USC reporter, Rivals

The Florida State site, Warchant.com, is one of the top sites on the rivals network, if not the top. I'd say it is the top news source for the Seminoles, and most people use it and disregard the Democrat. A lot of fans on Warchant.com I have noticed have discredited the Democrat sportswriters as "hacks" and prefer the writers for Warchant.

In addition to that site, the Scout.com site for the Seminoles has had a fair amount of success, but nothing that pays the bills full time.

Also ... isn't ESPN already linked with Scout.com? I know that Yahoo Sports and Rivals recently hooked up so I can't see how ESPN is going to put a damper on what Rivals is doing. Yahoo Sports continues to improve. It seems to me both Scout.com and Rivals.com will continue to grow.

 

I visit USCFootball.com for a lot of info and enjoy the info they have. But sometimes I wish they would go and do more on the Bush scandal.

Also if I am not mistaken

Rivals is part of yahoo sports
Scout is part of Fox Sports/MSN

 

I have no dog in this thread, but I couldn't let this one pass.
So, because some folks on a message board say the sports writers at the Democrat are hacks we are supposed to believe them? If you listen to any fan that posts on message boards, then we are all hacks. That is how it is.
Who gives a shit what the fans on the Warchant.com message board have to say?

 

Totally unbiased observers, huh? Listen, you can't go by that.

The whole Rivals.com model is to foster a "community," an idea that, hey, we're all in this together. That doesn't necessarily mean fanboys - the guys on my beat decidedly are not fanboys - but it does mean that writers interact with readers, even throw them a bone once in a while by asking the questions that the fans have been wanting to know, etc., etc. It builds loyalty.

And since this is an alternative source of news, it also develops a certain sense of pride in not fishing in the mainstream. No different from the punks at the club show who think the Dead Kennedys rule and the Stones were fucking hacks. Rivals.com and such, probably unconsciously, have found a way to steal the pop culture/political "no love for the mainstream" dynamic and create a sports subculture in those images.

The psychology is the same. Instead of griping about Green Day and Nickelback, they rag on The Tallahassee Democrat and the Ann Arbor News and the Durham Herald-Sun and the Lansing State Journal and the Austin American-Statesman.

Of course they think the mainstream newspapers suck. That's the establishment. But while the establishment is drawing 20,000 reader hits a day to big stories, and 50-100,000 more print copies in circulation, even the best Rivals and Scout sites have 4,000-5,000 subscribers. How can you say that "most people use it and disregard" the mainstream news source? That's just not true. But the presence of message boards makes you think it is.

 

When it comes to news in Tallahassee, of course the Democrat has more subscribers. However, strictly Florida State athletics, I think the newspaper has taken a backseat to Warchant.com.

Record: 10198 on February 6, 2008

On That date over 10,000 people were signed on to the message board. Of course, it was national signing day, but to say that even the best rivals sites have 4-5000 users is false. 10,000 were logged on to the message board, and these are message boards you must be a subscriber to read. The free message board is popular as well, however, not as popular, and even then ... its getting hits, and the Democrat is not.

I'm not saying one is better than the other or one option is a better source. I am saying that Warchant.com has become a viable news source for Florida State athletics and has 7500+ subscribers.

 

How do you know how many people were logged into the Democrat's site that day?

 

Is it just me or does a lot of the job and other topics go off topic kinda quickly here at SportsJournalists.com?

If you want to discuss FSU's Rival site and the Democrat's circulation figures please do so in another topic.

Lets stick to information related to the job post at hand.

So anyone got anymore information on this gig or can provide some experience working with this site or another site like it?

 

Um, it is related to the job post at hand, dude.

Give me a break.

 

sportsnut is boots. Nice. That would explain the timing of his arrival here.

 

I don't know who he is, but I know that post made him seem like a real douche. Apparently, the relevance of the Rivals network isn't relevant to this job. Again - douche.

 

I thought we were discussing whether or not rivals.com and scout.com are legit news sources and other thing of that nature.

But I guess that has nothing to do with this job opening and we should only discuss facts about the USC job.

Soo....


end of thread



........

 

Or not... And I guess bad example with the FSU thing.

But everyone knows the point I am trying to make.

Nothing is written in stone when you are working on commission.