Breaking new ground ...

The Oxford (Miss.) Eagle will begin routinely interviewing high school athletes as part of its coverage:

Edit - Found archival link:

http://www.oxfordeagle.com/archives/2006/0806/080706-081106/080906/sports2.html

As I understand it, the paper's formal policy under its previous sports editor was not to talk to high school athletes.

 

I am jelous. Very, very jelous. Three high schools, what a dream come true.

I know it is obviously a small town, but we have three high schools on one street here.

 

Is it my imagination, or did Davis write this like he just fell off his toilet and drew the flux capacitor?

Next thing you know those "prepsters" will be demanding TV coverage too. There's no end to this ...

 

this is hilarious!

 

My first thought when reading that was: When is he going to get to the point?

Second thought: How many times can he used the word change in one article (11)

Third thought: Why the need to write this at all?

Fourth thought: I hope all his stories aren't so long winded.

 

Unfortunately, I can no longer read what you're talking about.

Apparently, this paper has five URLs for the latest sports news, and that's it, and just keeps rotating new stories in over the old one.

Not saying that condescendingly -- it's a small operation, obviously, and that's where they are with the 'Net right now...

 

Don't laugh...

My old rag, a 7-10K a.m. daily, did not allow athlete interviews, save an occasional feature.

The publisher and ME felt, for whatever reason, said high school students were incapable of providing anything of substance.

Needless to say, I didn't stick around long.

 

I'd say about 30-40 percent of high school kids are worthless to quote

40-50 percent are pretty good

10-20 percent will give you better quotes than you'll ever get from a coach or pro.

 

There's usually one or two kids on a team that are reliable quotes.

 

When I was in school at Ole Miss, I think more locals got their news from the school paper -- and, obviously, Memphis, Tupelo and Jackson -- than they did from the Eagle.

 

Well, they have local stories archived. Just took me a while to find it again, and it's linked at the top.

 

Good grief. Did this guy dislocate his shoulder while patting himself on the back?

For chrissakes, he's not reinventing the wheel. If you're going to talk with the athletes more, just do it. No one needs a breakdown of recent meetings to make this revelation.