June 30 - I coached under someone who once said, “I have always played favorites, and always will”.
It took me a bit to fully grasp what he meant, until I became a head coach myself with travel teams, junior varsity high school teams and overseas in Europe.
And it totally makes sense.
Certain kids do things the right way. The first guy there, always looking to get in some extra work. Doesn’t dart off the field after practice and leave his teammates to put gear away and fix the field. They own the offseason, coming back better, bigger, stronger, faster every year. And it’s always, ‘Yes, Sir’, even when they may not like what it is you’re telling or asking of them.
Those types of players should the 'favorites' of his coach.
As a reporter with this magazine, I’ve also got my favorites. And I don’t make any apologies for it. Players who do all those aforementioned things for their teams, who carry themselves the right way, who appreciate when someone does something for them - in the magazine’s case, giving them some exposure and coverage - those are my favorite guys. Kids who are approachable and have a good personality, are a fun interview, those are the one's media types migrate to.
And that goes for coaches as well. The one's who get back to you, toss you a scoop here and there, those are the one's I'll lean on. And probably the one's getting more coverage for their teams and players. And for good reason. And coaches, have some fun during an interview, please. The company line of, "We're just taking things one day at a time, and want to focus on the next game", that's tired, as Bryce Harper would say.
As a member of the media, neutrality is important so you’re able to maintain that objectivity. You need to be able to get close to sources and subjects of your stories, but at the same time, it can’t affect how you cover them. You see it all the time on the national stage, just look how buddy-buddy media moguls like Michael Wilbon and Stephen. A Smith get with their sources.
Now, community journalism is different than what Wilbon and Smith are doing. They may have to drop a hammer on a guy like Carmelo Anthony after he shoots 2-for-20, the day after they had lunch with him. I will never openly criticize a minor who the magazine covers. That’s not how community news works when it comes to covering kids.
That being said, I do allow myself to develop relationships with those players. And I’ve got a bunch of players in Northern Virginia who fall in that ‘favorite’ category. Three recently-graduated kids in particular. Oakton’s Joe Rizzo, Battlefield’s Jake Agnos, and Washington-Lee’s Teddy Herbert.
I was Rizzo’s position coach for a couple years, so naturally there is a relationship there beyond reporter and athlete. The same goes for Herbert, who I had the opportunity to coach in travel ball. Agnos, by virtue of dominating Northern Virginia hitters the past few years, was going to be a big part of the magazine’s coverage, regardless.
What made it even easier to cover those three kids, and to come to really admire them, was the respect and authenticity they show when communicating with coaches, opponents, umpires, and in my case, members of the media. How the three of them carry themselves is a credit to their parents and how they raised them, and it makes them that much more appealing to coaches and scouts.
With Joe, it is always, “Hey coach, how’s it going?”, with the big grin on his face. They talk about how great players can roll out of bed and get you a couple hits and win you a game. That’s Rizzo for you, and with that haircut and usually unshaven face, he sometimes does look like he just rolled out of bed!
And I tell you what, talk about a great teammate. You will be hard-pressed to ever find someone who has played with Joe Rizzo say something bad about him. He was clearly on another level than his teammates, but you would never know it based on how he acted around his guys. That modesty is going to serve him well as he climbs the professional ranks. And as an Oakton homer, I hope the younger players coming up in that program pick up the torch and extend his legacy there, approaching the game and the offseason the way he did. If a guy that talented can work that had, why can’t you?
I still can’t get Jake to stop referring to me as “Mr. Kamide”. I tell him that makes me feel very old. Though I am now closer to 50 than 21, so maybe he’s onto something. He’s written messages and told me verbally on a number of occasions how much he appreciates the coverage we’ve given him. Getting pats on the back isn’t why I do this, but it makes you feel good about society in general when a kid who has had that much success is as appreciative of the attention as Jake is. I know Jay Burkhart and his staff are going to miss all his intangibles, not just the fact that they could hand him the ball and know a run or two would be enough that day.
If I could show you the email Teddy wrote me recently, you’d think it came from someone much older than a recent high school graduate. What 18-year-old thinks to type up an email to some scruffy reporter thanking him? I thought that was pretty awesome. Teddy is mature beyond his years, the kind of leader coaches anchor their team around, and I know Doug Grove has enjoyed having him in his program the past four years. An opposing coach said voting Teddy for the all-conference team was the easiest vote he's ever had to cast, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he was one of the best players in the league this spring. That tells you what kind of kid he is.
All three are now men, either heading off to college or in Rizzo’s case, to pro ball in the Seattle Mariners’ system. Herbert will play at Christopher Newport, Agnos at East Carolina. Without question, all three are going to succeed and will be playing this game for a very long time.
And I’ll have my pom poms with me every time I jump online to check in on how they’re doing.
Thanks for making my job fun boys, and good luck.
Photo of Rizzo by Jane Davis, of Agnos by Fred Ingham and of Herbert courtesy of Washington-Lee baseball
