SID: "We're not claiming to be journalists."

"These days?"

Sports Information Departments have always been about marketing and promotion of their sports, athletes and school. It may be in different formats and methods today but always has been about marketing and promotion.

SIDs aren supposed to write balanced game stories. They're not journalists. They promote and take care of their school. Period.

If you, as a journalist, want anything different then re-write what they send or write it from your sources.

 

Is this to excuse mentioning a visiting team's perfect game in the penultimate graf of a story?

 

I think nearly everybody here understands that SIDs are not journalists and that the GW sports info dept. is going to tailor its story to a GW audience. That said, if you can't write a compelling, interesting story around the central fact of that game -- the throwing of a perfect game -- then you aren't doing a very good job for any audience.
"Dave Dufus thought, when he pulled a wicked line drive down the left field line, he had broken up so-and-so's no-hitter and perfect game with two outs in the fourth, but the ball hooked an inch or so foul at the last second. Coach Chaw Jaw said it was among his most frustrating but memorable experiences in 27 years of coaching ..."

Also, I would say that by handling this the way they did, the GW SID folks UNDERSCORED their audience's need to read the newspaper to find out what really happened.

 

This is as good a place as any to note that the general quality of Sports Information writing, even at the SEC level, is ghastly.

 

A few years before I was on the beat, the team's ace and potential first rounder pitched something like a three-hit complete game with 12 strikeouts and lost 2-1 to the nation's top team. The then-SID posts his recap and heads back to the hotel.

Gets a knock on the door later at night from the coach, who is furious because he mentions the loss so early and "didn't give enough credit" to the pitcher.

I actually got along pretty well with the guy, but he definitely had a short fuse.

The SID who I worked with told me about players coming to him all the time regarding errors, earned runs, etc.

 

All the SID had to do was write that GW went on the road and played well against the No. 1 team in the country, but it took a perfect game from a UVa pitcher to lead the Cavs to victory. Treating it like a little league team whose feelings might be hurt just led to ridicule.

But it's not a big deal, just funny.

 

Considering what they pay, it's not surprising in the least.

 

A couple of years ago, the primary SID for LSU was making more than $90,000. I haven't seen the figures in a couple of years.

 

Fine with me. I actually hope they continue to write shit like this if they're going to be our "competition". If they want any credibility at all beyond Joe Homer, they're not going to get it with tripe like the GW article. I'd like to think people are actually smart enough to know when they're being patronized...

 

I was thinking more along the lines of the assistants. I've seen a couple of job postings and was stunned by how little the jobs paid.

 

And unless its a BCS-level school, or a mid-major with a seriously good program, the baseball SID is not one of the top guns in the department. More likely an intern who also has responsibility for a couple of other sports (swimming, tennis, rifle, etc.) or maybe even an undergrad assistant (hey, I was one of those once!).