47 words. That's exactly how many words the New York Times devoted to the New York Islander vs. Ottawa Senator game that took place earlier this week. Compare that with a wopping 64 words devoted to Tuesday evening's Devil game and around 100 donated to the epic Ranger game summary. (I had to read that one over a couple sittings). Written in Wednesday's paper, this is just another example of print media's part in seeing the NHL fall further down the ladder of relevance.
About now you're probably saying to yourself "well what do you expect, its a few days before a Giant Superbowl, and the Johan Santana news was breaking?" And you would be correct.
Well, sort of.
Let's look at some other stories that appeared in the same sports section that received more coverage. (Note, while some of the following were full fledged articles, others were small briefings. Nonetheless, all received more words in their stories than the Islander piece).
So here we go: Articles/ briefings that received greater coverage than the Isle game in the 1/30 sports section of the Times:
Announcement that the baseball Hall of Fame game will be dropped after this year
Olympian Jeremy Wariner splits with his coach
Tom Brady referred to as "stud", and proposed to by random woman
Piece about Georgetown point guard Jonathan Wallace
Women's College Ball- W. Virginia over Rutgers
Patriots back-up QB, Matt Cassel
Nigeria tops Benin (soccer)
It may be of interest to anyone reading this post to hear that on all occasions when I have had the fortune of receiving a blog pass for Islander home games, I never saw a writer with a pass from The NY Daily News, The New York Post, or the Times. Now I'm not saying they have never been there, I'm just saying I have never seen one.
Reason for continued concern? Yes. Reason to get mired in depression? No.
The NHL can boast of having the most passionate base, if not the largest. We follow our teams religiously, despise our rivals, read blogs, write blogs, get into hockey message boards and buy too many Islander jerseys. And you know what, its a good thing we do. Its the only way our sport survives.
If you don't beleive me, I've got 47 words for you.
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3 comments:
Awesome Jim! But that's also why I never read sports sections in any other venues... too damn depressing!!
7th woman,
Unfortuately that coverage also keeps folks interested in the team which drives attendance which increases revenue which helps pay the bill for players and free agents.
Depressing but important.
Jim,
The Times does not have an Islander beatwriter since Ron Dicker before the lockout. T
I have been pointing out the terrible city coverage all season
on my blog.
It comes down to the sports editors but what's really unfair is they will not allow the beatwriters from the Post and News a blog to expand the coverage to make up for the lack of space in the print media.
That to me is completely unacceptable.
Thanks alot for the thoughtful comment. I agree, the lack of coverage has a direct impact on attendance, and general interest in the team. A different mentality by the sports editors you mention could help put hockey, and all the stories therin, back in the mindset of the average NY sports fan. Can't argue with your final thoughts about beat-writer blogs. I will check out your blog as well. Jim.
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