So I’m a little late on this one. Deadspin’s Will Leitch was the latest guest contributor at Baseball Analysts where he penned/typed A New Way To Look At Baseball Journalism. The article stresses how baseball blogs can complement traditional baseball coverage.
Baseball blogs are the most fun sports blogs to read because great ones have multiple entries every day, and they provide perspective and talking points; they are great because they assume you have already seen the game. We are no longer in the days of radio; if you have MLB.TV, or even freaking cable, you can watch every game. We do not need reporters to tell us the facts; we need people to tell us what it means. Or, more specific, to ask us what we think it means.
Leitch also talks about how newspapers can captilize on these two different worlds, but there is also a takeaway in there for bloggers.
Where am I going with this? I envision a world with two different kinds of beat reporters covering each team. (Except for the Devil Rays; nobody covers the Devil Rays.) One is involved in fact gathering; who’s hurt, who’s dealing with contract problems, who’s tussling with Tony LaRussa because they have a disagreement about the relative value of cute puppies. And another to actually watch the games, without knowing the players personally, without dealing with sports information, without having to jump through all the demoralizing hoops required of those who cover our games.
Newspapers have a chance to take the power back; they can cover their teams without access, without having to suffer through the now-obviously-broken relationship between reporters and the players they cover. And they can provide their readers much better coverage. It’s a matter of breaking loose of the chains and embracing the way this is all inevitably going.
While many bloggers are attempting to get credentials, is it something that we really want? Do we want to deal with players or cheer for them? Do we want to worry about offending someone when we’d have to try and talk to them the next day? There is something to be gained from maintaining some distance and allowing your inner fan to come through in your writing.
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