One of the pitfalls of the news media biz is that from time to time we focus on the wrong details.
It's not on purpose, but it is easy for us to become so consumed by a story that we lose perspective. We lose sight of what issues are the most important.
I was reminded of this last weekend.
At a friend's house, the topic of conversation steered itself toward the Ohio Valley Ice Cats.
For any of you who blinked recently and missed their infinitesimal existence, the Ice Cats were a doomed attempt at a minor-league hockey franchise in Athens. As The Post reported in a three-part series three weeks ago, the International Independent Hockey League and the Ice Cats suffered severely from mismanagement and a lack of funds in the four months since their inception.
Mike Killbreath, fumbling founder of the league and owner of the Ice Cats, announced the formation of the league in September with the goal of beginning games in December. The entire operation has failed miserably.
Sadly, I was not surprised. When I read the first press release in September, my first thought was, How can someone start a professional hockey league in three months?
My doubts were confirmed, but nevertheless, the numerous accounts of Killbreath's debts, bounced checks and slipshod management amazed me.
Simply put, the whole thing is a mess.
What a mess
I said to my friends as we talked about it. About the non-existent ticket sales. The cancelled games. The mountain of debt. The lies. We talked about how unbelievable it was.
But then someone mentioned something else. Something that, for some reason, had not dawned on me.
Think of the players my friend said. Think of how screwed up their lives are now.
It was only then that I saw what I had been missing. The story of the Ice Cats is not an amazing tale of a corrupt swindler. It's a sad account of devoted athletes lured by false hope.
All along my thoughts had been, A hockey league? From scratch? In three months? Come on really. Who didn't see this coming?
The players who dropped everything at the chance to pursue their dreams, that's who. The players who saw the IIHL as their chance to get their feet in the door to professional hockey, that's who.
The people this league mattered to the most are the ones who got caught in the way when that door slammed shut on them.
I don't know if Mike Killbreath is an evil man or if he's just too ambitious for his own good. But as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
Thus, there are two morals to this story, one for Killbreath and one for me.
First, if you're going to do something, don't half-ass it. You might be failing more people than just yourself.
Second, behind every crook is the perfectly innocent person who got ripped off.
I didn't write the report on the Ice Cats, but as a reader I missed the most important side of it.
Lesson learned.
-Joe Rominiecki is a junior journalism major who thinks we journalists don't often enough find the human side of the story. Send him an email at ar110800@ohiou.edu.
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