Greg Brownell

I started in this business in 1981. It was a much simpler world back then.

On the national scene, we covered the big four pro sports, plus a little golf, auto racing and college sports. Now I'm trying to carve out room for the WNBA and three forms of NASCAR racing while wondering if we should add MLS and Arena football.

On the local level, back in the old days, we covered the local pro teams along with a steady diet of high school sports. Now we're out covering running, cycling and the outdoors while trying to figure out what Generation Y wants to read.

Then there is the issue of how we want to present all this. The game stories and dog legs of 1981 are fading while features and info boxes are on the rise.

Sometimes I think we're moving too fast. Sometimes I think we're not moving fast enough.

If that sounds like an ambiguous answer, well, it is. We're dealing with some tough choices here, like trying to serve a loyal, often older audience while seeking to attract younger people who may have different reading habits.

That's a tough nut to crack for sports editors at small newspapers. If you create time to cover the skateboarding festival by leaving Friday's basketball game uncovered, you're going to hear about it.

We discussed these issues extensively at the APSE convention in Orlando, and I don't think anyone had a definitive answer. And that's OK, because there shouldn't be any one-size-fits-all solutions in this business.

We all serve different markets with different audiences. Some of us will be bolder in reaching out to nontraditional readers. Others will be more conservative. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer, but we'd better watch and learn from each other to see what's working and what's not.

More and more, I think that's APSE's most important role. We shouldn't be here to give you the answers. We should provide you with information, air the issues, let you know what's happening in other sports departments.

I think we're doing a lot of that already, and if keep up with our Web site during the past year, you've seen a lot more links to stories about what's happening in sports journalism. Hopefully we can find ways to do more.

APSE president Glen Crevier has included more money in the coming year's budget for drive-in workshops. If we can hold one or two workshops during the coming year, that will help fulfill what I think is an important mission for this organization — education.

Speaking of living in a more complicated world, here's a decision I faced at my newspaper this past winter.

The United Hockey League All-Star game was held in Glens Falls. The players were divided into two teams, both named after a soft drink — Team Pepsi vs. Team Mountain Dew. That seemed a bit over the edge to me.

Most of us will use brand names when they are attached to stadiums and arenas, but if we went along with this, we would have been using brand names in headlines. My thinking was, when we use editorial copy to advertise products, haven't we stepped over a line?

We came up with a halfway measure. We used East and West for team names (that's the way it broke down) but mentioned the brand news once each day in the main bar so readers knew which team was which. I'm not sure it was the right solution — to the UHL's credit, there were no complaints — but I'd like to hear what other sports editors think of that.

With the way sports marketing is growing, we may face more of these decisions in the future.

For those of you who may have hometown athletes in the winter Olympics, the USOC offers some excellent services.

Their Web site (http://usocpressbox.org) will have up-to-date results, information and quotes from U.S. athletes throughout the Games. And if you contact the USOC beforehand, they can arrange to have athletes call you for post-event interviews. But make sure you set that up well before Olympians head to Italy.

If you weren't able to attend the Orlando convention, there is a USOC press release that might be helpful. Contact me at my e-mail address below if you'd like a faxed copy.

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You can reach Greg Brownell of the Glens Falls (N.Y.) Post-Star via e-mail at brownell@poststar.com.

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