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Region reports
Compiled by FRED M. FAOUR
The Charlotte Observer and sports editor Michael Persinger were ahead of the curve on the AP/BCS controversy. The paper withdrew its vote from the AP poll before the organization pulled out of the BCS. The Observer's Ken Tysiac had the paper's vote. — Ron Wagner
After more than 25 years on the sport desk, Bill Petrusiak retired from the Globe and Mail. His replacement is Scott Emmerson, who had been working part-time. The Globe sports desk also added Jeff Brooke, who moved to the department from the newspaper's ROB section. Tim McKay has joined the sports desk of the Toronto Sun. Previously, Tim was the Editor of the Woodstock Sentinel-Review.
The Midland (Mich.) Daily News recently produced two enterprise pieces of note. One was a collection of articles on high school hockey athletes who are choosing to play for junior teams and not their high schools in quest for a college scholarship. It delved into the pros and cons of both choices while interviewing players and coaches. Second was a two-part series on the number of foreign athletes at a local Division II school, Northwood, and the impact they've had on sports there. Northwood is a national power in tennis and volleyball.
The Indianapolis Star did extensive special sections on the Colts, including one on the wild-card round and three for the AFC Divisional playoffs. Also, Mark Alesia did a story in November on political contributions by pro athletes (Peyton Manning gave $2,000 to Bush) and coaches. Several national newspapers and AP picked up the story and many other newspapers referenced Alesia's story as they localized a story of their own. The Minneapolis Star Tribune produced a four-page project on a week in the life of high school sports. Reporter John Millea and photographer Renee Jones visited six towns across the state and profiled athletes, coaches and fans. Millea, a veteran reporter, recently wrote the My Turn column for Newsweek on his love of high school sports after many years of covering college and professional teams and athletes. The Star Tribune selected Lindsey Whalen of the University of Minnesota women's basketball team (now with the WNBA's Connecticut Sun) as its sportsperson of the year. A committee of eight sports staff member picked Whalen over Kevin Garnett, the NBA's most valuable player, and Johan Santana, the American League's Cy Young Award winner. — Brad Zimanek
The Omaha World-Herald put together a bowl section this year even though Nebraska failed to qualify for a bowl, which ended the Huskers' NCAA record streak of 35 consecutive bowl appearances. The idea was to provide its readers with a bowl fix with a section commemorating Nebraska's rich postseason tradition. The World-Herald had features on Nebraska's 10 most memorable bowl games and capsules on all 42 bowl games Nebraska has played in. The World-Herald also picked an All-Husker Bowl Team based on performances in bowl games. The Southeast Missourian followed its annual 20-page basketball preseason tab with an eight-page special tabloid section previewing the 60th annual Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament. The event, which is in its third year of a five-year sponsorship by the newspaper, includes 16 boys basketball teams from both small schools and large schools. The Southeast Missourian also produced a year-in-review package on Dec. 30 with a calendar of 2004 highlights and a list of top 10 stories, which included Southeast Missouri State's retirement of Native American nicknames among its sports teams as its top story. — Scott Dochterman
No report.
The Northeast region has started a writing contest for the under-40,000 and 40,000-100,000 circulation categories. This contest will be judged by the large-paper editors in the region. Entry information will go out in early February and will mirror the rules in the APSE national contest. A mailing went out to member and non-member papers in the Northeast at the end of December, telling the sports editors about the new regional contest as well as pointing out the many advantages to being an APSE member. The goal was to give the smaller-circulation member papers one more advantage in belonging to APSE as well as to hopefully attract some of the non-member papers: 72 in the under-40,000 and 10 in the 40,000-100,000 circulation categories. The letter also asked for reasons why editors were not interested in joining APSE. A number of e-mails detailed how the dues were too expensive for small papers, especially when they would need to be paid by the individual editors. At all of these papers, the newspaper management has refused to pay for APSE membership as a cost-cutting measure. Two papers did say they would join APSE. In other news: Jason York of the New Haven Register was the recipient of the 2004 Bo Kolinsky News Media Award from the Connecticut Soccer Coaches Association. York covers high school, college and professional soccer for the Register. — Mark Leary
The Wyoming-Tribune Eagle sports department swept all three sports awards at the Wyoming Press Association's annual banquet in Cheyenne Jan. 14-15. Sports editor Robert Gagliardi won first place in sports columns, the second such award for Gagliardi in the last four years. Assistant sports editor Dave Shelles won first place for sports feature. Gagliardi, Shelles and sports reporter Jeremiah Johnke shared first-place honors for sports news for their coverage of the final day of the state soccer tournament and state track meets. It is the first time in the paper's history that it swept all three sports awards. — Dale Phelps
No report.
The Denton Record Chronicle put out an eight-page special section for the New Orleans Bowl. It was North Texas' fourth straight trip to the Crescent City. Riding the Texas Longhorns' Rose Bowl wave, the Austin American-Statesman contracted with the Los Angeles Times to print a "Pasadena edition" for Texas fans at the game, including a 10-page preview that wrapped the rest of the paper on Dec. 31. The Statesman also produced a 10-page commemorative section after the bowl game. Already going through big-event withdrawal, the Houston Chronicle produced a special section looking back at 2004, the year in Houston sports from A to Z. Writer Steve Campbell took an off-the-wall approach and hit on everything from Vijay Singh's win in the Shell Houston Open to Janet Jackson's breast at Super Bowl XXXVIII. The Southwest Region will once again hold its meeting in Austin on May 15-16 at the American Statesman. Michael Peters of the Beaumont Enterprise will take over as region chair after the meeting, and a new vice chair will be elected. The meeting is still in the planning stages, but it will include a lengthy section critique session. — Fred M. Faour
The San Jose Mercury News published a 10-page special section to commemorate the top fall high school performers in the Central Coast Section. The project, coordinated by high school editor Amy Brockett, included the players of the year, the All-Mercury News teams selected by the paper's high school writers and lists of the various all-section teams. Graphic artist Javier Zarracina pitched in by converting photographs of the top performers into life-like golden trophies, which were a big hit with readers. — Larry Ames |
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