Where the hell is Leonard Laye?

How do others besides the 5000 hardcore 49er fans you speak of get interested in a program? By media coverage. Conversely, you feel like Charlotte has to produce more to get more coverage. This is not how it should be in a school's hometown.

The reason there are so many local ACC fans is because it was forcefeed down their throats as kids on TV and media outlets like yourself. You have forcefed the WNBA and womens soccer at us, why not forcefeed the 49ers?

 

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/colleges/university_of_north_carolina_-_charlotte/6921289.htm

A soccer article.

 

Since I don't have an actual copy of today's Raleigh sports page...........I can only compare websites.

I already mentioned what I found on the News/Observer site.

Here's what got my attention of the Charlotte.com site.

Carolina Panthers
Morrow going to Ga Tech
NASCAR
ACC schedules
MLB baseball


I've said before and I'll say again, Mike.....I can appreciate the fact you have to make the best of limited resources and budget in a very atypical pro & college sports city.


However, I'm confused by one thing in todays actual paper.

Based on their placement on page 4C, I would be led to believe that the Morrow story (local HS player going to Atlanta) was more important than the local D-1 school signing a player in the same recruiting class as Morrow.

They are in the same actual column on the same page, yet the Morrow headline is at the top of the page. In today's short attention span driven world, I would think that you put your most important articles at the top of the page.

Was Morrow going to GT a bigger story than Charlotte signing a player ?? Not in my opinion.

I would not want your job (listening to critics like us) but I would like to understand how that decision was made.

 

Morrow

Morrow is a local kid and one of the nation's top 30 players, so his decision is a big deal. The kid going to Charlotte, while not local, deserved a separate story and got one. If Morrow had chosen Charlotte, he would have been on the front.

Also, the website is run by a different company that uses Observer content. I can have input on what they do, but only if I have time and energy to walk over there and tell them. I can control only what we do in the print edition.

 

that was my point above too. Here he is linking us a story about today, and low and behold, on the hard copy it it just BELOW an ACC signing.

 

Re: Morrow

you don't get it.

 

Call me a bitch for complaining about coverage. I appreciate the second story on Chris Nance but there honestly wasn't much more there in the second story, a similar statement about his increased weight and the same quote from the coach. Mike, if I didn't know better, I'd say that part of the first story was edited down or that the second story was filler material for the Observer. But I won't complain too loudly, High Point University still makes the front page over Carolina and Duke most of the time in the Enterprise.


Posted on Thu, Oct. 02, 2003
49ers land center
Charlotte gets commitment from junior college player
LEONARD LAYE
Staff Writer

Chris Nance, a 6-foot-8, 250-pound center from an Oklahoma junior college, has given the Charlotte 49ers their first commitment of the fall basketball recruiting period.

Nance, whose home is in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., played in 2001-02 as a freshman at Redlands Community College in El Reno, Okla., then sat out last season as a redshirt while getting treatment from a back injury. After his recovery he used the subsequent time to work on his game and in the weight room, going from 6-7, 215 to his present size.

"He's a good rebounder and a good defender who has a very good body," said Redlands coach Steve Eck. "He'll play around the basket, but he can also hit the 16-foot jumper."

Nance will play a sophomore season this winter, then join the 49ers for the 2004-05 season. He chose Charlotte over other finalists Oregon, Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State.

"I like the Charlotte coaches and I'm looking forward to playing again closer to home," Nance said.


Posted on Fri, Oct. 03, 2003
Injury gave recruit an opportunity
Center used redshirt year to develop game
LEONARD LAYE
Staff Writer

Chris Nance knew he was hurt the moment he fell to the floor at basketball practice during the 2001-02 season.

However, he turned a back injury into an advantage after sitting out last season. And, partially as a result, has become the Charlotte 49ers' first recruit to commit this fall.

Nance, a sophomore at Redlands Community College in El Reno, Okla., chose the 49ers this week. He will join Charlotte as a junior for the 2004-05 season.

When he arrives, he will be a far different player than when he took that fall as a freshman. While working out during a redshirt season last year, he developed not only his game but his body, going from 6-foot-7, 215 pounds to 6-8, 252.

"I turned the back injury into an advantage," Nance said Thursday. "I was out two to three months, getting treatment every day and (going through rehabilitation). Everything came back and then I started hitting the weight room about every day."

Nance, whose home is Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will play center this season, Redlands coach Steve Eck said.

"He was raw and very athletic as a freshman," Eck said. Now "he's a good rebounder and a good defender who has a very good body. He'll play around the basket, but he can also hit the 16-foot jumper."

Eck said Nance has a 3.9 grade-point average.

 

If what I'm supposed to "get" is that I owe the Niners something just because they're local, you're right. Somehow I don't think Chris Nance sold many papers. He's not a more highly regarded recruit than Morrow. He's not local. None of you had heard of him before yesterday. Yet you argue he should be played better simply because he committed to Charlotte? I don't "get" that.

 

that is a faulty argument. Does womens soccer sell papers? does the WNBA sell papers? You guys promote what you want to promote. What you don't "get" is that as usual, the 49er story is printed as an afterthought below an ACC story, put the two recruiting stories side by side whatever, but there is a reason behind so many of the 49er complaints. Being the afterthought in your hometown paper over and over again really wears on you. I will concede that Morrow signing was a bigger deal than our juco, but the placement below an ACC article is par for the course.

 

Don't go there, Mike. Morrow didn't sell any papers either from the Ga Tech alums in Charlotte. Don't forget how many alumni UNC Charlotte alumni there are in your coverage area. If you do, you certainly are biting the hand that feeds you.