LA Times to stop attending USC and UCLA practices

This is a response to the crap USC and UCLA have been pulling, and it's a perfectly OK response for the Times to make. It'll backfire, though, because the Web sites like Rivals and Scout will continue to go to practice and do whatever the coach pleases.

 

I can't imagine anyone who actually buys the LAT just to read what little if any news ever comes out of a football practice. This has to be a cost-cutting move (aren't they all, these days?)

 

Not really a lot of money saved by simply not attending practice. You're still a beat writer who has to interview people once practice is over so it's not like you're even saving on gas money. I assume it's just trying to make a stand on principle. Unlike, say, The White House beat where reporters occasionally attend background briefings with the press secretary, I presume the Times is saying "If we cannot write about what we are witnessing, then why the hell are we there?"

I spent a year covering a D1 team where practices were open every day and two years covering a team where they were closed. You could certainly glean stuff and get story ideas and get a little better understanding of team dynamics in the open practice set up, but it was kind of a relief to not have to stand around for three hours with the other team. I could spend that time writing or covering recruiting crap or, one year, working on a big narrative story totally unrelated to my beat.

I understand the skepticism, because frankly The Tribune Co. would stop providing LAT reporters with notebooks and pens if they thought they could get away with it and some asshole manager could get a bonus out of it, but I don't see how this really saves much money.

 

Good point, and even at open practices, the really good stuff (trick plays, big fights) are generally a no-no to report.

 

The team I cover has open practices — I've missed one in five-plus years on the beat — and it is a mixed blessing. The access certainly helps with stories and being there every day helps build my relationships with the players and coaches, but it's also a ton of standing around not doing a lot. In the South during the preseason and most of September, each period seems to last much longer than five minutes.

On the positive side, my farmer's tan is awesome.

 

Here's the Daily News notebook on Jim Mora ordering reporters out of practice, http://www.dailynews.com/ucla/ci_21641072/ucla-fotball-notebook-mora-gets-testy-media-staff

 

His own flackage gets tossed? This is going well.

 

I went from one of the most wide-open practice situations last year to one closed tighter than a nun's twat this year with a new coaching staff. I'm totally with you on this. I rarely reported things from practice. But I've noticed this year I'm really struggling to get a great understanding of what's going on with team dynamics, formations, personnel, etc. My only samples are in games. It was nice to be able to see who was running with what group, which guy could possibly be a breakout guy in a game because of a great week of practice, things like that. With the closed practices, I feel like a much less intelligent reporter. I just don't have the grasp on the beat that I used to. It's frustrating.

 

Great tweet last Saturday from Seattle Times' Bob Condotta apropos to the UCLA situation:

Bob Condotta ‏@bcondotta
Oregon State overcomes its competitive disadvantage of open practices and talking about injuries to beat UCLA and likely move into Top 25.

FYI, complete access at OSU practices. They don't even bother with a media day anymore because any player or coach is available at any time after practice, which also has conveniently been switched to 11 a.m. every day. And tghree or four days a week the school play-by-play guy does his local 12-2 radio show live from practice.

 

Nick Saban wants Mike Riley kicked out of the club for behavior like that.

 

Oregon State is my new favorite team, for this reason:



That's Mike Riley, who promised the team the trip if they beat UCLA.

 

Not sure how many reporters go to practices anymore. I tried to go when the schedule allowed. I was covering multiple things and also working copy desk, so it wasn't like I had the luxury of sitting through 3 hours of practice on any given team regularly.

Seems like so much is done by phone now, whether local or remotely. Conference calls. One on one calls. I worked with one person who went to maybe 1-2 practices the entire season. Would get material at press conferences or via phone. So I'm not sure how common that is. I'm a bit old-fashioned and felt I got better stuff face to face, but maybe that was just me.