When did newspapers start covering high school sports?

It's Jobu that can't hit a curve.

 

fixed

 

The Promised Land Gazette reported that Noah's Ark won the Jerusalem Cup after all the other boats were flooded.

 

Just fantastic

 

I should re-read my posts once I type them.

I had just received my 1,000th angry mother call and it made me think of when it was that some of this garbage we cover became the focus of sports sections and Web sites. When parents decided it was OK to call us up and bitch about how putting the score in the paper is embarrassing to the other team.

But honestly, I didn't know some papers covered everyday preps to the level many of you researched.

 

I would pretty much bet in Middle America - outside of major metro areas that have pro franchises - prep coverage is the heart of most sections.

 

The "you must be a fan of the other team" cracks, and other negative feedback? Trust me, that ain't new, either. My first-hand knowledge only goes back to the early '80s, when I was in high school, but the area papers definitely came in for their share of criticism:
"Oh, I see such-and-so got his picture in the paper AGAIN. Yeah, teacher's kid. Figures."
"They don't even bother spelling the names right."
Etc.

And of course, the numerous, infamous "You only cover us ..." variations.

One of the local SEs has been at his paper for more than 30 years, and took over as editor while I was still in school. We were swapping stories about bitchy readers last fall when a horrifying thought struck me and I told him, "I hope to hell I never pulled any of that crap on you, and I apologize if I did."

 

Many moons ago, we had a reader go through a season's worth of stories and count adjectives we used about various teams as evidence of bias/like/dislike.

 

I discovered my paper first did a football tab in 1962. Before that, they'd run a series of preview articles in the paper in the days leading up to the season.

I can see a lot of papers going back to this as football tabs become harder and harder to sell to advertisers.

 

God, I love this site.

 

You only cover us when our charioteers ride into the middle of the Red Sea and drown.
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Very well done.