Who staffed the Women's Final Four?

Let's face it. The major reasons this was done is as follows:

1. To make yourselves look better in front of your peers ("Heh. We staffed three tennis majors, three golf majors and the Olympics.")
b. To give perks to your top guys in a "they're printing money" era at newspapers.
III. To fool your readers into thinking they were getting something better (Unique? Yes, but definitely not always better).

We were sometimes told for a major event that we weren't staffing, "Ah, don't use AP. Try to find a Boston Globe story or something."

Yeah, a story that's going to be horribly slanted for a Boston audience going to readers in Fort Lauderdale. It's all about perception.

In any event, not only did we regularly staff three tennis majors, three golf majors, the Olympics, the World Series and the Super Bowl, but in 1986 we went to the Goodwill Games (in Moscow!) and in 1987 the America's Cup (in Fremantle, Australia!). Insane.

When I interviewed there the Managing Editor poked his head in the SE's office and casually mentioned that sports was $10,000 over budget --- for one month. No big deal.

 

My recollection is that copy was also used by the Gannett News Service, benefitting Gannett newspapers from throughout the nation.

 

Back when I was in the game I drove all over (regionally) to cover cool stuff — NASCAR races, NCAA subregionals, an MLB game with a local angle, even mid-major media days. The paper didn't pay for all of it, but I got it back from Uncle Sam at tax time.

 

God, it was fun in the old days.

When I lived in North Nowhere (76-84), we'd travel to cover every state basketball tournament (there were four), a couple regionals, playoff or road FB games, American Legion regional and state tournaments, state wrestling, even some road hockey games without blinking an eye. Four days in Carrington or Williston or Dickinson or Jamestown might not be everyone's idea of fun but it was a blast. You really got to know the coaches you worked with.

In Microville we did every Microville Tech road FB game, most road basketball games, conference baseball tournaments ... our travel budget had to be $20-$30k a year for a 12K circulation paper.

Some years we sent two people to road FB games and sometimes sent two reporters and a photog to bowl games, a week in advance. Three guys in one room at the Royal Hawaiian was a tight fit but we made it work if the reward was a week in Hawaii.

Yeah, we doubled or tripled up in the room, took economy flights, etc., but we got to go. It was worth it. It was hard work, but the places I got to visit on the company dime were incredible.

Today, they don't travel at all and the deadlines are so early there's very little actual postgame coverage and high school coverage, even a daily rundown, has disappeared altogether.