The National Sports Daily

I confess to knowing nothing about it prior to Van McKenzie's death. I'm a couple years too young.
Then I watched this: http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/acrosstheuniverse.html;_ylt=AvJGCb_F1tMEf2TvIwNaZKdfVXcA. It's lengthy but, for many of you, I imagine, priceless.
Now I want to know more. Among other things, why did it fail?
Thoughts? Memories?

 

stupid copy/paste overkill.
The proper link: http://blip.tv/file/140856/
my bad.

 

The National failed for a lot of reasons. I still think the biggest one was readers didn't have time for it. After they read their local paper(s) and maybe USA Today, they didn't have time for a daily issue of SI.

Hell, I'm in the business, and I wound up backlogged on them. I really believe it was a case of the sportsjournalists' dream product not meshing with the reality of the marketplace.

 

Do you think it could work now?
With internet causing people to want everything now, I wonder if The National could work now because - while it would still be late a la a newspaper - it would still be much more timely than SI or ESPN the Mag.

 

It does exist. At www.espn.com, a collection of quality writers filing daily insight on all sports. Same with what yahoo! is trying to do.

I don't include sportsline or foxsports because I frankly don't think they have the across-the-board quality that espn has. And I definitely don't include SI.com because aside from Dr. Z, Tom Verducci, Jeffri Chadiha, Grant Wahl and Phil Taylor, there are a lot of regular names who simply aren't worth reading very often. And that pulldown list is full of blogger-types to whom great insight is that Peyton manning is still trying to win the big one. Oh, some are good (not gonna name names), but most are a mishmash of ugh.

BUt I see these collections of writers and breaking news, with analysis (and I don't mean Page 2) as being similar to what the National wanted to bring. Add in the fact that due to the Web you can read any paper and writers you want, and I would say there is no need for the National now. We get the same thing without the printing costs, but with having to click on a bunch of stuff.

 

This thing ran on the big screen during the National's extended wake at Scores in NYC. Now, can any regular SportsJournalists.com denizen pick out at exactly what point during that video the rain of boos and "You suck!"'s began?

 

Damn. Never seen that until now.
I'd do it again tomorrow.

 

Will Perles Fly in N.Y.



Classic... they'll never know what they missed...3rd and long? Sprint draw...

And I forgot all about Loopy writing for the National...

 

Deford's take on the demise appears in his intro to BASW 1993.

 

No. As I recall, the biggest problem it had back then was deadlines. Now the biggest problem it would have is that the Internet is a helluva lot more immediate than a print product.

 

I still have just about every one in my basement

it was like getting SI every day

absolutely worshipped it

 

I have one. I saved the one where Scott Ostler wrote a column on Shelby Strother after his death.