This week in Topics of Sports Communication we were assigned to read “Focusing on the Sport Organization – Media Relationship,” a chapter from one of the Scholar Textbooks. This chapter was dedicated to defining mass media identifying its significance in the success of sports organization. The small section on newspapers is what really stood out to me within this chapter and made me think about modern-day sports reporting and the changes it has seen.
Even as a little kid I loved reading the newspaper. Yes, that love was sparked from the Garfield comic section; however, as I got older I started to read it more and more for the sports. Coming from Annapolis, Maryland we read The Capital Newspaper. Because Annapolis is strategically wedged between Baltimore and Washington, DC, The Capital predominately covers the Redskins, Ravens, Orioles, National’s, Capitals, and Wizards. Naturally, those were the teams I liked. I loved flipping open the paper because at the lazy age of 12 I could skim the sports section for the headlines, look at the pictures, and get the ‘jist of everything that was happening with my teams (Side Note: Ravens are my team. Never Redskins. That needed to be clarified.)
My draw to the newspaper was it was simple: simple design, simple layout, and I knew where to look everyday for what I wanted. When I moved to Blacksburg for college I tried to read The Capital online (because I’m learning Virginia is dominated by Redskins people and I’m now a minority) and find out about my hometown teams. Yeah. Whoever decided to put newspapers online really missed the ball on that one. It was awful. Ads were popping up in my face, everything was haphazardly thrown around, and I could barely concentrate on an article because of all the online text clutter. A lot of people praise the online versions because they say they get so much more out of reading it; but do they? I’m in no way-shape-or-form a golf or hockey fan, but when the articles were staring me in the face in the newspaper I would glimpse over them. While it’s nice that the online versions cater to the reader by allowing them to access articles by sport and page, I truly believe we lose a little bit of the fun of digging through to find the articles. Give me the paper, a comfy chair, and a cup of hot chocolate any day over the internet (yes, I am a 60-year-old man sometimes).
Even as a little kid I loved reading the newspaper. Yes, that love was sparked from the Garfield comic section; however, as I got older I started to read it more and more for the sports. Coming from Annapolis, Maryland we read The Capital Newspaper. Because Annapolis is strategically wedged between Baltimore and Washington, DC, The Capital predominately covers the Redskins, Ravens, Orioles, National’s, Capitals, and Wizards. Naturally, those were the teams I liked. I loved flipping open the paper because at the lazy age of 12 I could skim the sports section for the headlines, look at the pictures, and get the ‘jist of everything that was happening with my teams (Side Note: Ravens are my team. Never Redskins. That needed to be clarified.)
My draw to the newspaper was it was simple: simple design, simple layout, and I knew where to look everyday for what I wanted. When I moved to Blacksburg for college I tried to read The Capital online (because I’m learning Virginia is dominated by Redskins people and I’m now a minority) and find out about my hometown teams. Yeah. Whoever decided to put newspapers online really missed the ball on that one. It was awful. Ads were popping up in my face, everything was haphazardly thrown around, and I could barely concentrate on an article because of all the online text clutter. A lot of people praise the online versions because they say they get so much more out of reading it; but do they? I’m in no way-shape-or-form a golf or hockey fan, but when the articles were staring me in the face in the newspaper I would glimpse over them. While it’s nice that the online versions cater to the reader by allowing them to access articles by sport and page, I truly believe we lose a little bit of the fun of digging through to find the articles. Give me the paper, a comfy chair, and a cup of hot chocolate any day over the internet (yes, I am a 60-year-old man sometimes).