[QUOTE=Tintin;148784]
The O is not a regional paper.
[/QUOTE]
I just cancelled my Observer subscription after todayâs game-day coverage. Iâve lived in Washington DC, Richmond, Winston-Salem, and Charlotte, and this has been the most pathetic local sports newspaper coverage I have ever seen in my life. Iâm just plain sick of it.
Thumbs down to your newspaper.
If Jim Utter has the guts to ever show up on this board again, we need to all ask him why there are about 6 pages of Panther PREGAME articles after he told us just yesterday that they do not do pregame articles. What was it he said? âThere are over 1000 ways to find out there is a game today.â???
The Panthers deserved a big pregame article, but we deserved a pregame article of some kind too.
The sports editor from the Big O is afraid we will pick up some casual fans in the Charlotte area. He had rather LOSE CUSTOMERS than to take a chance on us picking up community support.
WHY? WHY? WHY?
Boys whomever said complaining on this board will not do any good is right.
Vote with your pocketbook.
It has always been this way and always will.
[QUOTE=Over40NINER;148841]If Jim Utter has the guts to ever show up on this board again, we need to all ask him why there are about 6 pages of Panther PREGAME articles after he told us just yesterday that they do not do pregame articles. What was it he said? âThere are over 1000 ways to find out there is a game today.â???[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]âSimply put, there are a 1000 ways for people to find out there is a game tonightâŚâ - Jim Utter, writer, The Charlotte Observer, 1/14/06[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]Rivers ran upstream. Sphinxes keeled over. Pyramids turned to dust. Hell froze over, the great 49er in the sky struck gold and his UNCC basketball team rose up and slew a giant. - Glenn Rollins, The Charlotte Observer, 3/20/77[/QUOTE]
Iâll now go on record as saying things have regressed in the past 29 years.
I feel honored so many of you like to quote me, but I suggest you re-read what I said originally. First, I said you would be hard pressed to find college basketball game advances in The Observer any more - NOT in the Cincinnati paper, not Panthers game advances, etc. Second, please donât use Wilmington as an example of a paper with good local sports coverage. Of course it does. It has a sports section that needs to be filled every day and UNCW and high schools are the only events for the paperâs sports staff to cover. If youâre going to compare, compare apples to apples. And third, for the person who claims The Observer is not a regional newspaper. The last I saw our circulation figures, more than 50 percent of our newspapers are sold OUTSIDE the Charlotte city limits. And The Observer has offices in Monroe, Concord, Gastonia, Hickory, Rock Hill, Lake Norman and Statesville. And we sell large numbers of papers in Boone and at the beaches. If you put a circle on a map around North and South Carolina that covers all of those areas, thatâs one quite large region.
JimIf you're going to compare, compare apples to apples.
OK. What newspaper is comparable to the Observer in terms of college basketball coverage?
Dear Jim Utter, since your paper reaches Boone, go ahead and cover App. State
basketball and leave us alone. Thank you.
IMO if the cover area is that great shoudlnât the name needs to be âThe [COLOR=mediumturquoise]North Carolina[/COLOR]â or the â[COLOR=MediumTurquoise]Carolina[/COLOR]â instead of Charlotte?
Jim, I have a question⌠If you were the sports editor instead of Mike P, what changes would you make? How would the sports page be different? Or do you think everything is perfect as it is?
This isnât meant to be an attack, Iâm just curious how other sportswriters feel about the current coverage.
Since you feel honored that we quote you, here goes:
I feel honored so many of you like to quote me, but I suggest you re-read what I said originally. First, I said you would be hard pressed to find college basketball game advances in The Observer any more - NOT in the Cincinnati paper, not Panthers game advances, etc.Jim Utter's first point: We misquoted him and we should not compare Charlotte's game advances to the game advances Cincinnati or the Panthers receive.
Second, please don't use Wilmington as an example of a paper with good local sports coverage. Of course it does. It has a sports section that needs to be filled every day and UNCW and high schools are the only events for the paper's sports staff to cover. If you're going to compare, compare apples to apples.Jim Utter's second point: We should find a better comparison for the Observer's local sports coverage.
And third, for the person who claims The Observer is not a regional newspaper. The last I saw our circulation figures, more than 50 percent of our newspapers are sold OUTSIDE the Charlotte city limits. And The Observer has offices in Monroe, Concord, Gastonia, Hickory, Rock Hill, Lake Norman and Statesville. And we sell large numbers of papers in Boone and at the beaches. If you put a circle on a map around North and South Carolina that covers all of those areas, that's one quite large region.Jim</blockquote>Jim Utterâs third point: A newspaper with a large coverage area in 2 states has to sacrifice some local coverage in favor of more regionalized coverage.
My response:
Point #1 - OK. For the record, Jim Utter said we will be hard pressed to find gameday coverage for the Charlotte 49ers in the Observer any more. Sorry if we misunderstood you. :rolleyes:
Point #2 - If Wilmington is a poor comparison, then how 'bout Cincinnati? Thatâs a big city that had to cover an NFL playoff team this year as well as a MLB team, yet has space in the paper to spare for the Bearcats and Musketeers. And it doesnât appear that the Cincinnati Inquirer complains that thereâs no room to cover two teams in the same area (hey - youâre the one who brought up Davidson) :shades:
Point #3 - Doesnât the Inquirer have a large coverage area in Northern Kentucky and Ohio? Thatâs quite a burden for an A-10 school like Xavier. Imagine how poorly the newspaper follows a team that hasnât âearnedâ coverage like Xavier - especially considering some of the ânational powersâ in the coverage radius. I imagine the Wal-Marts in Cincinatti/Northern Kentucky carrying a lot of U of Kentucky gear.
The paper would be unabl[SIZE=2]Over40, letâs count 'em up. The Cincy papers had 9 pieces on the Charlotte-Xavier game, plus 4 blogs by Dustin Dow and a poll on how to defend Withers, for a total of 14 over a 2-day period. The Observer had 2 sentences in this morningâs paper (3 if you count the A-10 Notebook). Iâm completely underwhelmed!!!
Never mind.
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[QUOTE]Second, please donât use Wilmington as an example of a paper with good local sports coverage. Of course it does. It has a sports section that needs to be filled every day and UNCW and high schools are the only events for the paperâs sports staff to cover. If youâre going to compare, compare apples to apples.[/QUOTE]
Please give me a paper to compare you to.
Since the disturber covers such a âlargeâ area as stated. The National Enquirer would be the only one for the comparison. :happy:
[QUOTE=survivor45;148873]
Point #2 - If Wilmington is a poor comparison, then how 'bout Cincinnati? Thatâs a big city that had to cover an NFL playoff team this year as well as a MLB team, yet has space in the paper to spare for the Bearcats and Musketeers. And it doesnât appear that the Cincinnati Inquirer complains that thereâs no room to cover two teams in the same area (hey - youâre the one who brought up Davidson) :shades:
[/QUOTE]
Thank you. There simply is no excuse that the second biggest college basketball team in Cincinnati gets that much coverage in their regional paper and we get nothing.
[QUOTE=Jim Utter;148860]
I feel honored so many of you like to quote meâŚ
[/QUOTE]
Jim, out of curiosity, which school did you graduate from?
i cannot not help but to wonder what the execs at knight rider would think if they were to read this thread.
the primary goal of the sports editor does not seem to be selling papers.
[QUOTE=LakeNorman49er;148904]i cannot not help but to wonder what the execs at knight rider would think if they were to read this thread.
the primary goal of the sports editor does not seem to be selling papers.[/QUOTE]
List of contacts at Knight Ridder:
Jim Utter is a UNCC graduate. He posted his bio a while back.
um we lostâŚbig dealâŚthats why we dont get huge write ups
Its either the ACC or nothing at all in this paper 
[QUOTE=Jim Utter;148860]I feel honored so many of you like to quote me, but I suggest you re-read what I said originally. First, I said you would be hard pressed to find college basketball game advances in The Observer any more - NOT in the Cincinnati paper, not Panthers game advances, etc. Second, please donât use Wilmington as an example of a paper with good local sports coverage. Of course it does. It has a sports section that needs to be filled every day and UNCW and high schools are the only events for the paperâs sports staff to cover. If youâre going to compare, compare apples to apples. And third, for the person who claims The Observer is not a regional newspaper. The last I saw our circulation figures, more than 50 percent of our newspapers are sold OUTSIDE the Charlotte city limits. And The Observer has offices in Monroe, Concord, Gastonia, Hickory, Rock Hill, Lake Norman and Statesville. And we sell large numbers of papers in Boone and at the beaches. If you put a circle on a map around North and South Carolina that covers all of those areas, thatâs one quite large region.
Jim[/QUOTE]
Dude, you ainât going to win here . The Big Oâs coverage sucks and always will. If we beat Kentucky and Duke or UNC loses a close game to Bucknell, weâre second fiddle. Itâs life.
People, SHUT UP. They like to think it matters. Sorenson is a hack who tries to enflame. Persinger comes over and tries to act PC. His agenda is obvious. Sue me, youâre transparent. My Jew lawyer says âHelloâ.
Weâre not very good this year, yet. Maybe we wonât be. If we make progress, maybe we can hold Tyler Hansbough to 14 or so. Thereâs always hope. Iâll bet he had an off night.