Okay, so I decided to tackle gathering Ursinus football updates this season since people kept asking. First thing I did was grab my phone and check their main athletics website. Clicked around everywhere – schedules, rosters, news section. Found some preseason hype stuff about new recruits, but actual game results? Barely updated since September. Felt like chasing ghosts. Typical college site problems, I guess.
Social Media Rabbit Hole
Switched to Twitter next. Followed three different accounts: the official team page, the sports info director, and the student newspaper. Spent like 45 minutes scrolling through tweets. Found some score updates from last weekend’s game against Dickinson buried under 20 posts about fundraising bake sales. Realized nobody was posting injury news or lineup changes. Like, why even tweet if you’re not giving real updates?
- Official account just retweeting fan photos
- Student paper only covering homecoming events
- Coaches silent since preseason
Local Paper Chaos
Drove down to the town newspaper office Wednesday morning. The sports editor looked exhausted when I asked about Ursinus coverage. Said their beat reporter quit mid-season. Showed me a stack of handwritten stats that hadn’t even been typed up yet. Found out the starting QB’s shoulder injury was only mentioned ONCE in a tiny game recap footnote. Nobody connected the dots when he disappeared from the roster. Total amateur hour.
Phone Tag Disaster
Thursday I called the athletic department four times. First call went to voicemail. Second call, the secretary transferred me to someone who hung up immediately. Third try got forwarded to the lacrosse coach by accident. On the fourth call I just yelled “FOOTBALL UPDATES!” before they could hang up. Finally got a grad assistant who whispered about internal politics messing up communications. Said players weren’t even getting proper practice schedules. What a mess.
This whole scramble reminded me of when I covered my nephew’s peewee league last year. Parents yelling wrong stats from the sidelines, coach forgetting to submit scores, league website crashing constantly. Thought college ball would be different with actual staff. Nope. Just older people making the same dang mistakes. At least peewee coaches answered their phones.
Ended up stitching together what I could:
- Starting QB out for season (shoulder)
- Freshman RB now getting majority carries
- 2-5 record after loss to Muhlenberg
- Defensive coordinator using weird 3-4 scheme that’s failing hard
Filed my notes at midnight feeling like a detective solving crimes with duct tape. College sports information shouldn’t be this hard to find. Maybe I’ll just watch the games in person next time. Less frustrating than dealing with their busted communication circus.
