Can they ever really win?

[Sommers]

Be glad you have great coverage in the Chattanooga press.

VERY GOOD POINT!!!

[gwbell]

Agreed, Mr Gossett does do a good job, but for those who have been around for awhile remembering back to the 70's there was always at least a page about high school wrestling, especially at this point in the season. Also, there were many individual articles about wrestlers. Really miss this and would welcome seeing this kind of coverage again.

[legman]

Although out of coaching for several years now, I occasionally find my way to the stack of scrapbooks that I accumulated over 14 years. What I find are great memories that were captured in words many years ago by a sportswriter, often the Chattanooga Times/Free Press, as it was known. These guys are overworked and underpaid, yet only they can offer this gift to our sport. They give us recognition and they preserve our memories. My own scrapbooks from high school are somewhere in the closet, but I wouldn't trade them for anything. Those writers from the early 80's gave me that gift and my mom stuck them in a binder for me to have in case I need a little trip down memory road sometime.

 

Guys like John Hunt, Dick Cook, Paul Schultz, Eddie Davidson, Kelley Smiddie, Stan Crawley and Ward Gossett gave these gifts to me, my wrestlers, their parents, our fans and the entire wrestling community. I have a real hard time coming down on these guys too awful hard just because we didn't always see things through exactly the same glasses. They are friends of our sport and I choose to treat them as such.

[Rabble Rouser]

Agreed, Mr Gossett does do a good job, but for those who have been around for awhile remembering back to the 70's there was always at least a page about high school wrestling, especially at this point in the season. Also, there were many individual articles about wrestlers. Really miss this and would welcome seeing this kind of coverage again.

Ah, the good old days. Not likely to ever happen again.

 

On the plus side, we didn't have Coacht back then either.

[WrestlersSister]

I just finished reading the article about the Soddy Daisy Tournament entitled: "Baylor Holds of Trojans for Title"

 

Given the fact it was a great tournament with close matches this title seems appropriate. The picture, however, containing the caption “Soddy-Daisy’s Jason McCoskey, looks at the score as he finishes off Mike Bell” does not. Baylor won, but they show a picture of a Soddy person “finishing off” Bell. McCrosky wasn’t finishing him off; he was barely beating a wrestler that has twice beat him in the past, and one who also began the week with salmonella poisoning. Ok, so being a Baylor athlete in another sport who constantly has felt a bit under appreciated by the paper, I guess you could say I’m being a bit sensitive. Here is what I saw:

To begin the article and set the tone the author states that “Baylor came out on top – just barely.” The writer then goes on to say “Baylor survived the Soddy Daisy Invitational – and primarily Soddy-Daisy— by a slim 8.5 point.” Personally I don’t think “survival” was a true concern. It was close, but they still won. Half way down the page the article gives Baylor credit by saying they “did well.” The author preempts this, however, with “despite the losses to Soddy Daisy.”

 

The writer goes on to quote Morgan, referring to a “wake up call” and “a competition to be learned from.” One would almost forget that Baylor, even on a bad day, came out on top. Our winners were then quickly listed, with the author giving credit to Waddell as OW. Highlighted were Downey and Wes Stroud, who did well. The quotes used, however, remind the reader that Downey hasn’t placed into a tourney yet and Wes shocked people. The writer makes these wins sound like chance occurrences. To further this tone, the author uses quotes from Soddy’s coach which discuss the fact that Soddy had a tri-meet Friday night. As stated, “The kids came off a tough physical and emotional night to get here this morning at 6:30 and still performed very well.” For the record: every wrestler that planned on competing that day had to arrive at 6:30 and Baylor had a tri-meet Friday as well as a meet on Thursday.

 

In discussing the finals the writer claims that McCrosky lost in a 7-4 “scramble” against Usary. McCrosky’s scramble was with Bell… Usary won. When discussing Manson, the article downplays his unbeaten record and state title by claiming he “just barely got past” Buchanan. I was there… Manson was not about to lose. The other finals matches that the writer highlights rather than listing surprisingly included Soddy rather than Baylor wins. The writer discusses Winesburgh’s pin and says it occurs in 19 seconds… try with 19 seconds left after Hussein held the kid for a minute. To follow with a boast, the author discusses Doster’s loss, reminding the reader that “Toney also beat a Red Raider”

 

I realize that the Soddy wrestlers had nothing to do with this, and neither did their coach. I personally feel that the Times has on more than one occasion and more than one sport either exploited or downplayed Baylor’s losses and wins. What these writers need to remember is that the athletes participating care about the city paper. They work hard for their success and look forward to support from the community. Though Baylor won this tournament, the wrestlers were overlooked, under appreciated, or even worse exploited for losses that don’t come often. Baylor should be proud of their win. The article was surely a disappointment. These are just my opinions, but I was there during that tournament. Those guys worked for more than that paper gave them credit for.

JustAThought

 

 

I couldnt not agree with you more. It seems that in no matter what sport, the Times finds a way to make the other schools shine, even if we did win. They never seem to highlight the good things that Baylor has done, and even when the schools wrestlers went to a top ranked tournament and won, there was still only a box score. SO thanks, justAThought, for saying what has been on everyones minds.

[takedown3]

There's not another paper in the SE that gives high school wrestling as much coverage as The Times-Free Press does. I'm not sure the Knoxville Sentinel even knows the sport exists. I saw part of the matches Saturday. I was fairly neutral about individual matches and believe the writer was reasonably accurate.

 

It's really ironic to have someone complaining about coverage being biased for a public school. Usually the whining is that The Times is always writing about Baylor and McCallie. The truth is they give high school athletics more space than any city in the state because we don't have big time college teams (Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville) and pro teams (Memphis and Nashville), so there's little to write about locally besides high school athletics. And the quality of wrestling in Chatt Town is superior to anything else in the state!!

[Raider76]

VERY GOOD POINT!!!

Ward Gossett has been covering wrestling for 34 years that I can remember, I worked with him for 10 years and am sure he just wants to promote the sport. The writers do not pick the events they cover, mostly the editors do. The writers also do not make the photos or choose which ones run in the paper. The writers want their stories in the paper but often a nights work is bumped when a bigger story comes along. The next day that story is old news and never runs. We all want more wrestling coverage and I know for a fact that Ward would like to give it to us. We can be glad that Chattanooga has 10 times more coverage than Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis or any other city anywhere near its size.

[Sommers]

Ward Gossett has been covering wrestling for 34 years that I can remember, I worked with him for 10 years and am sure he just wants to promote the sport. The writers do not pick the events they cover, mostly the editors do. The writers also do not make the photos or choose which ones run in the paper. The writers want their stories in the paper but often a nights work is bumped when a bigger story comes along. The next day that story is old news and never runs. We all want more wrestling coverage and I know for a fact that Ward would like to give it to us. We can be glad that Chattanooga has 10 times more coverage than Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis or any other city anywhere near its size.

I can appreciate this

 

Note: I remember plenty of coverage for us at Hixson (and other publics) & you UTC guys in the 70's from Ward. The cartoons were classic.

[rawn]

I just finished reading the article about the Soddy Daisy Tournament entitled: "Baylor Holds of Trojans for Title"

 

Given the fact it was a great tournament with close matches this title seems appropriate. The picture, however, containing the caption “Soddy-Daisy’s Jason McCoskey, looks at the score as he finishes off Mike Bell” does not. Baylor won, but they show a picture of a Soddy person “finishing off” Bell. McCrosky wasn’t finishing him off; he was barely beating a wrestler that has twice beat him in the past, and one who also began the week with salmonella poisoning. Ok, so being a Baylor athlete in another sport who constantly has felt a bit under appreciated by the paper, I guess you could say I’m being a bit sensitive. Here is what I saw:

To begin the article and set the tone the author states that “Baylor came out on top – just barely.” The writer then goes on to say “Baylor survived the Soddy Daisy Invitational – and primarily Soddy-Daisy— by a slim 8.5 point.” Personally I don’t think “survival” was a true concern. It was close, but they still won. Half way down the page the article gives Baylor credit by saying they “did well.” The author preempts this, however, with “despite the losses to Soddy Daisy.”

 

The writer goes on to quote Morgan, referring to a “wake up call” and “a competition to be learned from.” One would almost forget that Baylor, even on a bad day, came out on top. Our winners were then quickly listed, with the author giving credit to Waddell as OW. Highlighted were Downey and Wes Stroud, who did well. The quotes used, however, remind the reader that Downey hasn’t placed into a tourney yet and Wes shocked people. The writer makes these wins sound like chance occurrences. To further this tone, the author uses quotes from Soddy’s coach which discuss the fact that Soddy had a tri-meet Friday night. As stated, “The kids came off a tough physical and emotional night to get here this morning at 6:30 and still performed very well.” For the record: every wrestler that planned on competing that day had to arrive at 6:30 and Baylor had a tri-meet Friday as well as a meet on Thursday.

 

In discussing the finals the writer claims that McCrosky lost in a 7-4 “scramble” against Usary. McCrosky’s scramble was with Bell… Usary won. When discussing Manson, the article downplays his unbeaten record and state title by claiming he “just barely got past” Buchanan. I was there… Manson was not about to lose. The other finals matches that the writer highlights rather than listing surprisingly included Soddy rather than Baylor wins. The writer discusses Winesburgh’s pin and says it occurs in 19 seconds… try with 19 seconds left after Hussein held the kid for a minute. To follow with a boast, the author discusses Doster’s loss, reminding the reader that “Toney also beat a Red Raider”

 

I realize that the Soddy wrestlers had nothing to do with this, and neither did their coach. I personally feel that the Times has on more than one occasion and more than one sport either exploited or downplayed Baylor’s losses and wins. What these writers need to remember is that the athletes participating care about the city paper. They work hard for their success and look forward to support from the community. Though Baylor won this tournament, the wrestlers were overlooked, under appreciated, or even worse exploited for losses that don’t come often. Baylor should be proud of their win. The article was surely a disappointment. These are just my opinions, but I was there during that tournament. Those guys worked for more than that paper gave them credit for.

JustAThought

Maybe a trip to Disney would make them feel better.. Congrats on the victory!

[Raider76]

Maybe a trip to Disney would make them feel better.. Congrats on the victory!

Art???

[BayouBear]

I just finished reading the article about the Soddy Daisy Tournament entitled: "Baylor Holds of Trojans for Title"

 

Given the fact it was a great tournament with close matches this title seems appropriate. The picture, however, containing the caption “Soddy-Daisy’s Jason McCoskey, looks at the score as he finishes off Mike Bell” does not. Baylor won, but they show a picture of a Soddy person “finishing off” Bell. McCrosky wasn’t finishing him off; he was barely beating a wrestler that has twice beat him in the past, and one who also began the week with salmonella poisoning. Ok, so being a Baylor athlete in another sport who constantly has felt a bit under appreciated by the paper, I guess you could say I’m being a bit sensitive. Here is what I saw:

To begin the article and set the tone the author states that “Baylor came out on top – just barely.” The writer then goes on to say “Baylor survived the Soddy Daisy Invitational – and primarily Soddy-Daisy— by a slim 8.5 point.” Personally I don’t think “survival” was a true concern. It was close, but they still won. Half way down the page the article gives Baylor credit by saying they “did well.” The author preempts this, however, with “despite the losses to Soddy Daisy.”

 

The writer goes on to quote Morgan, referring to a “wake up call” and “a competition to be learned from.” One would almost forget that Baylor, even on a bad day, came out on top. Our winners were then quickly listed, with the author giving credit to Waddell as OW. Highlighted were Downey and Wes Stroud, who did well. The quotes used, however, remind the reader that Downey hasn’t placed into a tourney yet and Wes shocked people. The writer makes these wins sound like chance occurrences. To further this tone, the author uses quotes from Soddy’s coach which discuss the fact that Soddy had a tri-meet Friday night. As stated, “The kids came off a tough physical and emotional night to get here this morning at 6:30 and still performed very well.” For the record: every wrestler that planned on competing that day had to arrive at 6:30 and Baylor had a tri-meet Friday as well as a meet on Thursday.

 

In discussing the finals the writer claims that McCrosky lost in a 7-4 “scramble” against Usary. McCrosky’s scramble was with Bell… Usary won. When discussing Manson, the article downplays his unbeaten record and state title by claiming he “just barely got past” Buchanan. I was there… Manson was not about to lose. The other finals matches that the writer highlights rather than listing surprisingly included Soddy rather than Baylor wins. The writer discusses Winesburgh’s pin and says it occurs in 19 seconds… try with 19 seconds left after Hussein held the kid for a minute. To follow with a boast, the author discusses Doster’s loss, reminding the reader that “Toney also beat a Red Raider”

 

I realize that the Soddy wrestlers had nothing to do with this, and neither did their coach. I personally feel that the Times has on more than one occasion and more than one sport either exploited or downplayed Baylor’s losses and wins. What these writers need to remember is that the athletes participating care about the city paper. They work hard for their success and look forward to support from the community. Though Baylor won this tournament, the wrestlers were overlooked, under appreciated, or even worse exploited for losses that don’t come often. Baylor should be proud of their win. The article was surely a disappointment. These are just my opinions, but I was there during that tournament. Those guys worked for more than that paper gave them credit for.

JustAThought

 

Now I've seen it all. A Baylor fan complaining about coverage in the Chattanooga paper. The TFP sends a reporter and a camera to cover the weekly trash pickup.

[bhs78]

Wow! This is an interesting thread. Girls, let's settle down. This is a prime example of real world - life is not fair and we don't always get what we want. Also, we all see things differently.

 

Let's give the reporters some credit. They are covering events that their bosses tell them to cover. I also think that the coverage is less this year than prior years, but I do think when a match is covered, it is a job well done.