By CHRIS SCIRIA
The Citizen (Auburn, N.Y.)

Sports editors from five states came to Hartford, Conn. on Nov. 7-8 for APSE's Northeast Region's fall meeting.

From as far west as Buffalo, N.Y. and as east as Portland, Maine, more than 20 newspapers were represented at the meeting held at the Hartford Courant.

They were treated to a healthy serving of agate and Cajun barbeque.

The meeting started with a panel on ESPN's impact on sports writing, based on the recent University of Missouri study. Panelists included ESPN's Jim Cohen, a co-creator of ESPN shows such as "Cold Pizza" and "Pardon the Interruption," Hartford Courant sports writer Paul Doyle and Boston Globe NBA writer Peter May.

The panel discussed ESPN's influence on sports journalism, specifically columnists who appear on ESPN shows such as "Around the Horn."

Cohen, a former newspaper sports editor, said sports editors need to look at different ways to make their sections stand out.

May talked about how athletes become more accessible when you say you're from ESPN, then if from a daily newspaper.

The next panel was highly anticipated as the "Agatollah," the Chicago Tribune's Lee Gordon, spent 90 minutes on ways to better organize and present agate.

Most sections devote about one-third of their space to agate daily, Gordon said.

Gordon said one idea is to stop running agate in paragraph form, present it in tabular ways that are clean, easier to read and do a better job of informing the reader.

Next, was a showing of the Best High School Ideas and Best Ideas CDs from last summer's national convention in Orlando.

The group then attended dinner at the well-known Hartford barbeque eatery "Black-eyed Sally's" and later watched the highly-anticipated Monday Night Football game between the Patriots and the Colts at Jim Calhoun's "Coach's" sports bar.

On Tuesday, the remaining editors showed off their own best ideas. Highlights included the Poughkeepsie Journal's comprehensive coverage of the Empire State Games, the Buffalo News' Bills preview sections and the Finger Lakes Times' (Geneva, N.Y.) new high school page.

APSE third vice president Greg Brownell updated editors on efforts to increase small-newspaper membership.

In region business, Chris Sciria, from The Citizen in Auburn, N.Y. became the Northeast's new chair as The Journal News' (White Plains, N.Y.) Mark Leary stepped down due to health reasons. The Boston Globe's Joe Sullivan was nominated and was unanimously elected the Northeast region's new vice chair.

The region also selected Auburn, N.Y. as the site of the spring 2006 meeting which will be held May 7-8.

The region will hold its second annual writing contest for small newspapers after national judging in March.

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