Recent Memphis basketball newpaper coverage

Remember that the Niners had a good series going with Miami. Cancel that, we'll never see them on the schedule again.

 

Over40, you're delusional. What I've said before, and what I'll say now is give Bobby and Judy my number, (704) 358-5132, and tell them to call me when they're ready to say ACC teams are afraid FOR PUBLICATION. We've asked the question, and they won't go there with us. They might with you and your buddies, but they won't with us. If they'll say it, it's a story. If they won't, it's not. Simple as that.

 

Tell you what Mike, come to the Triad Alumni Meeting in Winston-Salem on October 30, I'll be glad to buy your dinner. I'll stand up in front of the crowd and ask the question for you. That way you can quote Bobby word for word. It's asked each and every year and the response it always the same, they won't come to Halton Arena. Maybe you should ask the same question to the ACC coach at Media Day, "Would you play Charlotte in their arena?" I've known Judy for 27 years, and I can safely say she'll sign the contract right now for a game in Halton.

 

mike answer this....
you keep stating that you print stories based on interest in the "region." How much "interest" does this region have in the WNBA and womens world cup soccer?? It seems your dept. is committed to those stories, or rather an agenda to make people see it in your paper. I swear to god nobody except a couple 15 year old girls read that stuff, and they aren't the demographic your advertising to in the sports page, unless they are buying sex novelty items and going to strip clubs that I see in the section. this is my only problem with the argument you bring. you say the Niners get warranted coverage comparable to region interest, which might be true, but you cram what you want down people's throats.

 

Easy, Metro, your sexism is showing.

Here's my thinking. In general, we have all the male readers we're going to get. If you're a sports fan and you're male and you're inclined to read newspapers, you're doing it. If you're not a sports fan, you're not going to read my section no matter what I put in there, for the most part. That means the biggest area potential growth is among women readers.
That said, you overstate what we did on the WNBA and women's world cup (or the WUSA, which someone mentioned; the only front-page story about the WUSA, ever, in our section was when the league folded on the eve of the women's world cup). There is far less competition for the front page in June, July and August, and the Sting still didn't make it every time they played.
Ultimately, the everything is a niche. Some are bigger than others. Every niche has its moment, the time when fans of a given subject deserve coverage. I try to recognize those times. Am I perfect? No. That's why I put up with Niners gripes like I do, because I think I'm reasonable enough to admit if I'm wrong or unfair. And I think, since "fair" and "equal" are not always the same, I've been fair. Some of you, I know, will disagree.

 

This is such an old argument. We know who the Observer caters to and who they don't. Rehashing it every year doesn't help.

Want to make an impact? Get all the 49er club members to cancel their subscribtions or tell every 49er fan you know that they don't support us so don't support them. Once you break it down in hard numbers and the Observer realizes they have alienated the largest alumni base in Charlotte and the largest U in the area, then you will get catered to, trust me.

All the rest is just worthless B&Ming...just ask Mike.

 

Here, I'll save you all a lot of keystrokes. We've been down this road before.

Last year's discussion just prior to midnight madness

 

yep we have, and the 49er coverage still sucks, and everyone a year ago was calling your attitude bad.

 

You shouldn't have taken that road Mr. Persinger. Some things never change...

 

Don't you find it odd that that post was from exactly a year ago today? Now, go back to the two days after midnight madness and look at the comments about our coverage of that event. It's like Groundhog Day.