We’ve had an issue all season at The Monitor with our sports reporters interviewing football players at La Joya. Coach Leonel Casas refused to give us access to his team and his AD Victor Garza referred to doing player features as “the kiss of death.” I guess they felt like if we did a story on a player, then the Coyotes would lose their game. Either way, we’ve never had any problem with any other schools. Most schools, in fact, usually call us trying to promote their kids.
Our idea this past week was to do a feature on each pf the five Valley teams left in the playoffs, then preview the games as well. After the AD and coach again refused to give us access to his team, we instead featured Converse Judson, La Joya’s opponent. Why you ask? It’s simple. Us journalist types don’t like being told how to write our stories, and taking away access to the players does just that. How can you write a story on Humberto Cerda, Jose Bocenegra or now Valley kicking king Sergio Castillo without actually talking to these guys? If we would have, we would have allowed Coach Casas to controll what we put in the newspaper. And from a journalistic standpoint, unfortunetly that’s not acceptable for us or for our readers.
The most disturbing part was that after Saturday’s game one in which Castillo booted a Valley record 58-yard field goal to end the first half of the Coyotes’ loss, Casas snatched the kicker away from postgame interviews with the media. Casas also refused to comment. This, to me, only hurts the players. Sure, Castillo, still was mentioned in the story. But it would have been nice for him to comment on his record-setting performance. Who knows, maybe this kid nails kicks from 50-plus yards on a regular basis in practice. As they say, the power of writing is an amazing tool and there’s no telling how many college scouts read our paper every day. I know one, and that’s Mr. Ben Lopez, who scouts for NAIA Lindenwood. I also know that regional scout Steve Schnall pays close attention to the newspaper as well. And knowing a thing or two about college student loans myself, I can’t tell you how valuable a free education is.
So if you were curious about the scaled down La Joya football coverage this football season, now you know. Before becoming sports editor at The Monitor in late August, I always enjoyed watching games at Coyote Stadium. That was my first option on a Friday night in District 30-5A, to be honest. I always enjoyed Coyote Stadium and the fans make that place come to life. And I can honestly say, I thought we did a below average job of covering the Coyotes this past season. But when you have six other District 30-5A schools giving you full access to their teams and one that severely restricts your coverage, it’s not a tough decision to make.
Wade Baker, 30, is Sports Editor of The Monitor. He graduated from Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C. in 2000 with a degree in Mass Communications and moved to the Rio Grande Valley in 2002 for a sports reporter opening at The Monitor. Baker was promoted to his current position in August of 2007 after serving as assistant sports editor for two years. 
