SMG: An interview with Kevin Iole

[Lucas Wiseman]

Sports Media Guide talks with Yahoo! Sports boxing and mixed martial arts writer Kevin Iole.

Iole says: "My job is to deliver personal and personality insights into my sports, which are the most individual sports compared to others out there. They are made up of very unique individuals. I don't get caught up in who has the best look hook or who is the better body puncher. I'd rather tell how they got there and who and what they are. That's what I do – I find out things and write about people who are putting their lives on the line to making a living."

http://www.sportsmediaguide.com/smg.asp

 

[henryhenry]

is mixed martial arts a sport?

does anybody have the cockfighting beat?
is there a cockfighting writers association?

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

is there a cockfighting writers association?

Yeah
Whitlock and Lupica are members.

Oh. Oh. Wait, cockFighting? Fighting. Um, That I'm not sure about.

 

[Barsuk]

Yeah, because MMA and cockfighting are one and the same. :

 

[BYH]

Paging BlondeBomber. BlondeBomber, please report to this thread immediately.

 

[Bruce_Shoebottom]

is mixed martial arts a sport?

does anybody have the cockfighting beat?
is there a cockfighting writers association?

Let's see, it has been on the cover of SI and ESPN mags, all the big national sports websites regularly cover it and most have their own dedicated MMA pages, the LA Times and the Washington Post cover major UFC events. Sounds like the people in power have decided it is a sport and it merits coverage. But god bless you for going down with the ship, henry.

 

[Mighty_Wingman]

If the cover of ESPN magazine helps determine newsworthiness, may God have mercy on our souls.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

At the APSE convention, AP's Terry Taylor was constantly asked about MMA coverage. I suspect we'll see more coming from the AP in the coming months.

 

[playthrough]

We've been down this road before, of course, but the bottom line to me is this: you can ignore MMA all you want on a personal level -- I'll admit, it's not on my TiVo list -- but you can't complain about newspapers missing the boat with young people and then completely ignore MMA, which plays to packed houses and ridiculous PPV audiences for males 18-34. Debate about whether it should go on your sports front, sure, but it's not debatable on whether or not it belongs in your section, at least when the show comes to your city.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

I don't think the major metros where UFC cards are held are ignoring it. The problem is the thousands of smaller papers that can't afford to fly a guy to Vegas to cover a PPV. We need the AP to step up the coverage.

 

[BYH]

We've been down this road before, of course, but the bottom line to me is this: you can ignore MMA all you want on a personal level -- I'll admit, it's not on my TiVo list -- but you can't complain about newspapers missing the boat with young people and then completely ignore MMA, which plays to packed houses and ridiculous PPV audiences for males 18-34. Debate about whether it should go on your sports front, sure, but it's not debatable on whether or not it belongs in your section, at least when the show comes to your city.

So newspapers and publications should continue the fruitless pursuit of people who have no interest in reading the printed word and have already found numerous dot-com outlets for their ultimate fighting fix? Don't we gripe when idiot higher ups tell us to pursue the "young readership" instead of strengthening the relationship with those who actually WANT to open a newspaper or magazine?

This, to me, would seem to be a perfectly rational reason not to cover ultimate fighting. You guys want to read about a buncha savages knocking each other around, knock yourself out going to sites you were going to visit anyway.

 

[henryhenry]

momentarily depart from the 'coverage' issue:

the real problem with MMA as a 'sport' is that it's dull.
few clean punches. lots of grappling on the ground.
and its relatively devoid of toughness and grit.

these super-macho guys actually 'submit' - which is to say, they quit. roberto duran's career was tainted when he quit - no mas - just once. these MMA guys quit - 'submit' - all the time, and nobody thinks it at all dishonorable. i don't get it.

boxers, in a good 10-round bout, give and take more solid blows than MMA guys in a career.

ask yourself why no MMA champion ever will be a global icon like Ali: because there is a dignity and universal manhood expressed by boxing. what does MMA express? empty theatricality? useless and dubious martial techniques? (anybody with a gun or lead pipe will make the best MMA guy 'submit')

and these MMA guys, with their tatoos and fierce visages and macho posturing - whoa - straight out of a video game. a National Lampoon parody of Mulletville, USA.

 

[daemon]

The question isn't whether MMA is a sport, it's whether people who read newspapers are interested in reading about MMA as a sport.

It's the same thing as extreme sports coverage. Does it really serve our purpose to centerpiece a 45 inch profile of a professional wake-boarder? Or are we driving away our target audience by attempting to reach out to an audience that simply isn't going to subscribe to newspapers?

These aren't rhetorical questions. I can see both sides of the argument.

 

[playthrough]

We've been down this road before, of course, but the bottom line to me is this: you can ignore MMA all you want on a personal level -- I'll admit, it's not on my TiVo list -- but you can't complain about newspapers missing the boat with young people and then completely ignore MMA, which plays to packed houses and ridiculous PPV audiences for males 18-34. Debate about whether it should go on your sports front, sure, but it's not debatable on whether or not it belongs in your section, at least when the show comes to your city.

So newspapers and publications should continue the fruitless pursuit of people who have no interest in reading the printed word and have already found numerous dot-com outlets for their ultimate fighting fix? Don't we gripe when idiot higher ups tell us to pursue the "young readership" instead of strengthening the relationship with those who actually WANT to open a newspaper or magazine?

This, to me, would seem to be a perfectly rational reason not to cover ultimate fighting. You guys want to read about a buncha savages knocking each other around, knock yourself out going to sites you were going to visit anyway.

It's too much of a blanket statement to me to say all MMA fans ignore the printed word. Yes, their Mensa membership numbers are probably a little on the low side. But I think a paper that puts some effort into it can gain some traction with that readership. Again, those demographics are just too good to toss out entirely.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

45-inch profile of a wakeboarder!?! Hell, I don't think readers are finish a 45-inch profile of State U's starting QB.

We don't run much national boxing coverage. A story here or there. We'll pick up 5-6 inches of a championship fight gamer from the AP. Given the interest in UFC, we'd like to be able to do the same for it. It's not like I'm wanting Dahlberg or Litke to attend each PPV.

 

[BYH]

It's too much of a blanket statement to me to say all MMA fans ignore the printed word. Yes, their Mensa membership numbers are probably a little on the low side. But I think a paper that puts some effort into it can gain some traction with that readership. Again, those demographics are just too good to toss out entirely.

Is it really though? This is a "sport" that has garnered almost all of is publicity via the Internet. If you like extreme fighting, and you've got several bookmarks you already check on a daily basis, why are you going to pick up the local paper for coverage of the "sport"--other than to pick it apart and find reasons why the writer is a poseur who doesn't really know what he's talking about?

That ship has sailed. Better to maintain the readers you've got than try to lure those who have no interest in your product anyway.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

It is my personal opinion and that only that mixed martial arts is a fad that is now as popular as it will ever be. All those 2004 poker columns are gone, and MMA coverage will follow the same path.
If the sport, which I agree isn't very exciting to watch, and which I also bet is crookeder than Blinky Palermo ever dreaming boxing could be, proves me wrong, more power to its octagonal self.

 

[Seabasket]

It is my personal opinion and that only that mixed martial arts is a fad that is now as popular as it will ever be. All those 2004 poker columns are gone, and MMA coverage will follow the same path.

For posterity.

 

[fishwrapper]

It's too much of a blanket statement to me to say all MMA fans ignore the printed word. Yes, their Mensa membership numbers are probably a little on the low side. But I think a paper that puts some effort into it can gain some traction with that readership. Again, those demographics are just too good to toss out entirely.

Is it really though? This is a "sport" that has garnered almost all of is publicity via the Internet. If you like extreme fighting, and you've got several bookmarks you already check on a daily basis, why are you going to pick up the local paper for coverage of the "sport"--other than to pick it apart and find reasons why the writer is a poseur who doesn't really know what he's talking about?

That ship has sailed. Better to maintain the readers you've got than try to lure those who have no interest in your product anyway.

We cover MMA. We cover the main fights. Profiles leading up.
And, we get pretty good response. Both letters to the editor, and traffic.

I understand your "fruitless" debate. But, I would rather try than ramp up our shuffleboard, lawn bowling and duckpin coverage.

 

[BYH]

Damn. Didn't expect to see a year-and-a-half thread on MMA coverage bumped.

FW (and Playthrough), I respect your viewpoints. But I still say--ESPECIALLY in this day and age--that you forget the niche sports and try to hang on by your friggin fingernails to provide decent coverage of the sports your readership (which is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond the MMA target demos) enjoys...before the bastardly beancounters cut those beats, too.

And with the way the industry is, here's betting any newspaper coverage of MMA is gone in 12 months. At the very, very most.