Sports Editors

[uknoit2]

I live in the nashville area and every Friday night during h.s. football season the sports segment on the nightly news always cover all the local scores and even have highlights of several games (Friiday Night Lights). This is on every news channel, abc,nbc,cbs, and fox.

 

None of the h.s basketball game results are ever mentioned and you never see any highlights from the games. what gives? Don't the b-ball players deserve the same recognition and warrant the some airtime? I guess football is king like or not.

GREAT POINT! We have the same 15-minute football news reporting here on Friday nights during season. And thats great, 'cause Im a football fanatic!

We do, although, have b-ball coverage on game nights here...but its not much!

 

In my opening post, I noted that, "my friends West of me would agree"...thanks for proving me correct!

Edited February 4, 2011 by uknoit2

[hooters]

Yea, but if you mention every time somebody sets a screen, takes a charge, makes a good pass, gives good help defense, rotates correctly on a pick and roll or when another plyer gets beat on the other side of the court, sets a good ball screen, sets a good back screen, boxes out, makes a good bounce pass through traffic, recognizs a mismatch, closes with a hand up to disrupt a shot, extends their arms in a zone to make it tougher to see passing lanes, dives for a loose ball, seals the baseline defender to help a teamate drive to the basket, doubles down on the post when they're supposed to, or recognizing when they're not, etc. etc. etc., you're going to have one awfully long story. Just like I just had one awfully long sentence and I bet many people reading this post lost interest just as most people would lose interest when reading a story that goes on and on telling every little thing that happened.

It's just like football, a RB get 200 yards and the offensive line isn't mentioned. Or the QB throws for 400 yards and loses the game 42-38 and he gets the blame.

[uknoit2]

Yea, but if you mention every time somebody sets a screen, takes a charge, makes a good pass, gives good help defense, rotates correctly on a pick and roll or when another plyer gets beat on the other side of the court, sets a good ball screen, sets a good back screen, boxes out, makes a good bounce pass through traffic, recognizs a mismatch, closes with a hand up to disrupt a shot, extends their arms in a zone to make it tougher to see passing lanes, dives for a loose ball, seals the baseline defender to help a teamate drive to the basket, doubles down on the post when they're supposed to, or recognizing when they're not, etc. etc. etc., you're going to have one awfully long story. Just like I just had one awfully long sentence and I bet many people reading this post lost interest just as most people would lose interest when reading a story that goes on and on telling every little thing that happened.

It's just like football, a RB get 200 yards and the offensive line isn't mentioned. Or the QB throws for 400 yards and loses the game 42-38 and he gets the blame.

Yea, I get your point.....don't think any of us are looking for a play by play....just a lil more info than "Smith scored 25" ....as if we played one on five

[ksgovols]

Well, I have to admit that I came from a community where the paper had write ups on every Little League baseball or football game on up and the middle and high school sports were king. Those days are long gone I'm afraid, but the Columbia Daily Herald, the Jackson Sun and some others I'm sure I haven't mentioned do a pretty good job of getting some information out there. Unfortunately I think that most community papers are operating on a shoestring budget and we're lucky to get what we get. I feel your pain from a youth sports fanatic, but the reality is that most of the big papers don't even have a beat writer anymore covering UT, Vandy or Memphis sports. One of the big reasons that coacht has the following that it has.

[uknoit2]

Well, I have to admit that I came from a community where the paper had write ups on every Little League baseball or football game on up and the middle and high school sports were king. Those days are long gone I'm afraid, but the Columbia Daily Herald, the Jackson Sun and some others I'm sure I haven't mentioned do a pretty good job of getting some information out there. Unfortunately I think that most community papers are operating on a shoestring budget and we're lucky to get what we get. I feel your pain from a youth sports fanatic, but the reality is that most of the big papers don't even have a beat writer anymore covering UT, Vandy or Memphis sports. One of the big reasons that coacht has the following that it has.

Yea, with the internet and coming of 24-hr news, the paper has suffered I'm sure....

Good thing we got ole Coach T I reckon!

[joenmsusa]

A few notes, if I may...

 

First, it would be nice to have official stats to use when writing. Typically local papers are not dailies and an e-mail the following day with stats FOR BOTH TEAMS would be nice. For dailies that actually staff the games, it would be great to have the information immediately after the game.

 

Secondly, stats should be more than just scoring, I agree, but it's hard to keep up with everything alone. I'd love to ballyhoo the "double doubles", "10 assists", etc, but I quit trying to keep anything except shots and points about the fourth time I got a call from Little Johnny's Dad-Mom-Girlfriend (take your pick) telling me I'd missed a rebound or assist. It's just not worth the trouble of identifying my notes as "unofficial" only to raked over the coals.

 

Thirdly, the average attendance at a high school football game (at least in Middle Tennessee) is upwards of 1,500, with big games (and I'll single out Rutherford County here, though it's not my territory) pushing 5,000-7,500 through the turnstiles. Average basketball attendance is closer to 400, with a HUGE crowd being 1,200-1,500 numbers.

 

Finally, writers in the under 35 category, especially the newbies, are infected with what I call the ESPN/USA Today virus. It's not about reporting what happened, it's about being cute/inflammatory/opinionated/humorous (the ESPN effect) in one two-sentence, 20 word paragraph. It's not about telling the reader what happened at a contest as an observer anymore, it's about how short you can make your editorial (USA TODAY effect).

 

The craft of journalism is a dying art.

 

Sorry I built that soap box so tall.

[uknoit2]

A few notes, if I may...

 

First, it would be nice to have official stats to use when writing. Typically local papers are not dailies and an e-mail the following day with stats FOR BOTH TEAMS would be nice. For dailies that actually staff the games, it would be great to have the information immediately after the game.

 

Secondly, stats should be more than just scoring, I agree, but it's hard to keep up with everything alone. I'd love to ballyhoo the "double doubles", "10 assists", etc, but I quit trying to keep anything except shots and points about the fourth time I got a call from Little Johnny's Dad-Mom-Girlfriend (take your pick) telling me I'd missed a rebound or assist. It's just not worth the trouble of identifying my notes as "unofficial" only to raked over the coals.

 

Thirdly, the average attendance at a high school football game (at least in Middle Tennessee) is upwards of 1,500, with big games (and I'll single out Rutherford County here, though it's not my territory) pushing 5,000-7,500 through the turnstiles. Average basketball attendance is closer to 400, with a HUGE crowd being 1,200-1,500 numbers.

 

Finally, writers in the under 35 category, especially the newbies, are infected with what I call the ESPN/USA Today virus. It's not about reporting what happened, it's about being cute/inflammatory/opinionated/humorous (the ESPN effect) in one two-sentence, 20 word paragraph. It's not about telling the reader what happened at a contest as an observer anymore, it's about how short you can make your editorial (USA TODAY effect).

 

The craft of journalism is a dying art.

 

Sorry I built that soap box so tall.

[/quote

Agreed!.....

Edited February 7, 2011 by uknoit2