Dave Hendrickson <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>
> At USCHO, we do track down box scores all season long.  And that
> involves more than finding
> it somewhere else on the Internet.  The box score at the Pioneer Planet
> website,
> for example, would have done us no good since we need the full lineups
> and so on
> to be able to provide our array of statistics.  (You can't get whether
> somebody
> dressed for the game from the Pioneer Planet boxscore.)
 
To follow up Dave's thoughts...
 
Boxes are faxed (or in some cases, emailed) to USCHO just as they are to
other media outlets.  Here, we are talking about the official game summary
which does include full lineups and more information than you usually see
in the newspaper.  The official game summary is needed to be able to enter
a box since one of the requirements is to enter lineups -- this is how you
know games played, for instance.  USCHO's database works directly off the
box scores.  The boxes accessible through USCHO do not currently display
information like full lineups, although this may be added in the future,
but the information is put into the database so that it can be used
elsewhere.  This is how, for example, as soon as a box score is entered,
team listings of player stats will immediately reflect the stats from that
game.
 
Now, there are reasons why something may go wrong between the source of the
box and USCHO, just as there may be with other outlets.  The fax may be
unreadable due to a transmission problem, or it may never be received (or
sent).
 
Boxes that are received at USCHO are entered ASAP.  However it is not
uncommon for some boxes never to be received.  USCHO has an alert mechanism
for determining which boxes have not been received within a certain period
of time (several hours or so) and at that point, contacts the schools' SIDs
(often both) to request that it be sent again.  This is something that many
media outlets may not do.  But since the boxes are so important, USCHO does
go out of its way to track down boxes that have not been received.  Yet it
may also be the case that the SID is out of the office, or busy with other
matters.
 
The vast majority of D1 boxes are sent, received and entered on game
nights, so we are only talking about a small number that need to be tracked
down.  But it does happen.  The hockey SIDs deserve thanks and appreciation
for their efforts in making sure USCHO does receive a game box, and for
helping to answer the occasional questions that arise.  It is a terrific
team effort by a group of people who may have differing employers and
interests but who all want to do their best to promote the sport and their
teams and players.
 
I do not directly work with entering the boxes or tracking them down, but I
know how the process works, so I thought a followup would be helpful.
There are many other behind the scenes aspects that I left out or glossed
over, but this should still help people understand the process.  I do think
it is worth understanding that there are a lot of things that people do not
see and which take place behind the scenes, that result in what you see on
USCHO.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                [log in to unmask]               *HMM* 11/13/93
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