Cool Story

[RichardGraham]

Hi Folks,

Anytime that inline hockey gets press in the "mainstream media," it's a good thing. Check it out:

http://www.chesterfieldobserver.com/news/2008/1112/sports/031.html

[PGHhockey]

Agreed - nice to see our game getting some positive media attention.

But, as usual, the idiocy of the local press shines right on through. 3 years running in the AIHL, eh? Wow...if only the PIHA officials knew that AIHL was operating incognito for the past 2 seasons...

I had numerous similar experiences when I owned my rink. The local sports writer called me (of course, only after we'd done some advertising) to do a story...it was completely botched and twisted. By reading the article, you'd think that I still lived in Atlanta (even though I made it pretty clear that I just moved back to PA from Atlanta). You'd also think by the way he botched my quotes, that I was some kind of child predator.

Needless to say, that was the last time I bothered with newspaper PR for my rink.

[RichardGraham]

Hi Bill,

Journalists make mistakes all the time. The key is how important the mistakes are, and if those mistakes completely invalidate the article.

Heaven knows I've made a million mistakes. Looking back at my old articles for Street Hockey, Roller Hockey and InLine Hockey News, I'm embarrassed to see all the typos and minor errors. Probably the art director's fault. ;)

On the other hand, looking back at those articles, I'm quite pleased to find that I usually had the facts right, and I take pride in that. That's why I'm being so careful with my research for my book on Roller Hockey International. I probably could have finished the book by now if I didn't care so much about getting the details right. However, a book (I hope) lasts forever. It's worth the extra time to get the facts right. Who knows what pressures the writer who interviewed you was under...