Did I mess up in any way?

Fair enough.

 

What I don't understand is why you would write a column/commentary/analysis/opinion piece on a community college women's basketball team.

Seriously, I repeat, in case you didn't get it: COMMUNITY COLLEGE WOMEN'S basketball team :

 

If it's a big thing in your coverage area, you cover it. You don't ask questions. You cover it.

Most of the games I cover have crowds of, at most, 125. But that's what I got, so I go with it. That's what you do.

 

You must not actually work in the industry, or you'd get it. If it's a big deal in your coverage area, YOU COVER IT!!!!!!!!!!! Period, even if it's women's community college basketball.

 

I don't think sportswriter is saying why are you covering this, but why are you writing a column about it. I'm with him.

 

What sportschick said.

Community college sports are a bigger deal in some places than others. Don't know if kingcreole is in Kansas or Missouri, but if he is, community college sports are huge in many places there...the centerpiece of many newspapers' sports coverage. He's doing his job by writing a column about it.

 

For about the 50th time: He might be doing his job, but is it worth it to piss off the team he's covering by writing a column about something the general readership doesn't give much of a shit about? I say no.

I'm not in any way maligning Kingcreole. It's pretty clear he's conscientious, and I don't think he's lobbing bombs at a team that doesn't deserve it. But sometimes -- and I stress that word -- it's not worth the payoff. It's a juco women's basketball team, not even a Division III team. I'm sure most of the women won't even play after the juco.

Beyond that, I don't think column-writing should be a part of beat reporting. You can have opinions about the teams you cover, and those opinions can certainly shade your stories, but to do a rip job, even if it's deserved, is to jeopardize the relationship you need to have with your sources as at least being "fair."

 

Many athletes from Kansas and Missouri jucos go on to D-1 schools. Those jucos do very well in national competition, so the level of play is higher than at most jucos. But that's incidental to this issue.

Ike is correct that column writing and beat reporting shouldn't mix. It's pretty common at small papers, though. That doesn't make it a good idea.

When I was the SE of a weekly, I didn't like writing my column about the teams I covered. The result was lots of kvetching from the readership about why I didn't write my column about the teams in my beat. Of course, this kvetching was from the same people who thought the role of the local paper was to be a cheerleader for local businesses and sports teams.

I eventually wrote columns about the teams in my beat because my ME made me. Don't know what the situation is like at kc's paper, but it might be analagous.

 

Most of the team that Creole covers and the coach weren't pissed off about what he wrote. I think that fact is getting lost here.

 

i agree with the sportswriter in pumps.

 

damn straight buck.

 

Winning is the balm that heals some of these wounds. I cover arguably one of the top five NJCAA DI programs in the nation and I've gotten away with some fairly scathing articles, simply for the fact that the expectations are so high. If you're echoing what the coaches and players are saying on record, then yeah, someone might take offense, but you're standing on some pretty firm ground.

I know how hard it can be to walk the line between being objective, being a watchdog, and being liked by the people you interact with on an important beat. Make no mistake, the program here sells papers, so it's not like I can go around and burn my sources. So I just try to be fair. I write gamers and columns and features, because I'm the only guy to cover the department's six athletic offerings. And I've had some people angry at me for stuff I wrote, but last time I checked, that was part of the job for all of us. Not everyone's going to like me. I deal.