There is a certain responsibility that comes with the coverage of local events such as local sports and it's a responsibility that I feel very strongly about.
We, as reporters and editors, are writing about our neighbors in the local communities, adults and youth alike.
It is this responsibility that makes us choose our words very carefully and, yes, sometimes we choose wrong.
I couldn't help but notice this in a story written in a local weekly publication in Northeastern Connecticut. The weekly covered Tim Panteleakos being named head coach of the Tri-Town American Legion baseball team and referred to him as an "infamous" coach.
Tim Panteleakos may be a lot of things to a lot of people but "infamous" is not one of them.
Webster's defines "infamous" as "having a reputation of the worst kind-notoriously evil". Those words do not define Tim Panteleakos.
Panteleakos, the football coach for the Tourtellotte/Ellis Tech program, wrestling coach at Ellis Tech and baseball coach at Brooklyn Middle School, admits he lets his own emotions run him at times but it is his passion for the game and most of all, for his players, that tend to fire up those emotions.
I've had to do some tough articles on Tim Panteleakos and have always found him to be receptive and cooperative no matter what the subject content. I'm not saying I approve of everything that Panteleakos does on the sidelines but "infamous" is one tag that I would never put on him.
Just some food for thought.
And may we add, good luck to Tim Panteleakos and the Tri-Town American Legion baseball squad.