Who do you write for?

As many writers do in this day and age, I frequently come down from Mount Olympus and host an Internet chat with readers about the fortunes of the team I cover.

It usually gets some good traffic and a steady stream of inquiries.

But I have also seen people complain on some of the message boards, usually along these lines: "He didn't tell me anything that I or anyone else who frequents this board doesn't already know!"

And yet, unlike those people, who subscribe to Scout.com, Rivals.com and about five different NFL Draft sites, probably 90 percent of the fan base isn't aware of the depth chart down to the fourth string left guard. So those people indeed are getting questions answer, interactively, that they may not previously have been aware of.

Anyways ... the question is, when you sit down to write, who are you aiming to reach? The 5 percent of the fans who know every player's hometown and major? Or the 95 percent who need things spelled out for them every day because they tend to miss one here and there, maybe flip on the game on Saturday (or Sunday) and just check in occasionally otherwise? Would that be fair to the people who actually do read every single day?

Should you write about the quarterback every chance you get, because that's what the lowest common denominator demands? Or is it also important to occasionally go deep regarding the injury situation at the nickelback position, and how it may affect things in 3rd-and-long?

Who do you write for?

 

the person who picks up the paper for the first time.

 

We've been through this before, but perhaps answers will change in the current economic climate. Sometimes I feel like I write for the boss' boss, because he has some very well-defined ideas about what should be in the sports section. (Luckily, it doesn't involve his kids!)

I try to write what I'd want to read, which means less play-by-play and more anecdotes about athletes.

 

sad to say... but i write for my paycheck. that simple.

 

I write for the players' mothers and grandmothers. They need scrapbook fodder.

 

I write for whoever I think will read the story, which means my audience changes slightly from story to story, but is generally based on an average reader: me.

 

Easy -- awards committees. Don't we all?

 

The kids that try really hard.

It took that long to hit that softball? Come on!!!

 

Hockey moms!

 

I write for whom.

 

Same.

 

I'm being serious here.

Hard-core fans?

Or casual fans?