At 5:58 PM -0700 12/30/96, Greenie wrote:
> Just imagine what the sports news world would be like if all of the outlets
> only reported on "what was given to them."
Well, to a certain extent, this is how it does actually work. Unless a
newspaper does actually commit resources to cover an event, they rely upon
others to provide them with information about that event.
> Then again, so does the Boston Globe. They managed not just a box score but
> an actual article about the UNH-CC game. (of course, they've got a
> traveling budget <grin> )
The Globe also did not have boxes from many other games, and they were even
missing scores from some games. That's because no one gave them the scores
or faxed the boxes.
Objectively, it seems kind of odd to criticize USCHO and laud the Globe for
one not having this box and another having it, when there were many other
scores and boxes that the Globe did not have and USCHO did have.
> USCHO's purpose is to cover COLLEGE HOCKEY; and that's it. Was there nobody
> that could call someone to get a box score?
You're suggesting that things like this do not happen, but they do all the
time. USCHO is constantly contacting various people to try to obtain the
information it needs. It's part of the behind the scenes effort - a truly
enormous one - that I'm sure you are not aware of. USCHO goes out on its
own to get many things, but it also relies upon people to provide a number
of things on a regular basis. And that only happens because of the behind
the scenes effort that was made early on and is still being made.
Remember, the schools didn't decide to start faxing USCHO out of the blue.
> Okay, maybe it's tough late saturday night or first thing sunday morning to
> find nab a box score... then again, this was a major tournament. So why is
> there still no information about any of the Badger games?
Probably because nothing was sent about them. It may have been a glitch,
because the schools involved have sent information in the past. These
things happen.
It almost happened at the Syracuse Invitational. If the sports information
people at the schools involved had not taken it upon themselves to fax the
boxes to the appropriate places, including the Globe, I don't believe they
would have gotten out there. We were told to fax them ourselves to whoever
we thought needed them. The SIT staff was only taking care of local media.
In fact, there would have been no official boxes at all if we hadn't
realized before the start of the first game that they weren't being done.
Fortunately we were able to do these on our own (we = the SID staff from
the four schools; I have done volunteer SID-type work for Merrimack for
eight years now). I personally handwrote summaries from two of the four
games, and my wife Heather was pressed into service doing shot charts for
six periods of hockey (a job she used to hold as a volunteer for us through
last season). My brother in law, who has never attended a college game
before as far as I know, even pitched in as well when called upon and did a
fine job. Anyway...
Could be that the folks handling media relations at the Badger tourney did
not have a complete list of places to fax boxes to, either. Again, this
happens when the games are played "out of their element" at non-typical
sites. Perhaps there was miscommunication and everyone thought someone
else was taking care of it. Difficult to know.
> Or better yet, admit that USCHO still needs some of the kinks ironed out,
> rather than trying to blame the event venue.
If you were at the Syracuse Invitational tourney, you would not be saying
this. I'm not going to get on the SIT folks, but there were definitely a
number of things that we as college hockey media types or sports info
people had become accustomed to and which weren't done. It worked out ok
because we recognized this early on and adjusted to the situation. They
seemed used to doing whatever they normally did for Syracuse Crunch games,
which oddly enough, was not as extensive as is usually done for college
hockey (i.e. period by period shot charts).
I guess I don't see the point in castigating USCHO for missing one or a few
boxes here given that so much else is actually being provided. Yes, there
will be things that slip through the cracks, but it is through no fault of
the USCHO staff. Like USA Today, USCHO has done yeoman work to date to
cultivate relationships with the 50 or so Division I hockey schools and the
result has been a steady supply of information from the people who everyone
- not just USCHO - relies upon for this information. You won't find this
level of coverage at any other source except for USA Today, and I know the
staff at both USCHO and USA Today have a high regard for the work each
other is doing.
I would also suggest that it's worth considering the massive effort that
the USCHO staff is putting in. It has to be disheartening to many of them
to see unfounded criticisms like this after all of the hard work that has
been done. That doesn't seem quite fair. Ideally, USCHO would have every
box and a story on every game, and I know that USCHO has done its best to
provide the former and hopes to someday also have the latter. It's still
not 100% complete, but it is far better than almost anything else out
there. That's undeniable.
Finally, on the criticism of people like myself and Dave for not "doing
enough"...it certainly is disillusioning for me to return from a six day
holiday trip to the in-laws and an exciting tournament to see that I am
criticized for not posting enough. Especially given that I've continued
posting what I can this season and even was able to get computer access
from 350 miles away to at least get out the boxes from the Friday games
(did not have access Saturday night).
The old adage about "until you've walked a mile in a man's shoes..." seems
to apply here, and not just to myself. But as far as I am concerned, Deron
hit the nail on the head when he noted that some of the people you
criticized, myself included, will not always be around. I expect that as
my life goes along and I am pulled in different directions, by things such
as work and family, then my ability to do things for USCHO, Merrimack, the
lists, and college hockey in general will continue to be limited as it
already has been this year. I hope and believe that there will be others
with new ideas who will follow and pick up the torch, but I can see how
situations such as this will not do much to encourage those people. I try
to brush them off and given everything else I have going on, this isn't
going to cause me to take time away from the other important things in my
life just to bring up the volume on the lists or anyplace else. I have to
keep everything in perspective, and although I hope everyone will
understand that, I won't feel guilty if some folks do not.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] *HMM* 11/13/93
***** (Part-Time) Color Voice of Merrimack Hockey WCAP 980 AM *****
***** Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page located at: *****
***** http://www.tiac.net/users/machnik/MChockey/MChockey.html *****
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