I miss my rowers...damn corporate rules!

I usually don't like to complain on my blog, well at least I try to reserve it for horrific carbon footprints by a TV head or something more worldly, but this time it's all about me.

Well, me and my rowers.

Beginning on Friday the Scholastic Rowing Association of America will host its national championship regatta in Oak Ridge, Tenn. and I won't be there.

I've been to two SRAA regattas on the Cooper River in New Jersey and been at the center when the event was hosted on Fish Creek in Saratoga.

Oak Ridge, Tenn. is located 14 hours southwest of Saratoga Springs and needless to say I'm here in the Ballston Spa Bunker wishing I was looking at my first Stuckey's ever.

I'm not a high-maintenance reporter. I've ridden 12 hours in a bus with the crew kids on a seat next to the bathroom and even gave a phone interview inside the bathroom so I could hear the conversation. I've hitched a ride in the truck pulling the shells and slept on the floor of a coach's room, all they had to do is put up with my snoring.

Some may question the "ethical" standpoint of having transportation provided by the entity that you're covering, but let's face it, times are tough and I wanted to cover the event.

What makes it worse for me is that the rowing community wanted me to be there just as bad.

For the Tennessee trip I had not one, but several offers to get me to Tennessee, put me up and let me do my own thing.

No dice.

You see, because of the fact that I would never fly to Tennessee (more my fear than anything else) due to the cost, it would be a land trip.

Well 28 hours in travel at our newspaper out of an only allowed 37.50 workweek wouldn't give me a lot of time to write about the event, or do anything else for our publications.

I had several scenarios that would have allowed me to go, mainly not telling anyone that I was going. It seemed pretty simple, but the heavy hand of our HR department, always assuming that a land shark may take me on land, an oar may become lodged in my butt wouldn't allow it. The fact is it was never even proposed, why even pick a fight you are going to lose.

It all came down to cash and not a ton of it.

The paper would demand that I get paid for my travel and work all within the same work week. (God forbid we sacrifice some time or paperwork to get a story). And our office hasn't seen allowable overtime since gas was below $2 a gallon and we were getting .24 cents a mile for travel.

We have more than 100 rowers from Saratoga County in Oakridge, Tennessee and not one reporter.

I bet you if we had five baseball teams from Saratoga County (at any age level, from Wilton Little League to the high school level) we probably couldn't throw enough resources at it. Because, hey, everyone loves baseball. They can understand it, they played it and the public would demand it.

When the decision came down, I took the high road and turned away offers from coaches, association presidents and several parents who were willing to call the office and raise some hell on my behalf.

It worked for horse racing, but since I'm one of the few who clearly supports crew compared to the easy argument on the behalf of horse racing, but I decided to stay clear.

Dumb decision on my part.

I had a ride, I was willing to eat the pay, all to get the story.

Nope. Nada. Sorry with a smile. That's too bad, big guy. NFW.
Rowing gets underway Friday morning and finishes up on Saturday, all in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Me, my laptop, my camera, and any hopes of getting another "Award-Winning Photo" (shameless plug for me and jab at the newspaper) will be here in the Ballston Spa Bunker.

But my heart will be with the kids, coaches and parents in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.