Monthly Archives: February 2008
The Beat Writer in the NBA, Part 2
Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune has filed his next blog post about his life as a beat reporter covering the Utah Jazz. You can read his previous entries here.
In today’s segment, Siler goes into the struggles of needing to produce an article on a day the team is not in action. He also gives us a look into how, at such a young age, he made a name for himself on the NBA beat.
He ends his post by detailing a travel disaster which may impact his upcoming appearance tonight with the team in New Orleans.
Good times.
What They’re Saying…February 29, 2008
Happy Leap Day! Here’s what’s on the minds of some of the sports media columnists across the country this day…
Over at USA Today Micheal Hiestand has the lead story about the hiring of Bobby Knight by ESPN…at least for the NCAA hoops post-season.
Teddy Greenstein at the Chicago Tribune add his thoughts on Knight…
So does Richard Deitsch at SI…
Richard Sandomir of the NY Times also has the Knight news…
Elsewhere in Gotham, Neil Best at Newsday begins his column by talking with Will Ferrell about his propensity to make sports comedies…
Bob Raissman at the NY Daily News responds to the latest news that Yankee broadcaster Bobby Murcer is facing another health battle…
In Boston, David Scott speculates about how the next round of cuts at the Boston Globe will impact the sports section…
Speaking of the Globe, Nancy Marrapese-Burrell has the story of NESN already in mid-season form in its coverage of the Red Sox…
Donna Goodison at the Boston Herald talks about how the Patriots are expanding their empire to include more than football…
At the Oklahoman, Mel Bracht has news about ESPN’s contract extension to cover Big 12 football…
Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has some Bracketology talk with ESPN’s Joe Lunardi.
At the L.A. Daily News, Tom Hoffarth has the last in his survey of the best of L.A. sports personalities. Today, best play-by-play.
Dave Darling at the Orlando Sentinel has a Q&A with ESPN’s Erin Andrews.
Jim Carlilse at the Ventura County Star talks about how Black History Month is being treated in the sports media world…
Mike Tankersley at the Montgomery Advertiser has local NASCAR radio news…
John Maffei at the North County Times look at the weekend’s best TV bets…
Ray Frager at the Baltimore Sun has his thoughts on the departure of Sean Salisbury, among other things…
What to Cover
Something really bothered my during my visit last week to the Providence Bruins’ press box.
I mentioned that there were three other members of the media on hand for the game. I have no problem naming the organizations they represent; The Pro Hockey News, the Attleboro Sun Chronicle, and WBRU Radio.
If you’re from the Northeast, is there a name you do not see? How about the Providence Journal, the hometown paper of the P-Bruins!
I found it absolutely amazing that the local paper did not have a reporter on hand for the game. What makes it worse is the paper’s newsroom is literally across the street from the Dunkin’ Donuts Center!
I tried rationalize why they were not there. Maybe the paper was tied up with local college basketball coverage seeing that Providence is a big hoops town? No. Providence College and the University of Rhode Island were not slated to play until the next day.
Even though the Red Sox had just opened its Spring Training camp, there were no extra reporters than normal on hand in Fort Myers. So why the slight?
The P-Bruins say the Journal does staff some home games, but not all of them. This begs for a discussion on what appears to be the effects of the shrinking newspaper sports departments and their casualties.
The P-Bruins are Providence’s lone professional franchise, and the city’s daily apparently does not find it important enough to cover all its home games. I’m not calling on the paper to devote a full-time reporter to the beat, or even suggest the paper should send a reporter out on the road with the team. But goodness, all the paper needs to do is assign a stringer to cover all the home games! Hell, I’ll do it!
The practice of the Providence Journal unfortunately is a disturbing trend seen at sports departments across the country. We all know it comes down to dollars and cents. I’m not a P-Bruins butt-boy, but it seems to me that by neglecting your lone local professional sports franchise, no matter the sport, you are providing a disservice to the dedicated readers of your sports page.
The Beat Writer in the NBA
Thanks to Fanhouse to tipping me off to this.
Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune is one of the beat writers for the Utah Jazz. On his blog (which he shares with Steve Luhm), he is documenting the behind-the-scenes events of covering the team. It’s a great read if you want to know what it’s like to be a beat writer.
In his Monday piece, Siler discusses his meeting with Jazz players and coaches early morning before the team heads on the road for its first stop in Minnesota. He goes through the process of developing a story on an off day and a little about what is expected at the paper. He also addresses how his travel schedule is much different than that of the teams’.
His Tuesday post begins with press access at a team shoot-around. He describes his pre-game activities prior to the T-Wolves game and his work post-game in filing his story back home. He also details his late night travails.
The entry from Wednesday starts with Siler’s un-Godly travel schedule from Minnesota back to Salt Lake City. He gets into the specifics of his day in talking with members of the Jazz’ D-League team before settling in for that night’s game against the Pistons. He quickly mentions his disdain with a fan near his press seat (I would have loved to see how that was handled) before recapping a great come-from-behind win for the Jazz.
All in all, good stuff about what it’s like to be a reporter in the trenches. I will add more as Siler progresses through the rest of his four game in five day journal.
The Greatest Highlight Flim-Flam
So I’m watching Sportscenter this morning when the latest segment of “The Greatest Highlight” with Chris Berman comes on. Listening to the segment made me take notice. It’s not what Berman said that got me in an uproar, but the fact that he had said it AGAIN!
Let me explain. In his set-up to introducing the highlight of Mike Eruzione’s game winning goal in the 1980 Olympics against the Soviets, Berman referenced the 1960 Squaw Valley team that also took home the gold. It then dawned on me that was the same lead-in he used during the earlier editions of this segment. ESPN just re-played the Berman-led highlight as the clip advanced through this “tournament”. They did the same for the 2007 Boise State football “Statue of Liberty” highlight.
A lot of people have slammed the WWL for the creation of these made-for-ESPN debates. I have no problem with ESPN developing “Who’s Now” or “The Greatest Highlight”. I didn’t particularly like how they were presented(Berman included), but the concept is fine. Fans do talk about this stuff.
If ESPN is going to promote “The Greatest Highlight” with Chris Berman, then Chris Berman should tape fresh content as the “tournament” played out. To reuse his original description of the highlights cheapens the segment. If Berman couldn’t provide fresh content for the piece, then take it out of his hands!
If ESPN wants us to embrace the concept of “The Greatest Highlight”, then it should at least do its part to produce fresh segments of the series.
I guess they do think we all are THAT stupid.
