Olympic Coverage

OK, who had the chutzpah to use the name of this Iranian weightlifter in a headline today?

Saeid Mohammadpourkarkaragh.

 

I've got one of those too.lol

 

The tool that inspired the famous statement: "If you don't shut up, I'm going to take this pica pole and shove it up your ass." Can't do that in the digital age.

 

My apologies for derailing a good thread. Shame on me.

So.... how do you balance Olympic coverage with anything else? I suspect it is easier in August than when the Olympics are held in September.

But what are you running out front and what inside?

 

It's taking up about 2/3rds of my front. Usually a roundup and lots of pictures, or I'll a) break out a major event, like USA-Canada or when the local boy makes good was still in boxing,or b) grab a column to get beyond the fields (Plaschke, Purdy or Dahlberg). Only agate I require is medal count, but we've been throwing up the boxes for Team USA men and women's hoops.

Rest of the page is whatever local we can dig up (football camps started last week, and we're launching preview package next week) or MLB.

 

Sounds about normal for this time of year. It's soooo much better for most papers when the Games are in July/August.

 

AP appears to be doing a fine job with Olympics coverage. Their writers will never dazzle, but then again, we all know what sort of deadlines they're facing and -- now -- what other duties have been heaped upon them. I think some of their writers are tweeting too much in London when they should be concentrating on writing better stories.

But, overall, let's give them a 5 or 6.

 

Yep. Without the Olympics, I'd be devoting a lot more space to the pennant races and the start of the exhibition season. Even nonsports fans eat up the Olympics ... if only to see if they won a free bag of fries.

 

But regarding the roundup: Whose brilliant idea was it to put the five bullet points at the top of the story every night? At least here, that's the first thing that gets lopped off.

 

Good call, HanSen. (Summer) Olympics only come around once every four years. If you're fortunate enough to have someone from your community competing, all the better. If not, it's still the best time to shine the spotlight on things that normally get relegated to briefs and agate.

I realize the philosophy on preseason games differs from one person to another. I would NEVER run games on my cover. I'd consider interesting features or breaking news (injuries, contracts, etc.), but the games don't matter and the players and coaches don't treat them seriously, so neither would I. We'll have five months to digest all the football even the most passioante soul can handle.

And, to be fair, this goes for ANY pro sport. Again, if there is a STORY there, that's different. But not run of the mill gamers on exhibitions. I'll even ditch roundups if space gets tight on a given day.

 

One of the things I LOVE about the Olympics is that there is so much variety that you can run stuff every day and never run the same thing twice. Different sports, different athletes, different nations. Most action-packed time of the year.

 

Ooooooo ... no.

Preseason football is still football after the crazies haven't had it for six months. There's a lot of fan passion in exhibition games, regardless of what you or I think about them. And we're not making decisions for you or I. We're making decisions for the reader, the fan.

IMHO.