Rolling with the punches

Blog by: Robby General

I knew we were going to have to adjust on this Spring Training trip, it is journalism after all, but Day 1 in Florida has been filled with its share of surprises.

During our first day, our group had three different trips set up, to later find out that only one of our day’s plans would actually work itself out.

To begin, five of us were supposed to travel an hour-and-a-half to Lakeland, Florida to cover the Detroit Tigers.

We woke up early, packed our equipment and prepared to take off for the first excursion of the trip.

Turns out, they had us scheduled for another day.

Okay, so big deal, we rescheduled and got it figured out. I, like the rest of our staff, figured we would just go to the Kids and the Kubs, a 75-year-old plus softball club, who the remainder of our 15-person group was already planning on visiting.

The Kids and the Kubs play every Saturday from the beginning of November until the end of March. It’s a tradition that began in 1930, and barring weather, hasn’t missed a beat.

That is, until we showed up.

We had all of our minivans packed, and one was pulling out of the LaQuinta parking lot, when one of our videographers, Samantha Johnson, decided to call in and confirm our trip that day.

That’s when she came back with the news we didn’t want to hear.

“Kids and the Kubs aren’t playing today,” she said.

On what seemed like a perfect day – not a cloud in the sky – one Floridian had a different plan for us, inhibiting us from going to St. Petersburg that day.

Apparently there was police activity inhibiting us from visiting the team, so we again, had to adjust.

Okay...  So third times a charm, right?

Fortunately, it was. We still were able to go to cover the Ball State baseball team, who had a double header scheduled against Northeastern and Chicago State in Port Charlotte.

Just like any day in the life of a journalist, a daily schedule rarely goes as planned, you have to be prepared for changes.

Like when two out of three of your destinations fall through.

But, we adjusted and adapted, and did a damn good job doing it.

Following our seven-hours of coverage at the Snowbird Classic facility in Port Charlotte, we headed 90 miles up-state to the Tampa Bay Times.

We were guided by Ball State graduate and full-time copy editor and designer Ashley Dye and the Times digital reporter, Sara DiNatale, who recalled a quote from her father when she spoke to us about what the career of a journalist is like starting out.

“You’ve got to roll with the punches, and block with your face,” she said.

Sounds about right, and it fits the bill of our first day. Let’s just hope every day isn’t as exciting as this one.