Remembering why I left the field

[2underpar]

Pencil: it's because of that round that he is what he is today. saw the future of the real world and decided it wasn't for him. I knew he was smart.

 

[Terd Ferguson]

I think the best policy is that game coverage, outside of a handful of exceptions, should begin no earlier than senior high school. I always explained to parents that unless they want us to write about their little leaguer's errors and strikeouts, their junior high basketball player's turnovers and missed free throws, we're not going to write about their routine singles and game winning buckets. "If they aren't old enough to be criticised, they aren't old enough to be praised."
That typically got through to people.

I don't carry that same philosophy on photo pages or features. There are some good stories out there no matter the level and if you make an effort in the summer to cultivate them and write about them, you'll get alot of the youth sports complainers off your back. A photo page is also a great catch-all and agate - make sure you dictate the format and keep it consistent - is usually enough of a bone to keep the little league hounds off your ass.

P.S. To 50 Scent... I'm sure with your past professional experience you'd be welcome to string for a lot of newsrooms. The thing you need to remember is most of those stringing assignments, at least in my experience, are going to be summer league baseball, low classification prep sports and ladies day golf tournaments. Rare is the editor who gives his freelancers big-time assignments.

 

[RedCanuck]

Also agree with Maestro: High school varsity (American Legion/AAU in the summer) is the level where "game coverage" should begin (with an exception for district all-star teams that are eligible to make it to Williamsport, Pa. Pony/Dixie/Babe Ruth leagues don't count. LLWS counts.) Anything lower/younger than high school varsity that can get a feature or profile in a youth sports section, but keep results to a minimum.

That tends to be where I draw the line too, though junior varsity generally gets game coverage too. Junior hockey, junior/midget softball, and high school teams tend to get fairly regular beat coverage, everyone else here gets features and roundups.

Just the math makes sense too. In town we have one junior hockey team, and 10-15 youth rep teams alone, let alone house leagues. We have four high school teams in any given sport max, compared to countless youth teams. People reading want to know more about that exclusive level that few play, at least I think so.

I'll devote more space to minor hockey playoff game coverage because that's when most people in the town start to care how teams are doing... and I don't usually interview the kids unless they're high school aged regardless, unless it is a specific feature.

 

[wisportswriter]

The problem, of course, is that with rare exceptions (like wisportswriter's), you don't get detailed surveys that detail what people want to see and not want to see. What you get is bosses taking the temperature of the community through the most inaccurate means known to man — the call-ins.

Which is the exact problem we had for a year or two leading up to our glorious message from God market survey.
That was the best staff meeting in my four years at this paper.

 

[House]

Oh, fork surveys.

My wife is in the circ department and worked a booth at the county fair where people could fill out readership surveys. She said not one person that filled one out was under 40 and most were women. Although there were people at the fair under 40, the bunch doesn't care because we sell a product that they don't want.

For those curious: Top ten content
1. Obituaries
2. Weather
3. Comics
4. Crossword
5. TV schedule

No. 10 was sports.
It's not a newspaper to most people, it's an almanac practically.

Okay, survey rant over.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Oh, fork surveys.

My wife is in the circ department and worked a booth at the county fair where people could fill out readership surveys. She said not one person that filled one out was under 40 and most were women. Although there were people at the fair under 40, the bunch doesn't care because we sell a product that they don't want.

For those curious: Top ten content
1. Obituaries
2. Weather
3. Comics
4. Crossword
5. TV schedule

No. 10 was sports.
It's not a newspaper to most people, it's an almanac practically.

Okay, survey rant over.

But because that survey doesn't hit a statistically-correct cross-section of demographics, it's of null influence (or it should be), on roughly the same level of accuracy as the American Idol call-in polling. If the PTB base major policy changes on that, well that's as stupid as blowing up and rebuilding the sports section on one angry parent's call-in.

 

[wisportswriter]

House, this survey was slightly more scientific than that.

 

[Claws for Concern]

How low was coupons on that list? I'd think that's one of the top reasons to get a paper, at least Sunday's paper for sure.