Robservations: Rumors tough to stomach
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I just need some time, some time to get away…
from all these rumors, I can’t take it no more…”
— “Rumors,” Timex Social Club
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Once — just once — wouldn’t you like for the Pioneer football team to be the talk of the town?
Oh, wait. They already are the talk of the town. Let’s rephrase.
Wouldn’t you like the Pioneer football team’s latest win to be the talk of the town?
We may not see the victories, but thanks to the off-field antics that have plagued the Pioneer program, we’ve certainly had plenty to talk about. And, as we’ve seen over the past few days, even when there’s not really that much to say, there’s still plenty being said.
Check out this timetable.
• Saturday morning: “I heard there was a fight between the coach and some kid’s dad.”
• Sunday afternoon: “What’s up with some coach slinging a kid to the ground?”
• Monday: “What’s the story with the football team now? Are they going to fire the coach?”
• Tuesday: “Have you heard? There were only 20-something players at practice. They’ve all quit.”
• Thursday: “Hi, I’m from the Nashville television news. What’s this about a coach hitting a kid Friday night, and now all the players are quitting the team?”
• Even later Thursday: “Hi, I’m from another Nashville television station. There sure don’t seem to be many kids on the practice field. Is it because they all hate the coach?”
Like the Social Club said in what I’m sure was their only hit, “I can’t take it no more.”
I’ll admit it. I thought when I came in to work yesterday I’d be writing about how so many players had left the Pioneer football program, it’s very future at Warren County High School was in doubt.
Then I went to the practice field, and counted 46 players. Granted, that’s not very many for a Class 5A high school football team, but when your opening-night roster had 55 names on it, it’s not that bad. And when I saw those 46 guys, sweating through drills just like they would on any given Wednesday afternoon, I felt silly.
I felt silly for believing the hype that had me expecting the ranks of the Pioneer football team to be decimated because one player was yanked from the field, then dismissed from the team. I felt silly for even entertaining the thought of so many players leaving the program would have to fold.
I felt silly for believing the rumors that had been flying around — especially when I tried so hard all weekend to dispel the rumors circulating about last Friday’s postgame argument on the field.
But while feeling silly about my own thoughts, I felt sorry for two poor Nashville television reporters, whose bosses had themselves been the victims of this week’s rumor mill.
Both of these reporters talked to me at different times on Thursday. Both of their stations called here before they came to town to talk to my bosses about the “big controversy.”
And both of them left town sorely disappointed, because they’d been sent to Warren County on what one of them referred to as “a wild goose chase” and the other called “a non-story.”
Hopefully, the day will come when a Pioneer win is the biggest story in town.
And I’ll bet, if that day ever comes, the days of parental gripes, walkouts and rumored mutinies will be history.