Gainesville Sun gets it very, very wrong

[SF_Express]

That booster approach almost always, if not always, emanates from the news side and people higher than that, and it has always been thus -- or has been, at least, for a long time.

 

[slappy4428]

Nice to see the Bammer fans show restraint and not over react...

 

[statrat]

i've never gotten why people care where high school kids are going to college to play football (or hoops)

i understand this has become a massive industry

i just don't get why

who freaking cares

People caring about things that mean nothing in the grand scheme of life is why a whole lot of us here have a job.

Exactly.

 

[Rockbottom]

i've never gotten why people care where high school kids are going to college to play football (or hoops)

i understand this has become a massive industry

i just don't get why

who freaking cares

People caring about things that mean nothing in the grand scheme of life is why a whole lot of us here have a job.

Truer words have NEVER been spoken!

rb

 

[Mizzougrad96]

You gotta love a paper that's website is "Gatorsports.com"

I think this is also the paper that had "We're No. 1" as the main headline after one of the recent titles.

Isn't it permissable to think that a community paper, read by community readers, could embrace the community's university during a moment of joy? I really don't see this as homerism. It doesn't sway anyone with a bias. At least not in my view.

No way... I would hide my head in shame if my paper ever referred to a local team as "We" in a headline...

That's pretty bad...

 

[SF_Express]

And seriously, perhaps I should quit while I was ahead, but top blue-chip recruits can turn programs around, and of course the fans of those programs care where the top players are leaning toward, commit to, or sign with. It's news -- it's too much these days, granted -- but it's news.

 

[fl2010]

Read the main Tebow story on that link. The writer, who has been covering the team for well over a decade, has to refer to a quote from the Florida student paper.

I give him credit for giving proper credit, but how embarrassed would you be if you had been on a beat that long and you get beaten badly by the student paper?

I think that's more embarrassing than the error.

I'm not looking to weigh in on either side here, but here's some clarification or additional info.

The quote attributed to the student paper came at a gymnastics media op.

Now whether Robbie should've been there because the gymnast has become almost a football story, that's certain debatable, but I just wanted to clear that up a bit.

 

[SEC Guy]

Given the amount of publicity said gymnast has gotten since she arrived in Gainesville and her link to the football program, there's no question Robbie should have been there.

But that's how the Sun works. If it falls into their lap, great. If it doesn't, someone else will report it first.

Don't get me wrong, Robbie works his ass off and being the football writer at that paper has got to be one of the most neverending, thankless jobs ever, but after being at a paper like that for that long, it's understandable that someone could get a little complacent about their job.

 

[hondo]

One of the problems with recruiting news is that many newspapers have allowed themselves to get a little bit pregnant and relax their sourcing rules -- which is ludicrous considering they're flaky 18 year old kids and if anything, the sourcing should be a bit tougher.
Newspapers really can't compete with rivals.com, talk-radio or fan sites because those entities are not playing by the same rules, or any rules, for that matter. When you don't care if you're wrong and don't care about credibility, then it's easy to claim scoops, and easy to forget the times you stepped on it.
I don't think I'll ever be a sports editor but if I did, here's how we would cover recruiting news:

1. Try to stay on top of the best kids in your coverage area.
2. Try to keep up if the school you cover is in serious contention for that one kid in 10 years -- Tebow, Herschel, etc.
3. Do a full page two weeks before signing day wrapping up what you know to that point.
4. Cover the hell out of signing day.
5. Don't worry if some dweeb blog or fan site breaks a four-star safety going to your school.

 

[dixiehack]

I agree with Stone.

If I ran a sports section, I wouldn't touch recruiting until signing day. Don't know how many times in the past years we've run a story that says so-and-so is going to State U. Then a week later: So-and-so changes his mind. A week later: So-and-so might be going back to State.

What's scary is there are people -- reporters and fans -- who live for recruiting. How that happens I have NO idea.

If you were in an NFL market, would you avoid draft stories until the day of the event?

 

[Some Guy]

One of the problems with recruiting news is that many newspapers have allowed themselves to get a little bit pregnant and relax their sourcing rules -- which is ludicrous considering they're flaky 18 year old kids and if anything, the sourcing should be a bit tougher.
Newspapers really can't compete with rivals.com, talk-radio or fan sites because those entities are not playing by the same rules, or any rules, for that matter. When you don't care if you're wrong and don't care about credibility, then it's easy to claim scoops, and easy to forget the times you stepped on it.
I don't think I'll ever be a sports editor but if I did, here's how we would cover recruiting news:

1. Try to stay on top of the best kids in your coverage area.
2. Try to keep up if the school you cover is in serious contention for that one kid in 10 years -- Tebow, Herschel, etc.
3. Do a full page two weeks before signing day wrapping up what you know to that point.
4. Cover the hell out of signing day.
5. Don't worry if some dweeb blog or fan site breaks a four-star safety going to your school.

I pretty much agree with this. Basically, just do the best you can, and don't **** up because you gambled with some info because some dork on the internet pressured you into it.

 

[Moderator1]

One of the problems with recruiting news is that many newspapers have allowed themselves to get a little bit pregnant and relax their sourcing rules -- which is ludicrous considering they're flaky 18 year old kids and if anything, the sourcing should be a bit tougher.
Newspapers really can't compete with rivals.com, talk-radio or fan sites because those entities are not playing by the same rules, or any rules, for that matter. When you don't care if you're wrong and don't care about credibility, then it's easy to claim scoops, and easy to forget the times you stepped on it.
I don't think I'll ever be a sports editor but if I did, here's how we would cover recruiting news:

1. Try to stay on top of the best kids in your coverage area.
2. Try to keep up if the school you cover is in serious contention for that one kid in 10 years -- Tebow, Herschel, etc.
3. Do a full page two weeks before signing day wrapping up what you know to that point.
4. Cover the hell out of signing day.
5. Don't worry if some dweeb blog or fan site breaks a four-star safety going to your school.

That's dead ****ing on and what we tried to do during my 461-day reign of terror as a sports editor.
Recruiting is news. It is a pain in the ass but it is news. It's also covered by 8 billion Web sites that all the recruiting junkies frequent and it is one area I'm willing to concede. Go with the Hondo plan and put the time you save into covering the athletes already at the school.

 

[HoopsMcCann]

i can't believe i'm going to type these words, but here they are -- hondo has it nearly 100% right

(his only foible, of course, comes with his man-love for tebow, comparing him to the greatest player in college football history)

 

[Some Guy]

i can't believe i'm going to type these words, but here they are -- hondo has it nearly 100% right

(his only foible, of course, comes with his man-love for tebow, comparing him to the greatest player in college football history)

Yeah, I caught that, too.

 

[Stone Cane]

i've never gotten why people care where high school kids are going to college to play football (or hoops)

i understand this has become a massive industry

i just don't get why

who freaking cares

Are newspapers really in the position to be blowing off something that readers want to know about?

People caring about things that mean nothing in the grand scheme of life is why a whole lot of us here have a job.

oh, absolutely -- i don't disagree it has to be covered (though not necessarily the way many currently do)

i just can't fathom why people care so much

 

[silentbob]

dixie,

recruiting and the nfl draft are hardly the same thing.
aint like reggie bush comes out and says he's going to play for the raiders then changes his mind.

 

[Ira_Schoffel]

One of the problems with recruiting news is that many newspapers have allowed themselves to get a little bit pregnant and relax their sourcing rules -- which is ludicrous considering they're flaky 18 year old kids and if anything, the sourcing should be a bit tougher.
Newspapers really can't compete with rivals.com, talk-radio or fan sites because those entities are not playing by the same rules, or any rules, for that matter. When you don't care if you're wrong and don't care about credibility, then it's easy to claim scoops, and easy to forget the times you stepped on it.
I don't think I'll ever be a sports editor but if I did, here's how we would cover recruiting news:

1. Try to stay on top of the best kids in your coverage area.
2. Try to keep up if the school you cover is in serious contention for that one kid in 10 years -- Tebow, Herschel, etc.
3. Do a full page two weeks before signing day wrapping up what you know to that point.
4. Cover the hell out of signing day.
5. Don't worry if some dweeb blog or fan site breaks a four-star safety going to your school.

Spot on.

Had this same exact conversation with some colleagues today. Instead of emphasizing our strengths -- accuracy, credibility, ethics, news judgment, professional writing and editing, etc. -- so many papers have tried to beat the Web sites at their own game. It's an impossible task fraught with the kind of landmines that the Sun stumbled upon.

 

[dixiehack]

dixie,

recruiting and the nfl draft are hardly the same thing.
aint like reggie bush comes out and says he's going to play for the raiders then changes his mind.

They aren't the same to you because college football isn't your sport. And that's fine, but don't mock college fans for being interested in the player procument process (which is what is happening in both cases.) The difference in the draft is that it is the teams spreading false info and putting up smoke screens. For examples, consult back issues of the Tennessean, which gets spun dizzy by the Titans front office every spring.