A lesser sportswriting scandal

When I was still in college, I worked part-time at the little paper in Flagstaff, Arizona.

One of my ongoing assignments was covering the high school football team in Williams, a small town nearby.

That team had a player who would eventually make it as a major league baseball outfielder. His name was Billy Hatcher. I think he was on a World Series winning team.

But the scandal to which I refer involved a conversation I had with a shy running back named Jimmy Luna.

For reasons that now escape me, I suggested to young Jimmy that he consider doing something colorful when scoring a touchdown. I did not propose that he perform a somersault or do a back-flip. But I said it would be cool if he came up with some dramatic, diving way to enter the end zone.

That way, I explained, I could write that he had come in for a “Luna landing.”

He seemed a little scared. So I let it drop.

I realized that my suggestion crossed some line of professional propriety. I did not do it again.