Proof that newspaper coverage helps teams win (and prob earns kids scholarships)

Kid makes game-winning FG in final seconds. It was his first FG try of the year. Quote from coach:

All those prep mommies are right, you haters!

 

Can't argue with that logic.

 

It was all very zen - kid was so confused about trying to figure out what a "newspaper" was, he didn't worry about the kick.

 

"Hey Scotty...just think about going online tonight and seeing your name on the computer. Now, go do this!!!"

 

You know, maybe I'm just getting old, but do people still relish seeing their name in actual print. I mean, yes, it's the same story on the internet, but so what? Their name is all over the internet via Facebook, Myspace, YouTube and whatever other crap their into.

I know this is a changing industry, but for high school kids and younger, I still wonder if they get that thrill of having their name in ink rather than seeing it on a screen.

 

2 points.

 

Based on the e-mails we get, the parents sure as hell do nd they claim the kids do too.

 

Absolutely. The game I covered last night was a big upset in a heated crosstown rivalry and I had to turn kids away on the winning team who wanted to talk to the newspaper guy.

 

I get that kids want to be interviewed, but I mean, do kids in high school make it a point to go to the corner store (assuming they don't get deliver) and get a few copies of the paper if they were quoted, or had a huge game? Or do they just wait for it to come on the internet and print it out (which isn't nearly as cool).

Parents are the ones who probably buy the copies: 1) Because most of them are psycho and 2) They grew up with newspapers. But what about today's kids?

 

I'm an adviser for a high school newspaper, and brought up the subject of switching from printing four times a year to an online journal. They agreed that it would be neat to do the journal, but were insistent that we still do a print product too. And when I've interviewed kids for the reporting job I've had, a lot of them still excitedly ask, "Will I get to be in the newspaper?"

 

With the smaller papers, there are times when I don't have enough room to accommodate all the youth sports. I've learned, however, that putting stuff on line really isn't the same. Last winter, when we got that end-of-season crunch when everyone and their cousin sends a team picture, I didn't have enough room for one of the articles and photos so I put it online.
The person who sent it in was not happy. She bought 10 copies of the paper with the expectation that the stuff she sent me was in the paper, so putting it online just didn't cut it.
Right or wrong, I get a sense I'm just as much, if not more, in the scrapbook or keepsake business as I am the news business.

 

if you're in a small market, it really is a scrapbook business in some ways. But that's not always a bad thing. Too much is stupid, but in the right doses, it's usually good.