There's Nothing Like the View from the Cheap Seats

Originally Posted Tuesday, October 6, 2009

    “There’s nothing like the view from the cheap seats,” or so says the line from the hit Alabama song by the same name. Well, when it comes to covering sports in general and high school sports specifically, there really is nothing like the view from the “cheap” seats.

    We sports nuts that have made it our life’s work to follow high school sports might have our sanity called into question more than once in our careers. Sure, we get the “good spots” right on the side line, right there by the “action”. But have you ever stopped to think what we go through sometimes to be right by the “action.”

    My good friend, Gene Morris, longtime sports editor for the Miami Republic has been run over several times by out of control linemen in football, he’s take shots from errant volleyballs, he’s been run into on the baseline of basketball games, and has taken a line drive to the head at a baseball game. 

    Now I haven’t had nearly the adventures as Gene has had, I like to think that I’m a little more athletic than he is and have just been able to get out of the way, but it’s probably a matter that he’s been at it longer than I have and the law of averages just hasn’t caught up with me. But, I’ve had my share of close calls and near injuries.

    But, the point is, we subject ourselves to this torture for the sake of following and reporting on the kids and their accomplishments. That’s what it all boils down to, in the end, after all the second guessing of coaches, the criticism of the officials, and all the other jawing that goes on at  a sporting event, it’s all about the kids. 

    That’s why we fill those cheap seats, which really aren’t seats at all. We stand for hours at football games, we sit on the baseline at basketball games, we kneel on the mezzanine of high school gyms for hours at volleyball tournaments, we hike to find the right spot to shoot a cross country runner, and we stand in foul territory of a baseball game, just waiting to take a line drive off the head, all to get that just right picture, and be in the “action” so we can tell the story of the kids we cover.

    Come to think of it, there’s really NOTHING like the view from the cheap seats, and right now, I wouldn’t trade if for anything. I hope you like my thoughts now and in the future, come back often, read what I write, and if you like it, drop me a note and tell me so. If you don’t like it  . . . well tell me that too!

    Right now, I’ve got to go, there’s a cheap seat out there with my name on it!