Changes at the Sporting News?

dave, what is it going to take to save the sporting news? what kind of editorial direction or voice? is it too late? or can it be salvaged?

 

Dave,

I think I can speak for a lot of us when I say I will miss reading your column in Sporting News.

Muthafuckas ain't gettin' another dime from Jesus.

(Obligitory third person reference.)

 

Now that someone has asked (thanks, HH), I'd say it needs to forget being a bare-bones version of SI and ESPN the Mag. It needs to find a niche and fill it with outstanding reporting.

That is easily said, but done only with brilliant work from editors able and willing to walk away from safe ideas, step onto a high wire, and see if they can get to the other side.

Every piece in the magazine must be as entertaining as it is informative. The magazine -- hell, any magazine in this instant-gratification world -- needs unique voices expressing new ideas. I'd find a way to incorporate bloggers -- I've read a lot of them whose voices, properly reshaped to reporting, would bring life to any subject.

I've gotta run now. Be interesting to read any other ideas on this subject.

By the way, Kerouac, I never had a heart attack. No muscle damage of any kind. Just a arterial blockage revealed by my passing out. Cardiac arrest, in my case, happened 5 minutes, 36 seconds into a stress test. No pain, just passed out. The only anxious moments in my whole affair came when I did the next stress test to see how the stent was working. When I got past 5:36, I actually laughed and had to explain to the technician why. Been fine ever since.

 

TSN used to have one, of course: The Base Ball Paper of the World.

With Baseball/Sports Weekly's demise, TSN should try to be the "Bible of Baseball" once again.

 

My favorite line on that thought was in a George Will column. He referred to the Bible as "The Sporting News of religion."

 

The sports week in light review doesn't work, so anything would be an improvement.

 

More of that sassy "Fly" shit. Yo, yo, yo.

 

Buckdub, you know "base ball" is my favorite sport, but the two of us are in the overwhelming minority. While I wouldn't say baseball is dying, it's certainly become stagnant. The labor stoppages, exorbitant contracts, skyrocketing ticket prices, World Series games ending after 1 a.m. EST, the increasingly high costs of playing it as a youth -- all of these things need to be fixed for it to truly become "America's pastime" again. It hurts, but it's true.

 

No matter where it fits in the overall picture, baseball has never generated more revenue, which is why Gil Meche is getting star money.

Ticket prices go up and people buy more tickets. Spring training has become a collection of theme parks/vacation destinations.

If this is stagnant, it's damn lucrative.

 

Links?

While your point holds true for teams such as the Red Sox, Yankees and Cubs, many teams aren't setting the world on fire with their attendance figures. Look at the empty seats in Atlanta, Miami, Kansas City, Oakland and Cincinnati. Those five teams each have won a world series since 1985, and their attendance continues to dwindle. Also, check the ratings sometime. (National) Numbers are down across the board.

 

what possible niche can the sporting news find?
there's plenty of everything already.

kindred says "walk away from the safe ideas"

hard to imagine the sporting news being bold

it's never had much imagination

 

Read Dave's word again: niche.

If TSN made an effort to go back to its roots, it would have to cater to the serious fans of the game, people like us, not ... the FOX viewers. :

Niches still work, in this industry and in this era. You just have to have a strong one, first; and do it right, second.

With baseball, TSN already has a strong niche. You're catering to an older audience, of course, but baseball isn't "dying" (contrary to what Bud the Used Car Salesman might have you believe.) Yes, there are problems -- some of which you noted. There are always problems.

By concentrating on baseball again, TSN could devote its resources to investigating those problems ... in the hopes of solving them. In addition to covering the majors, covering the minors and the international game (which is do-able with a network of correspondents, similar to Rivals.com), covering baseball as the national pastime that it will always be. Football may hit you harder, but baseball stays with you, no matter what the owners do to take it away. There IS an audience for that. There is always an audience for baseball.

I'm not saying that TSN should be the PR arm of Major League Baseball. But back when it was considered the "Bible," the Spink family usually seemed to have the game's best interests at heart. MLB.com will never be able to cover baseball like TSN could -- and could again.