Copy vs. agate

How do you guys and gals feel about running wire copy on routine, run-of-the-mill national events like MLB, NFL, NHL, college football vs. running boxscores and summaries?

Sure, in a perfect world with unlimited space, one could run both. But space is limited and often we are forced to make a choice between, say, a page worth of Major League Baseball boxscores vs. stories and photos.

Which do you think gives you more bang for your buck?

 

This summer's been an adventure since we went to AP Limited in mid-March, but we get the full wire back when the new budget cycle begins in October.

I'd been giving this some thought before we switched, though. I'd been runnnng capsules on MLB, NBA, NFL and college hoops and football, after breaking out the state teams in the pros, since we'd always done that, but we're an afternoon paper on the West Coast, so if someone doesn't know what happened in that key Royals-Mariners game by the time we hit the racks, I worry about them. I'm pretty sure we're going to go with a "game of the day" approach, outside of the state teams, when we get full wire back, in the NBA and college hoops.

Agate can become a weapon, though, in second-tier sports in our market, like NHL, WNBA, MLS and that ilk, with standings and boxes. I'll at least do roundups during the WNBA and Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

Anybody who really cares about agate -- and who hasn't already gotten the goods online -- is too old to be able to read the type. Obviously, I'm not a fantasy player, but who waits until the next day for that stuff?

 

Fantasy sports has given totally new life to agate. There are plenty of casual fantasy players who are content to wait until the morning and get it out of the paper.

It's the hardcore fantasy player that pursues text alerts and real-time online updates. You'll never be able to service this critter in print.

Roundups get cut before agate here.

 

What Tribune modules do to agate is criminal.

Pages are formatted, of course, so the exact space is allotted for every box score.

Thus, a 1-0 box score with two complete games and no pinch-hitters or defensive replacements will magically be the same length as a 12-11, 20-inning game in which 13 pitchers and 8 pinch hitters were used.

Same thing in football. A 49-48 game summary is the exact length as a 6-3 summary.

Just cut whatever's long. Make it fit. Nobody gives a shit.

 

We run standings, and linescores on occasion, but don't have the space to devote to agate. Football coaches can't even give us a complete box for prep games, so we rely on roundups.