Post by Justin on May 31, 2010 20:10:24 GMT -5
For some reason when I first saw this posting from Joe last week I knew it would turn into this. Come on guys, lets try to not be totally ridiculous. In my opinion the paper has in fact improved their coverage of high school T&F and XC since Kevin has come into the area. There is no way in hell a state champion distance runner would get a headline on the sports section the day after the race otherwise. Even though Kevin is not an official sports writer for the TN, I think his influence has improved things some. Road racing has seen the biggest boost by far. Every race has articles leading up to them announcing the upcoming race and then a small article highlighting the races is regular. This was almost non-existent in the past.
All in all though the egos and arguing skills of our local adult runners is not what is important in this case, it's the acknowledgment of our fantastic student athletes, whose achievements should be reported on honestly and accurately. I've always felt the paper was always short of an honest effort when reporting on "minor" sports as a whole, including our sports. I do feel we have get a leg up on other sports though, I haven't seen much on other minor sports.
What has always bothered me about the local coverage has been the ignorance as to the level our local young runners compete related to other sports. It is a routine exercise for local athletes to go down state and win state titles and move on to collegiate competition. This is unprecedented in any other sport in our area.
Overall though from my experience, this shortcoming affects the student athletes very little. Never in my time running in this area did I think in training or racing that I was really hoping the paper would cover this, or care. The congratulations from my coach, family, teammates, and friends were more important. An unrealized place where I felt a ton of pride getting props from was from the local road racing and running community. Having Dave Reinhart or Jeff Smith come up to me for congratulations when I would see them was more of a highlight than I can remember. Most of all though being happy within myself was what I loved most. There were races where I won, but maybe didn't give my all and I was unhappy, but other races where I had not won, but I went deep down to see what I had and I was more proud.
I guess my point of this long post was to encourage you guys to cool it and to realize what is important in our sport. These young people follow your lead more than you realize and showing them the way should be a top priority and trump any and all petty feuds that may exist.
All in all though the egos and arguing skills of our local adult runners is not what is important in this case, it's the acknowledgment of our fantastic student athletes, whose achievements should be reported on honestly and accurately. I've always felt the paper was always short of an honest effort when reporting on "minor" sports as a whole, including our sports. I do feel we have get a leg up on other sports though, I haven't seen much on other minor sports.
What has always bothered me about the local coverage has been the ignorance as to the level our local young runners compete related to other sports. It is a routine exercise for local athletes to go down state and win state titles and move on to collegiate competition. This is unprecedented in any other sport in our area.
Overall though from my experience, this shortcoming affects the student athletes very little. Never in my time running in this area did I think in training or racing that I was really hoping the paper would cover this, or care. The congratulations from my coach, family, teammates, and friends were more important. An unrealized place where I felt a ton of pride getting props from was from the local road racing and running community. Having Dave Reinhart or Jeff Smith come up to me for congratulations when I would see them was more of a highlight than I can remember. Most of all though being happy within myself was what I loved most. There were races where I won, but maybe didn't give my all and I was unhappy, but other races where I had not won, but I went deep down to see what I had and I was more proud.
I guess my point of this long post was to encourage you guys to cool it and to realize what is important in our sport. These young people follow your lead more than you realize and showing them the way should be a top priority and trump any and all petty feuds that may exist.