Toughest beats in the big four (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL)

And they have one of the most affable, helpful PR guys in the business.

 

In the NFL, it's the Redskins and it's not close.

Patriots would be a very, very distant second.

 

Redskins PR staffers openly cheer and boo in press boxes.

 

One vote for the Miami Dolphins.

Three big newspapers, a couple smaller ones, four sports-talk radio stations, and Parcells and Ireland haven't said a damn thing to the local media since their introductory press conferences in Dec/Jan.

 

I might vote Dolphins for most competitive.

Not many teams have three different papers breaking significant news on a regular basis.

 

Sometimes it's a fine line. I've been in press boxes where they seat the members of the front office right behind the media and sometimes they're really close, if not next to the PR guys. When that happens, there is frequently cheering.

 

Last season, I was covering a 'Skins road game. One of their PR staffers sat directly behind me, wearing a Redskins pullover. She openly and loudly reacted after every play.

 

I never sit close enough to them to notice, but I can't say I've ever heard them. And Mizzou's right on, I sat behind a group of Giants several years ago and they were pretty loud. Wasn't the PR people to my knowledge.

My experiences with Bolno have been positive. His first official duty was on the day of the draft and he came up and introduced himself; that, by itself, equalled the number of conversations I've ever had with Helein. (And, of course, this may be different for people there every day.)

During training camp, they had two practices per day, one of which was open to the public. In the past, I'd be only able to go to the public one; though the second one was "local media only" - of which I certainly am - it seemed to be code for "local full-time media only," which I am not. I had asked multiple times over the years and was told no, I wasn't allowed. This year, I stayed for the closed practice (the day after the Taylor trade) and no one seemed to care.

There are a lot of things not to like about covering the Redskins (i.e., Snyder speaking once a year, before the draft), but this year has been a great improvement from our end.

 

From - umm - a little experience, I'd say the Skins beat is a tough one. Met Helein when he first came on and he was pretty cool; actually a really nice dude. His predecessor, Pat, was really cool, too. He just didn't have much pull and my only beef with him is he'd often say "No" before actually asking for things.

I think you've got to throw the Cowboys beat somewhere in there, too.

 

News, Times, Post, Newsday, Star-Ledger, The Record and until recently Gannett Westchester.

Call it my NY bias all you want, there is no market as competitive as New York in every sport.

 

I think there are two edges to this blade (i'm thinking hockey). There are four daily newspapers, three all-sports television networks plus the regular crowd of radio/network types who descend on the Leafs on a daily basis. But is that any more difficult than working in Raleigh or Atlanta where there might only be one beat writer on any given day covering the team? We may hate pack journalism and decry standing in a scrum 20-deep as is the case with the Yankees/Leafs/Cowboys but I know the beat writers covering small-market NHL teams face different challenges. Hard to do a discrete one-on-one, off the record, when you're the only guy/gal holding a notebook.

 

I had thought that one through, too, Scott, but I would have to argue that some of the small-market teams are easier to cover.

The Whalercanes, not surprisingly, are my Exhibit A. They've been very successful in spite of Peter Karmanos and a tough, rabid college market, but the organization needs the Raleigh News & Observer much more than the other way around. If the N&O went back to covering strictly the Atlantic Coast Conference schools in North Carolina, the odd golf tournament and some high school sports, not too many would bark.

Therefore, it's in the Whalercanes' best interest not to freeze out Chip Alexander or attempt to make life miserable for him. It might be a different story if more papers could afford a beat writer for the Whalercanes, but Durham is just trying to put out a paper these days (no fault of Mike Potter ... a good, good guy who has always busted his butt) and papers like Asheboro (nice job by Dennis Garcia given pretty tight resources) provide what they can for beat coverage, but can't dream of sending someone to the ESA to cover a breaking trade and such.

The point is valid, Scott, but when Luke DeCock was covering the Whalercanes for the N&O, he didn't have much trouble getting access to Mo or Peter Laviolette - at least from my vantage point. I doubt that changes.