Folks
I’m not going to make it a habit to come on here and defend The Observer or bash it, to me such trading of jarbs does very little in improving a product or changing people’s minds. I seriously doubt anyone who reads or posts here would read something regarding any topic and completely reverse their opinion because they stumbled on some great “insight.”
With regards to today’s game, I will point out a couple things, some which are not new. They are not “excuses,” since they will not change anyone’s mind, but simply more like a state of things are they are today.
For one, you will be hard pressed to find what you would normally consider “game advances” for hardly any college game any more, including the ACC. No. 1 ranked Duke is playing at Clemson today, a game The Observer will staff, and other than Ken Tysiac’s comments in Inside the ACC, there is only a capsule. The Bobcats - a professional team - receive nearly the same treatment, though sometimes game coverage is blended into previews of what’s next. I think that is an approach we have tried at The Observer. On Tuesday, there was a A-10 notebook with a lead on the La Salle-Charlotte game. There was also an inside college basketball feature on the Thornton kid from Xavier and how they were playing Charlotte on Saturday - far more information on the opponent than would have appeared in any advance story in today’s paper.
Simply put, there are a 1000 ways for people to find out there is a game tonight, what The Observer tries to do is provide insight and analysis from its writers and give the reader a more broad-based look into what’s going on with all teams and in the conferences they play. It is not an easy job. Could the Inside the A-10 been dumped for a Niners-only advance story? Probably. Would it be worth the swap? I don’t think so. In this first season, not only do Charlotte fans want to know about their team, but also the 13 others they see on a regular basis they see didn’t before.
There are a lot of things coming up which I think 49ers fans will enjoy: insights, interviews and features on people and prospective players which you will enjoy (I hope).
Several years ago, one friend of mine from Raleigh told me he asked his sports editor about doing a game advance for a “big game.” His reply, “If it’s so big, don’t you think the school’s fans should know before the pick up the paper the day of the game?”
I’m not saying that philosophy is right or wrong. I am only saying there are different approaches employed because of the increased use of the Internet, multi-media and space considerations. And also remember this, everything everyone here would desire to see in The Observer for Charlotte because of its “local school connection” is just as deserving to Davidson. If you put those wish lists together, what else would fit in the Sports section?
Thanks. See you tonight.
Jim
