Chronicle sports page discussion w/Jeff Welsch

bobcatbob · Post by **bobcatbob** » Thu May 12, 2005 9:34 pm

Hi Jeff- I have noticed much more cynisicsm lately. We need to support our local athletes in all sports. In general the Chronichle has gone down hill overall in quality and content. People in this area take pride in Bozeman and the local area. It is like you guys go out of your way to find negative things. I know a lot of people in the area are to the point where they may say goodbye to reading the Chrincile!

iaafan · Post by **iaafan** » Fri May 13, 2005 8:33 am

I think the Chronic is much better than it used to be and Welsch should be thanked for that before anyone is critical. As far as I'm concerned he's done for the Chronicle what Kramer has done for MSU football. I don't think he would be doing his job if the paper was full of smarmy articles and I don't think Kramer should be coddling his players every whim. His column about the atmosphere at MSU hoop games was right on and those are the kinds of articles MSU and its fans need to prompt it to be more progressive and agressive. With his background from the PAC 10 ranks, MSU and its fans should look at Welsch's comments and opinions as free consultant services. They're just one piece of the puzzle, but should be taken seriously. The fact that he comes on this site, identifies himself and asks for your input is unheard of in my experience with message boards. Not to mention flattering.

Cat Pride · Post by **Cat Pride** » Fri May 13, 2005 8:42 am

Ditto. Thank you Jeff, keep up the good work. The difference is day and night.

Cat Grad · Post by **Cat Grad** » Fri May 13, 2005 8:43 am

I agree with 1AA fan and now that I'm thinking of visitors to sites, I'm trying to recall which Southern paper journalist uses a chat room as a column. And not in a derogitory manner. Think it's Bradley with the AJC?

bobcatbob · Post by **bobcatbob** » Fri May 13, 2005 9:00 am

You guys are right. Jeff has bought new perspectives and a new look to the Sports page. It is appreciated. It just seems like there is a more cynical approach in general in newspapaers today and the Chronicle has gone in this direction more so lately.

bigcat · Post by **bigcat** » Fri May 13, 2005 9:31 am

How about making more of an effort to get all high school scores from around the state instead of just the valley or AA...that is where the Chronicle doesn't stack up against the Tribune or Gazette...they always have the scores from pretty much the whole state.

BleedsBlue&Gold · Post by **BleedsBlue&Gold** » Fri May 13, 2005 1:11 pm

The great falls tribune seems to have sports news and information that the missoulian, gazette, or the Chronicle don't have until 1 or 2 days later.

BobCatFan · Post by **BobCatFan** » Fri May 13, 2005 8:13 pm

The sports coverage is poor. I will not buy the paper until the comical is more balanced political. Why should I have to pay for liberal propaganda. I can get that for free on NPR radio.

Post by **SonomaCat** » Fri May 13, 2005 8:41 pm

BobCatFan wrote:The sports coverage is poor. I will not buy the paper until the comical is more balanced political. Why should I have to pay for liberal propaganda. I can get that for free on NPR radio.

Let's try to stay on topic on this one....

MSU88 · Post by **MSU88** » Fri May 13, 2005 9:08 pm

Usually great coverage! I would like to see an article about the Big Sky All-Academic team and that information shared with papers across the state.

BobCatFan · Post by **BobCatFan** » Fri May 13, 2005 11:16 pm

I was on topic. This topic is how to improve the comical. I gave my two bits.

Jeff Welsch · Post by **Jeff Welsch** » Sat May 14, 2005 12:46 am

Thanks for all your thoughts, good or otherwise, Bobcat Nation. They're sincerely appreciated.

A coupla points: "Cynical" is usually a euphemism for "too liberal" or "too conservative," and in a sense it fits for sports.

Experience tells me that, in general, sports page readers can be divided into two camps (much like this country) that I'll call Republicans and Democrats.

"Republicans" like the hometown paper to root for the home teams and take digs at the infidels, i.e., Griz; sort of the Fox News approach. "Democrats" want the unvarnished truth, warts and all.

I see the arguments for both approaches, but I tend to lean Demo on this one because I want you to think of my stories/columns as an honest assessment, not sugar-coated.

Second, the Chronicle liberal? Evidence please? As a newcomer, IMO it's right down the middle, and definitely interested in what's best for the Gallatin Valley. Pretty even mix of liberal and conservative columnists.

Thanks again for writing ... and reading. Feel free to e-mail me any time at jwelsch@dailychronicle.com for feedback, suggestions and story ideas.

Post by **SonomaCat** » Sat May 14, 2005 12:55 pm

BobCatFan wrote:Boy, you do not get it. The media has great power in this country and I would fight to my death to defend that right. It is one of the principals that make this country great. The media should be the watchdog of the people. It should report the facts and not opinion unless it is labeled as opinion. The paper should have a balanced approached to reporting news. Unfortunately, your paper, like a lot of papers are so far left on the political scale, that they can see the forest through all the trees.

I think most people just what to read the facts and not a reporters or editors filtered political views. I friend of may served on your Opinion Board (I am not sure if I got the name correct) and he claims it was an fight at every meeting to get a “Conservative” point of view published. He said he lost out on most battles because every other board member had a far left view. Take a look at today’s letters to the editor. There is one letter that basically says, “Do not consume the forest”. I view this as the left of center opinion. Then there is a letter claiming they want a “balanced approach to forest management.” I see this as the middle of the road opinion. Where is the Conservative point of view? You never see that point of view in your paper. I know you think the balanced approach letter is the conservative point of view when it really it is the middle point of view.

What can you do improve the sports page? It would be nice to break some MSU news from time to time. I find it hard to believe that out of town newspapers have better coverage and more breaking news items on MSU sports then the local paper. How about some good articles that pumps up the local fans before a football or basketball game. How about some articles on this week’s opposing team or maybe a section that is devoted to the Big Sky Conference in general. Also, Bozeman is full of students and residents from all across Montana who would love to follow their hometown team. In the comical, you are lucky to get a box score.

Let's keep this thread limited to sports commentary. If you want to complain about politics, take it to the hangout board.

CelticCat · Post by **CelticCat** » Sat May 14, 2005 12:59 pm

I'm so glad I don't give a hoot about politics.

Write what you want, and I'll decide if it's bull or not. I don't care what kind of rationale it is, I don't like to label it conservative, etc. I think people spend way too much time arguing over what the media should be.

All my friends who are into politics just whine, worry, and argue all the time. I'm a far too happy-go-lucky guy for this nonsense. Ignorance is bliss.

Jeff Welsch · Post by **Jeff Welsch** » Sat May 14, 2005 2:29 pm

Bay Area Cat wrote:
BobCatFan wrote:What can you do improve the sports page? It would be nice to break some MSU news from time to time. I find it hard to believe that out of town newspapers have better coverage and more breaking news items on MSU sports then the local paper. How about some good articles that pumps up the local fans before a football or basketball game. How about some articles on this week’s opposing team or maybe a section that is devoted to the Big Sky Conference in general. Also, Bozeman is full of students and residents from all across Montana who would love to follow their hometown team. In the comical, you are lucky to get a box score.

I'll leave the political stuff alone -- though I completely disagree with the "liberal" assessment and will happily take it up on the non-sports board -- and respond about the MSU assertions here.

Comments like the one above are exasperating, because when you take the facts into account ...

* We DO break stories -- for instance, we had Chawn Johnson and Jacques Wilson committing to MSU even before Bobcat Nation, much less other papers. Yep, we were scooped on two women's basketball stories (coach hiring and Jenny Heringer), and don't want to let that happen again. By the way, Heringer was a Gazette story, not Associated Press ... despite what the tag said. Still, we all want to get a story like that first.
* Better coverage? With due respect to the other papers, I'd put our Bobcat coverage side by side with any other sports section in the state. We were the only paper at all MSU football games and almost all MSU basketball games; we had a photographer at EVERY football game. I suppose I'm battling history here, but this statement has me perplexed. We can always do better, but in terms of quantity, it's not even close.

* We had a story on MSU football just about every day from the end of August through 'Cat-Griz, including stories on opponents (quarterbacks from ISU and EWU, for instance). We also had a Game Day pullout -- a weak one, to be sure -- but at we did upgrade to every game, instead of just home games. I intend to expand this section in the fall. It's not our job to pump up you fans, though; that's up to MSU. We merely provide information, recognizing that we're in the heart of Bobcat country.

* We had a weekly Big Sky Conference page on Thursdays.

* Prep results from around the state is a tough one. We're an independent island surrounded by Lee newspapers (Missoula, Butte, Billings, Helena) and a strong regional presence in the GF Tribune. We'd like to do better, but with our staff size it's a challenge just to get the Gallatin Valley stuff covered. Alas, we're hopelessly outgunned on this one. We must focus on we can do better than anyone, and that's cover the Gallatin Valley.

Thanks again for your thoughts ... gotta get a paper out now.

jw

HelenaCat · Post by **HelenaCat** » Sun May 15, 2005 11:25 am

Jeff,

Just a quick note to tell you that I appreciate what changes you have made in the past year or so and also that I very much appreciate your goal of improving things even more in terms of MSU coverage. A few years ago I really only went to the GF Tribune for Cats coverage, but I certainly think the Chronicle is at least close to equal, maybe evn a bit better now, than the Tribune. I agree with others that the Chronicle could still even do better, but I sincerely believe you are trying to do that and I have noticed a big change in the past year or so. Keep up the good work!

iaafan · Post by **iaafan** » Sun May 15, 2005 2:29 pm

Oh yeah. Put more stuff (game day pull out) on the Chronic web site. I often hear people talking about things they read that I never see. I log on to your site every day.

94VegasCat · Post by **94VegasCat** » Mon May 16, 2005 7:34 am

iaafan wrote:Oh yeah. Put more stuff (game day pull out) on the Chronic web site. I often hear people talking about things they read that I never see. I log on to your site every day.

I would like to see more of the CAT stuff on the web page as well. I know you need to sell copies, but when I lived in VEGAS, the web was the best I could do. Now that I am in stinky Missoula, I don't know where to pick up the Chronicle on my way to work at 5am.

HelenaCat95 · Post by **HelenaCat95** » Tue May 17, 2005 8:40 am

Not to beat a dead horse (but I will anyway)

Jeff, I think the Adams/Clark story would have been an interesting one for the Chronicle to have. And I believe the Chronicle readers would have been interested to read about Zach Wolf's injuries. Maybe both stories were in the Chronicle's print version - in which case I missed them (I only see the online version).
Just a few thoughts.

That being said - I have to say the the coverage from the Chronicle has vastly improved over the past few years.

Catdad39 · Post by **Catdad39** » Tue May 17, 2005 9:02 pm

Jeff,

First of all, thank you for standing up and asking for input...that takes a real man and I praise you for that! I have only missed one Bobcat football game, home or away, in the last 4 years. I read papers from all over the nation (wherever we have played). Please take a look at the Missoula paper on Sunday and see how they cover the Griz. They truly do a class job, as much as I HATE to say it. They devote a couple of pages to the Griz and their statistics are awesome. For example, every tackle is listed in the statistics. I live in the Spokane area and the local paper does the same for the Cougs. The Bobcats are the story in town on Saturdays! Please increase the statistical portion and some side stories. Those really spark human interest. I agree with many that we need more feature stories about all MSU athletes during the week. Take a look at how many people come into Bobcat Nation and how often some come here...they are thirsting for Bobcat news! Give them more, please! God Bless you for asking for our opinions.
Note: Roger Cooper is on the roster of the Dallas Cowboys...has there been a feature story on that experience. Maybe there should be an ongoing "journal" of those exploits. A regular phone call interview with Coop would make this simple. Coop probably doesn't want it because he is so humble, but the community loves "Coop, Coop, Coop!!!" Thanks

Chronicle sports page discussion w/Jeff Welsch

Statewide scores???