Cover what you like, or what the readers do

heh, Zing! And as Stitch alludes to, 95 percent of the team overlaps for another Patch site. So, while it probably won't ever get much readership on my site, on the other one it'll do fairly well, since 10 of the 11 kids are in the other town. I didn't have any other assignment for a Tuesday night, so it was either cover the Legion game or stay home.

The other issue is that my pickings this time of year are real slim. There is a charity bike race this weekend, some 5ks here and there, and Little League all-stars later in the month, but otherwise, not much of anything, outside of profiles of returning college athletes.

 

This is having no knowledge of your area, but if I may, perhaps 1 or 2 of these might be worthwhile:

1. Your local high school basketball players have to be playing somewhere this summer. Is there a local summer league? If so, cover the championship game or get a feature or two from there. If not, track down where your top players ARE getting their summer work.

2. Any local kids playing in the minors? Chase 'em down. Could be good for two stories, even.

3. Still in the minors theme, offer up viewing possibilities within driving distance for your readership. Last summer, we profiled and rated 10 minor-league parks -- both basic and independent. It could be a multi-day thing -- a new ballpark each day.

4. Football -- any 7-on-7 passing competitions? They're popping up all over the place. Your local school may be in one.

5. Wrestling -- just like basketball. Your good kids have to be wrestling 12 months/year somewhere.

 

My town has 16,000 people (and many of these are summer residents / college students), and the graduating class this year was 98 kids. So, you basically run into the regional team problem for most of what you mention. They have a decent wrestling program, and there is an event on Friday, and they have a summer basketball league.

But otherwise, we're talking about one to three kids on regional all-star teams, that sort of stuff. There is one, maybe two minor league baseball parks within driving distance, and I don't think anyone does 7-on-7 football in the state, except for the local college. (I think Rhody31 was a big time 7-on-7 legend back in the day

 

I took my favorite issue of SI (Where are the Now?) and am applying that this summer.

Each Saturday issue we go back and see what happened to some stars from the past. We're only a couple features into the series right now, but I'm guessing it will get a good response. It's been fun on my end, catching up with often times "kids" I used to talk to now as adults. Also, tracking down some old-timers long before my time.

 

The one thing I like about Iowa playing its prep baseball and softball in the summer is it gets us out of having to do any Little League, Babe Ruth, USSSA, ASA or whatever. The high school season starts at the end of May, and ends at the end of July. As soon as it's done, we're preparing for football season.

With preps, a Class A minor-league baseball team and local auto racing in the summer, our schedule is pretty packed, especially trying to squeeze in vacation time. But we have local stories and photos every day, and it keeps us from having to do any of the youth stuff.

Last week we had an ASA 12-under state softball tournament in town. We ran scores, that was it. Didn't get one complaint call.

 

1. Specialization in other sports.

2. AAU travel teams.

3. Declining interest in Major League Baseball.

4. Pay-to-play.

5. Aluminum bats.

 

What's odd is that back in the 1980s and 1990s, maybe a little unto this century, Legion baseball was one of the best things going in Connecticut. We had some great players (Brook Fordyce, Rico Brogna, Scott Burrell) and some great teams. The southeastern Connecticut teams, especiall New London, went to the regionals and nationals.

Legion really varies from state to state. Upstate New York is not good at all.

 

In Oregon it's died almost completely...there are maybe a dozen teams left, most grabbing from big metro areas to form a club. The high school coaches have set up their own summer league that runs independently.

 

In Pennsylvania, the only thing that's really taken a hit has been their All-Star program. The state tournament in Boyertown is still a spectacle, and we have 28 teams in three local leagues.

 

Goes over so well? Bullshit.
Moms, dads, grandpas, grammas.
Regular reader, hell no.
You sell four or five papers, and only when you have something on them.

 

Moms, dads, grandpas, grammas, extended family, neighbors ... don't look now, but they are a segment of your regular readers.

 

In the winter, we ran all our fall all-county teams around Christmas time, since it was a slow time for preps and we had the room to do it right. Same thing with the winter teams around Easter. This summer, we're going to run one team each Saturday starting Fourth of July weekend. We figure that'll carry the weekender for centerpieces until mid-August, when preps start cranking up.