Wait a minute, BQ is not a super computer? I thought he was a digital machine that had the perfect algorithm program based upon input from the bloggers.

Now that you have revealed he is flesh and bones, it seems to be kind of a downer…..

I take solace in knowing that you are actually human and not just some sort of supercomputer who is programmed to provide coverage to a leagues that most people in the country who follow the sport would spend five seconds thinking about.-not even during US Open Cup play.

Maximum respect, Playah!

Some clarity was given on this issue today and I think at this point we can just chalk it up to first game snafu’s. This is what I have learned.

Coach Hankinson did not state he would not allow players to do interviews. Well in a sense he did and in a sense he did not. This should really go down as a bad mix up by the SAS PR staff.

Before the game the PR staff set up a procedure for post-game interviews which was a FIFA-style “mixed zone” where players would be interviewed by the press. Many reporters went there and waited patiently for the players to come to them, but other reporters rushed the field in defiance of the instructions and spent aprox. 15-20 interviewing Hankinson and many of the players. When that died down the PR staff attempted to bring the players to the mixed zone. It was at that point Hankinson said that the players had done more than enough interviews and he now needed to talk with them in the locker room.

The reporters who had waited patiently were turned away but told that Michale Hitchcock and Gordan Hartman were available. I am guessing coach Hankinson didn’t even understand what had happened at that point.

Overall it was a bad mistake to have happen at your opening game, but my pining this on the coach was not accurate even though I aassume everyone will understand why I made that assumption.

As my friend Neal Morris who reports down in Cary on the RailHawks well understands and just wrote in the above comment, this is D2 soccer in the US. The set up pretty much nation wide is interviews on the field after the game. The reality is, there just isn’t that much media coverage that it’s a problem. It’s how they do thing up here in MN as well.

One can always go into the tunnel or to the locker room hallway and request an interview with a player after they come off the field. The trade off is (and this can be good or bad depending) some of the adrenalin is worn down then and the quotes are not always quite as fresh. It’s also a longer wait. I know often times here if we actually get coverage by one of the papers they hit the field quickly, get a couple of quick quotes and rush back to the press box to try to get their story out by deadline. If I hit the locker room, which I sometimes have to do to get a visiting coaches quotes, it means about a 20 minute wait.

While I think it’s good to have a formal interview area I personally think the media should be allowed to go on the field after games before the players sign autographs or visit with the fans or head to the locker rooms.

Hope this adds clarity to what happened in SA this past Sunday evening. I was told they plan on resolving the issue for this weekends game.

You know what they say…you only get one chance to make a first impression. I don’t want to emphasize the mildly negative in light of the great crowd and support for the team, which I really hope continues. But, as you said, not allowing players to talk to the media, especially after the first home game in franchise history, is a bad move. It’s particularly bad when so many fans and, presumably, media showed up at the club’s urging, and in a league so desirous of whatever press coverage they can get.

In Carolina, all post-game interviews (coach and players) take place on the field immediately after the game (unless it’s raining). Sometimes the players will take 5-15 mins. to compose themselves, esp. after of a disappointing performance or loss. But, they almost always talk to us. I suspect the set-up is the same at most D2 and D3 sites.

Ultimately, it’s the job of management (front office) to make sure the players are available. Yes, the coach has tremendous sway. But if this sort of thing happens again, the front office would need to step in and keep him from hurting the club.

Not allowing media contact after the match? Strike one Tim! Being upset with your players is fine, but pulling a move like that after the inaugural game of the franchise is narrow-minded and downright foolish. You need to make media people your friends, not blow them off. Maintaining the fan base numbers after the novelty wears off will be enough of a challenge without giving yourself a handicap of a shot in the foot.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Packed-house-starts-party-3484094.php

What is going on with SS&E and their USL Pro team? Any word on if and when this is going to occur?

I don’t know if this will take the steam out of the Hartman group, but if they can do 13,000 regularly, it seems as if 2 teams in different divisions can easily be in San Antonio at the same time.