Nice to be among some old-fashioned journalists again

I just finished two days at my one of my favorite gigs of the year -- the AAA baseball tournament. In Minnesota, we have classes for high school baseball. Howard Voigt, the grand poohbah pr guy of the league, always opts to hang with the Class A schools- the smallest ones -- in Jordan, just south of Minneapolis.

It's a good idea because most of those schools are from out of the Twin Cities. There are always a lot of small town radio stations on hand. I suspect it makes them feel good -- and it should -- that the head guy works with them. The next level -- class AA -- assembles in St. Cloud and are left in the capable PR hands of the folks from St. Cloud State and St. John's. A few TC schools always get there but, again, it is mostly an outstate contingent. This means small dailies, weeklies and small radio stations descend en masse.

The big schools -- most of which are from town -- go to Midway Stadium. There are always a few outstate schools, too. This year, Bemidji and Rochester Century represented the intruders, The other six were from various parts of the area.

As a result, there are usually fewer radio stations, often no TV and only a few reporters. It's a good thing, too. Midway Stadium's press box isn't very big. For some games, I had to dispatch bloggers to a small, covered area just outside the press box. I hated doing that but space issues dictate the folks from the daily papers get first crack at the best seats.

We live in an era where journalists -- in print and on the air -- seem to want to climb over each other to be colorful and controversial. That may work with pro and college teams. But it doesn't usually play well at the prep level.

The three daily reporters who were on hand this time knew exactly what the hell they were doing. They had only one concern -- to write, interesting, accurate stories. The nod to the modern era was they had to provide Twitter and/or Facebook updates and then get something up quickly for their paper's website. This is a departure from the way things used to be. To be honest, it can be a major pain-in-the-rump.

But Ken Hanson (Rochester Post-Bulletin), Amelia Rayno (Star Tribune) and Tim Leighton (Pioneer Press) did so uncomplainingly. In the case of the latter two, they knew their print stories would be chopped down because there was a lot of other big news around town. They weren't covering Ricky Rubio signing with the Timberwolves, the press conference announcing a new Wild coach or the return of Joe Mauer to the adoring multitudes at Target Field.

Perhaps they wished they had one of those plum assignments instead. (I don't know. I didn't ask.) But I was fascinated to watch all of them work. You see, these three knew their duty. They went out and did it without worrying about anything else. They asked for help when they needed it but didn't bury me with unnecessary questions. They appreciated whatever extra info I passed onto them ... even if it was something they didn't really need or would use.

In short, they were professional in their actions ... and their words.

Normally, that would not be cause for comment. But such is the state of journalism these days that it is, indeed, now news when you run across three low-maintenance types. It was a pleasure to be able to not worry about a lot of little things ... and to actually be able to watch and enjoy a few games.

It also restored my faith there are a few solid journalists left out there. After you watch some cable TV and read some of the breathless commentary by columnists on subjects (and people) they know little about, a fellow begins to wonder.