Sporting News Today: What's the buzz?

I've been checking SNT out daily since its inception. I think a sports fan would be crazy not to have this in their inbox each morning.

After a couple of weeks, in my mind, there's good and bad.

This is a pretty good look at where we are as an industry right now, Internet-wise. It shows the obvious advantage. It just doesn't cost that much more to turn out 40 pages on a big sports day than it does to produce 28. And SNT uses it well on football weekends. Very comprehensive content. You can spend a good deal of time with a Sunday or Monday edition, if you have the time to spend. The packaging is sound, although they could do more linking to related material.

That's the good. It's come up in some corners that the copy editing is pretty shaky, and the critics are absolutely right. I could not agree with them more. It's to the point that I almost expect some sort of noticeable error on every other page, and a rather embarrassing error on the average of one per edition. I'm really wondering how much proofing is being done, because it's not very evident.

And second, they've got USA Today disease. Don't expect a whole lot of depth. If it doesn't fit into a 15-inch hole, you'd better look for it elsewhere. The writers provide good analysis, but I don't think they're given the space -- which, like I said, is available -- to expand upon their topics.

Agree? Disagree?

 

Honestly, I was all gung-ho about it, but I've been pretty busy and haven't read an issue in a couple of weeks. It's still in my inbox every morning, so I'll try to get back to looking at it.

 

If they did that, then there'd be no reason for the coda kitties to pick up the biweekly Sporting News magazine from the newsstand. Each product has its own niche; the key to making it work is not moving either product into the other's niche.

 

I'm curious to know how this is put together (what software is used, etc.)? my first impression is positive -- it has a newspaper "feel" to it ..

 

I've noticed some mistakes too but then again, I see an embarrassing one in every issue of SI. That's the way things go now, with less and less staff everywhere.

That said, I love TSN Today. I have 2 friends there and they say readers are eating it up. While there isn't much in the form of long-form journalism, I disagree with the depth critique. Depth, to me, is good original content, and this has loads of it.

I read this morning's and saw all kinds of neat stuff — diaries from Josh Freeman and Cullen Harper, good staff coverage of the Cowboys win, something on every NFL team, first-person columns by the stars of Buffalo's wild win, a Ralph Kiner interview, their series on former Yankees talking about the stadium ...

My local paper didn't have one creative piece today, let alone that many. And I live in a BIG city. (And work at said paper).

 

SNT is number three and right now, it's going to be locked in at three. A lot of money is being invested and so far, the higher ups are pleased with the way things are going. There will be improvements.

 

Still ... so ... much ... football. 8)

Seriously, I like the coverage here and I know enough to skip ahead to, you know, page 19 or so every day to read anything about baseball.

Loved the Q&A today on the Braves' Big Three and the Kiner/Doyle Q&As, too. There's always something that grabs my attention, and that's a good thing.

 

I love it and can't get enough of it.
And not because I want Jeff D. to hire me (Yes, yes I do)
As my local metro cuts newshole, the thing that goes is national coverage.
So I have an incomplete national picture, particularly as it relates to my gambling interest in college football. With SNT filling that gap I am losing money by the bucketfuls much more in the know about the national college scene.
I really believe that SNT is the future.
Big staff working on prestige products. When not, they are filing and designing for a a daily, electronic version.

 

Play ... to ... the ... market.

 

I like it.

It's the first thing I read in the morning when I check my e-mail.

Yeah, there isn't a whole lot of in-depth stuff, but for what they're trying to do, I understand it.

 

The Sunday morning college football package could keep you there for an hour.

 

You can't ignore our national pastime (football is America's Game, not the national pastime... Ok, being nitpicky... lol). TSN was built on baseball. I'll see how they cover postseason play and how they treat pre-season, spring training and the baseball preview. This came out in July, so we really don't have a full idea how things will get covered.