Thoughts to the "Out" Box

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.21.10
Current Song - I Saw The Light (Todd Rundgren)

I've got a bunch of things piled in my "In" box on top of my file cabinet: game rosters, game notes, programs, etc. I'm just now sorting it all into my file cabinet. The bottom of the stack is Kewanee-Princeton football stuff.

Not only do I have a box for the file cabinet, but today I have a bunch of things that need transferred from the brain to the blog.

One of my regular customers at the gas station, who is an assistant wrestling coach for an area high school, was talking to me one day about wrestling coverage in the newspaper. There was this quad one day and it didn't get a whole lot of press in the newspaper. The local paper didn't cover it, but another paper did. This led to the whole "basketball gets more press than wrestling" debate. I didn't take a stance, but I wanted to try to figure it all out.

I haven't made it out much to high school sports events this winter, and when I do, they are usually basketball games. I had yet to cover a wrestling meet all winter. One day I picked a good one: a triangular between Newman, Erie and Dakota @ Dakota. I did not cover it. I just wanted to observe a couple of things. I wanted to try to figure out what makes it so difficult to cover these events.

The first point was obvious: basketball is more popular. There were no reporters covering this particular meet, which took place on a Wednesday. I was listening to the local radio's sports news on the drive up, and they mentioned there were a few basketball games going on. I easily predicted the winners of these games, so they weren't going to be good. I came to the conclusion that the reporters are simply in a basketball mood throughout the entire winter season, and they would have to go out of their way in order to figure out exactly how to cover a wrestling meet. It's a big snowball effect.

Observation No. 2 may be unique to this particular meet, but because of the "size" of this one, I had to judge the book by the cover. There were no rosters available at the door. No big whoop, but it saves the reporter time so that he/she doesn't have to bug the scorer's table.

3. Basketball-oriented reporters simply do not know the basics of the moves. They know that when a wrestler is forced down onto the mat and continues to have clear control of the opponent, it is a two-point takedown. They aren't as educated in back points, the names of the moves, what a tech fall is, etc. Therefore, they will simply recite bout results. If I want bout results, I will look at the box. Some reporters have a habit of not wanting to learn the detail of something new.

4. There's no identifying mark on the wrestlers. Basketball players wear jerseys, and the ones you want to quote has been a familiar face to you for the duration of the basketball game. Wrestlers are only out there for six minutes. Again, no big whoop but just a small observation.

The four points above are really the reason for the whole debate. However, they only serve as a lead-in to the REAL reason. Space. Newspaper space has decreased, we all know that.


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The wrestling coverage observations had me thinking just recently, what would the public reception be like if a new sports editor at a newspaper decided to give equal coverage to all high school sports? How would the basketball fans react?

Does the number of new subscribers due to the coverage increase outnumber the loss of subscribers due to the cuts in popular sports? I'm not sure if newspapers have tried this experiment. I would like to try it.

In June's NISB State of the Site Address, I will announce a plan for equal coverage. On the wrestling front, I would like to commit to Dvorak, PIT and the Bi-State, as well as Team State. Dvorak is easy because it falls on a weekday. If I'm still working at the Shell station, priority will be given to weekday events.


***
I hope to go the final day of Hononegah's MLK Shootout on Monday. Hopefully I am not working.

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Speaking of work:

I will be putting in a 11-4 shift at Route 30 today. It'll be the first time I've worked there in nearly 8 months. I was only scheduled 24 hours this week. I gained two more on Tuesday afternoon, filling in for someone on a doc appointment. So there'll be five more today. Thirty-one hours this week. Not bad, considering I spent most my money on errands yesterday (insurance bill, plate stickers, oil change, headphones and batteries, stamps, and a new basketball scorebook).

Today will be challenging. I have Tech Zone this morning, followed by work, and followed by my first speech class.

On Thursday, I plan on going to the Big Northern Conference meeting. They are meeting to determine a new addition to the conference. That's at 1:00, and I want to go to the HBR-Newark girls game that night.

Friday morning will be spent in the Tech Zone. Then I'd like to see the DeKalb/Sycamore wrestling dual that night.