Who staffed the (men's) Final Four?

[Mr. X]

What newspapers, especially those who didn't have a team in it or are located outside of Texas, staffed the (men's) Final Four?

I'll give two (no-brainers) on the yes list right away -- The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Here's one on the no list -- Los Angeles Times, which used the coverage of The San Union-Tribune, which is owned by the same investment firm.

What newspapers used to staff the Final Four nearly every year -- regardless of whether it had a team in it -- but didn't this year and hasn't regularly lately?

Mainly using this is a gauge in part to see where the industry is in 2023.

I put men's in parentheses to avoid nitpicking and to avoid conflict with a similar thread I will start later on the Women's Final Four.

 

[rubenmateo]

+Wall Street Journal. If what you say about the LAT is true, then NYT, WaPo and WSJ may be the only papers you can depend on being at every major sports event these days.

 

[LanceyHoward]

+Wall Street Journal. If what you say about the LAT is true, then NYT, WaPo and WSJ may be the only papers you can depend on being at every major sports event these days.

I think the LA Times generally sends someone to national events. I think in this case San Diego probably had at least a beat writer and a columnist so the Times coverage would have been redundant.

How many South Florida papers had staffers there given there were two area teams in the Final Four? Do any of the South Florida teams regularly travel with Miami or FAU basketball?

 

[BTExpress]

Dave Hyde was there for the Sun-Sentinel.

 

[MileHigh]

Michelle Kaufman and Greg Cote were there for the Herald. Probably a photog too.

 

[micropolitan guy]

I hope the Wall Street Journal coverage wasn't loaded with phrases intended to convey something, like slam dunk, alley-oop and the like.

 

[Mr. X]

I hope the Wall Street Journal coverage wasn't loaded with phrases intended to convey something, like slam dunk, alley-oop and the like.

Here's pre-Final Four column from Jason Gay. Miami?! San Diego State?! Florida Atlantic?! Frisky First Timers Invade Final Four

 

[Readallover]

Did Politi go?

 

[Mr. X]

Did Politi go?

If you are referring to Star-Ledger sports columnist Steve Politi, from a look at his Twitter feed (@StevePoliti), it appears the answer is no.

 

[garrow]

Politico definitely went. "Why UConn's Victory Is Bad News For Biden" by Jonathan P. Beltway.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Politico definitely went. "Why UConn's Victory Is Bad News For Biden" by Jonathan P. Beltway.

 

[Pilot]

Here's pre-Final Four column from Jason Gay. Miami?! San Diego State?! Florida Atlantic?! Frisky First Timers Invade Final Four

That was…

I don't lack for pride in plenty of my work, but I don't look back fondly on lots of columns. I could make it work half the time but ultimately never really figured the form out, never really answered "why does anyone give a ship what I think and/or can I make something funny out of this thing everyone reading already knows about?"

And yeah, I wrote a lot of columns like that.