to prove, though, so the buck usually stops there. Thing about transfers is, if they do it once, then they’re likely to do it again. That was the case in this scenario as the student-athlete “just showed up” at yet another local high school before receiving their diploma. And how did I find out about that second transfer? Summer camp.

On to story no. 2, where there’s another salacious topic – coach firings. While job separations are often some of our more-read pieces, it’s a subject that brings me no joy to write about. These aren’t individuals at the major college or professional level making millions of dollars. These are often middle class people who likely need to uproot their families and move to a different town or city. It’s a perspective I try to keep when writing about someone losing their job.

Rather than going into further detail on the story itself, this particular off-the-record tale is more about an ironic moment in gathering information for the story.

In one firing instance, I received a tip that a local sports program would be searching for a new head coach soon. This bit of info came from someone unaffiliated with the school in question.

That’s not enough for me to act on, so I start dialing. No one is picking up. A word to future journalists out there. When you place multiple phone calls and no one answers, something definitely happened.

Finally, after more than four calls and less than 10, an answer and confirmation. Still not enough to write with based on the source, but now I know what the next morning at work looks like.

After some more digging, I found that the person who confirmed the news to me was also likely the reason the news had gotten out to my initial tipper. I couldn’t believe it. What went around quite literally came right back around. “Town blabbermounth” is probably too harsh a title for this individual, but I probably won’t be sharing any sensitive information with them, ya know?