Q: I graduated from the University of South Carolina and I am puzzled at the lack of sports coverage given to the “Gamecock” teams. There are a great deal of Alumni living in the Charlotte region whom I feel deserve better coverage from the Observer. Is it possible to provide better coverage or is the paper limited to information sent from the various schools media releases?
Answered 06/09/08 11:45:58 by Rick Thames
A: We know we have a large number of Gamecocks fans in our region. But we’re unusual in that we track many teams with significant fan bases here. Here is how Sports Editor Mike Persinger explains it. “We are limited more by the fractured nature of our readership in terms of college allegiances than we are by the information available. Appalachian State, UNC Charlotte, Clemson, Davidson, Duke, Johnson C. Smith, North Carolina, N.C. State, South Carolina, Wake Forest - fans of all these area schools and more expect coverage in the Observer. And that list doesn’t include the schools for thousands of newcomers who arrive here each year from other areas of the country.” Elsewhere in the country, some newspapers can be singular in their focus. In Kansas, football means Kansas and Kansas State. In Columbia, it’s the University of South Carolina, plus some Clemson. “We are, by necessity, split many more ways,” Mike says. "What we try to do is recognize moments for each school and be there when they happen. We covered all of South Carolina’s major football games, and we were there at the NCAA baseball regional in Raleigh that included the Gamecocks. “So it’s not about availability. It’s about spreading the coverage around.”
Q: I graduated from the University of South Carolina and I am puzzled at the lack of sports coverage given to the “Gamecock” teams. There are a great deal of Alumni living in the Charlotte region whom I feel deserve better coverage from the Observer. Is it possible to provide better coverage or is the paper limited to information sent from the various schools media releases?
Answered 06/09/08 11:45:58 by Rick Thames
A: We know we have a large number of Gamecocks fans in our region. But we’re unusual in that we track many teams with significant fan bases here. Here is how Sports Editor Mike Persinger explains it. “We are limited more by the fractured nature of our readership in terms of college allegiances than we are by the information available. Appalachian State, UNC Charlotte, Clemson, Davidson, Duke, Johnson C. Smith, North Carolina, N.C. State, South Carolina, Wake Forest - fans of all these area schools and more expect coverage in the Observer. And that list doesn’t include the schools for thousands of newcomers who arrive here each year from other areas of the country.” Elsewhere in the country, some newspapers can be singular in their focus. In Kansas, football means Kansas and Kansas State. In Columbia, it’s the University of South Carolina, plus some Clemson. “We are, by necessity, split many more ways,” Mike says. "What we try to do is recognize moments for each school and be there when they happen. We covered all of South Carolina’s major football games, and we were there at the NCAA baseball regional in Raleigh that included the Gamecocks. “So it’s not about availability. It’s about spreading the coverage around.”
the Observer is no different than any other top 30 city in terms of colleges surrounding it
Cincinatti smothers X and UC, while in the midst of the Big 10, MAC, A10, BE, etc
[QUOTE=metro;324832]the Observer is no different than any other top 30 city in terms of colleges surrounding it
Cincinatti smothers X and UC, while in the midst of the Big 10, MAC, A10, BE, etc[/QUOTE] exactly. mike’s answer was full of crap too. because they do not spread the coverage. they give most of it to the tarholes. mike’s alma mater. every major newspaper in the country gives the hometown team top billing. except the observer.
Q: I graduated from the University of South Carolina and I am puzzled at the lack of sports coverage given to the “Gamecock” teams. There are a great deal of Alumni living in the Charlotte region whom I feel deserve better coverage from the Observer. Is it possible to provide better coverage or is the paper limited to information sent from the various schools media releases?
I’ve griped about this for years. If you’re a “regional” paper, where do you draw the line on that region? Really Virginia Tech, Clemson and Georgia need to be thrown in there too. My guess is that VT is second only to Charlotte in terms of alumni living in Charlotte. My simple survey, when you drive around town, notice how many more Georgia license plates and bumper stickers you’ll see compared to Duke or NCSU.
The easy solution is that UNC Charlotte should be top priority since it is in Charlotte. “Regional” opens up all kinds of variables.
[QUOTE=Normmm;324865]I’ve griped about this for years. If you’re a “regional” paper, where do you draw the line on that region? Really Virginia Tech, Clemson and Georgia need to be thrown in there too. My guess is that VT is second only to Charlotte in terms of alumni living in Charlotte. My simple survey, when you drive around town, notice how many more Georgia license plates and bumper stickers you’ll see compared to Duke or NCSU.
The easy solution is that UNC Charlotte should be top priority since it is in Charlotte. “Regional” opens up all kinds of variables.[/QUOTE] they’ve never told us this. “regional” = triangle region. i think there are more usc and va tech fans in charlotte than duke state and wake combined. half the tarhole fans can’t read. so why do they keep shoving those triangle teams on us all the time?
clt thinks that the observer should devote equal coverage to the panthers, cowboys, and redskins bc they all are popular.
Don’t forget ND and Ohio State football fans. There are more ND football fans in Charlotte than any other school, so that would sell more papers. And there’s also the Yankee and Red Sox fans. There’s definitely more Yankee fans in Charlotte than Knights fans.
Sports Editor Mike Persinger explains it. “We are limited more by the fractured nature of our readership in terms of college allegiances than we are by the information available…”
[/QUOTE]
This excuse is an absolute joke. Any city the size of Charlotte or larger could make this claim. But only in here in good 'ole Charlotte are we subjected to this steaming pile of dung.
If Mike operated a Chick-Fil-A, he’d probably discontinue the chicken sandwich (their basic sandwich) in order to try and encourage more people to buy a chicken salad sandwich or chicken nuggets (fringe items).
[QUOTE=Normmm;324895]There’s definitely more Yankee fans in Charlotte than Knights fans.[/QUOTE]
I happened upon a copy of the sports page recently and did notice that they did not carry the Intimidators 7-day schedule in the paper, in the upper left corner of page 2 anymore.
In the past, they seemed to carry a 7-day rolling schedule of the local sports teams. Did Kannapolis secede from the Mike P sports region?
[QUOTE=SilvioDante;324902]Did Kannapolis secede from the Mike P sports region?[/QUOTE]this concept is called satellite regions. the observer no longer considers kannapolis as part of the charlotte region. but chapel hill is considered part of the region.
Just further proves that our paper is a joke. It also proves how far journalism and national newspapers have fallen. Credible and Fair news coverage is now Biased and written in objective views to reflect the writer. We just have to face that we will always be shunned by our local paper and get over it. Let them put themselves out of business.
[QUOTE=LakeNorman49er;324907]this concept is called satellite regions. the observer no longer considers kannapolis as part of the charlotte region. but chapel hill is considered part of the region.[/QUOTE]
For your next trick, you are gonna tell me that David Murdock came here because of Chapel Hill being part of the Charlotte region. right?
[QUOTE=SilvioDante;324910]For your next trick, you are gonna tell me that David Murdock came here because of Chapel Hill being part of the Charlotte region. right?
http://www.ncresearchcampus.net/[/QUOTE]that’s a tricky one to explain. and those buildings look just like our new buildings. imagine that. i did notice they had unc-chapel hill listed as unc-chapel hill under the universities.
some interesting points, I would guess that there are many more Duke alums in Atlanta or DC than Charlotte. I never thought of Charlotte as a Duke area. Many people like Duke bball everywhere as with ND football, but is Charlotte that special on Duke bball than any other area of the country ?
Not sure of the quote but doesn’t Coach K not like the ACC tournament even being held in Charlotte or Greensboro. In fact isn’t that why their is a larger rotation outside of the state of NC for the ACC tournament, because of his views. Apparently he had a big say in getting the tournament to Atlanta.
I said it on another post, and I’ll say it here, we need a new paper in CLT.
One for Charlotte! “The Daily Charlottian” “Queen City Times” “Charlotte Tribune” “The Charlotte View”
“The Charlotte Gold Leaf” “Charlotte Life Today(CLT)”
We could have full page articles for all pre/ post games for 49ers, include jc smith, pfieffer, queens, davidson, wingate, build the community with the paper, write about what could be good for the community, instead of the focus on the negative, cut out the crap put in the important a paper for the people by the people…haha
[QUOTE=BleEDgreen49er;325002]I said it on another post, and I’ll say it here, we need a new paper in CLT.
One for Charlotte! “The Daily Charlottian” “Queen City Times” “Charlotte Tribune” “The Charlotte View”
“The Charlotte Gold Leaf” “Charlotte Life Today(CLT)”
We could have full page articles for all pre/ post games for 49ers, include jc smith, pfieffer, queens, davidson, wingate, build the community with the paper, write about what could be good for the community, instead of the focus on the negative, cut out the crap put in the important a paper for the people by the people…haha[/QUOTE]
I wouldn’t even bother with an actual “paper” version. Online is all you need.
[QUOTE=BleEDgreen49er;325002]I said it on another post, and I’ll say it here, we need a new paper in CLT.
[/QUOTE] this biggest problem with the observer is they go out of their way to portray us as second class. they want the public to think we’re on the same level as wingate or pheiffer. most observer readers never knew we used to constantly beat up on such powers as cincy louisville and memphis. things got slightly better a year ago but the damage was already done. i think our big east chances would have been much better if we were considered charlotte’s team while in cusa. football will help but we still need our local paper to show us some respect.