The revolution is not yet here
by Jeff Nusser on Apr 9, 2009 11:15 AM PDT
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PrintHave we ever mentioned how certain newspaper writers will never understand why their career is being flushed down the toilet as blogs such as this one and other innovative Internet publications thrive?
NW Briefs | Cougs men's basketball nation's No. 1 in defense
By Howie Stalwick
Special to The Seattle TimesWashington State was officially crowned the national leader in men's basketball defense when the NCAA released final Division I statistics Wednesday.
The Cougars gave up just 55.4 points per game. That is the lowest total in the Pac-10 Conference since Oregon State yielded 55.0 in 1981-82 prior to the addition of the shot clock and three-point field goals.
Washington State led the Pac-10 in defense for the sixth consecutive year. That breaks a tie with Oregon State (1984-88) for the longest string of defensive titles since the conference began tracking annual leaders in 1959.
Howie makes himself such an easy target, but equally at fault is the editor who assigned and paid for this, as well as the headline writer. There's a reason why people are coming to us more and more, and them less and less.
If you're new around here and have no idea why this is comical, take a few minutes to read this.*
* If you're curious, the Cougs were actually 25th nationally in raw defense this year, measured by efficiency. However, they faced the third-toughest opposing offenses of anyone in the country this year, so their adjusted defensive efficiency was actually No. 6. But that's beside the point.
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Poor Howie
He’s just doing what he knows. I agree with you that the Seattle Times is the entity that should be mocked for not recognizing what the real story is.
Old dogs can learn new tricks, though
Just look at Vince. Those two guys are roughly the same age, but one has learned to adapt to the changing marketplace — and done it very well.
I agree, to a point...
While Vince is certainly “hip” to the interwebs (blogging, extra content for online readers and whatnot), I can’t really recall anything he’s written that addresses the ways to statistically analyze basketball the way you and many other “sabermatricians” do. I may be wrong about that, although I read Vince pretty religiously. I don’t know that I’ve seen any newspaperman use the kind of stats that are used here in their reporting, at least in basketball. The baseball beat writers are using the “Moneyball” stats pretty regularly now that they’re widely considered vastly superior tools for analysis.
I still say that it’s on the Seattle Times (and other publications) to demand better work. The sooner they do that, the sooner guys like Howie will either adjust or fade away.
by '03CouveCoug on Apr 9, 2009 12:13 PM PDT up reply actions
OK, but ask yourself why you read Vince
You read him because he gives you the perspective of someone with access, someone who’s paid to be close to the team. Why do you read him instead of the coverage in the Tribune, Times or P-I? Because he does it better — more insight, more analysis. Additionally, he does stuff that we can’t do.
No, he doesn’t use the superior stats — I’m working on him with that one — but he does so many other things well, he’s made himself an extremely valuable part of WSU coverage.
Agreed
Although, I’m such a Coug nut, Vince is just my first option. Then I go to the Times, P-I, News Tribune, etc.!
It reminds me of a joke I once heard....
I’ll put my own spin on it.
A brain surgeon met with the immediate family of a member that needed a brain transplant. After agreeing to the procedure, the surgeon explained that there were two types of brains, one a Husky brain and the other a Cougar brain. He further explained that the Cougar brain was far cheaper than the Husky version.
The immediate family members could barely hold back their laughter until one of them asked the doctor why the Cougar brain cost so little in comparison to the Husky one. The doctor had a simple answer, “The Husky brain has never been used.”
I think Howie opted for the Husky version.
I'll understand completely if you delete my previous post....
But Howie does remind me of someone that can’t think for himself. Just saying….
I think the relevant point here is that WSU was the Pac 10 leader in D efficiency!
Also, while it is easy to criticize newspapers for staying behind the times, there is such a thing as a casual sports fan who thinks that PPG is an easy stat to understand and describes the flow of the game. In fact, I think that it’s an easy stat to understand and describes the flow of the game. I just also happen to want to know if we are actually good on defense or if we just slow down the game.
I don’t think articles like this are the reason newspapers are floundering.
I see your point, but...
What I was getting at is that the papers are losing readership because of lazy reporting like this. I don’t think that is the sole reason for the downfall of the industry as a whole (other reasons include loss of subscribers, loss of advertizing revenue, growing overhead costs and providing free content on the internet to name a few), but I think that people that truly care about sports are demanding better. That is why the sports fan is turning to blogs and other publications like this. Not only do you get better team-specific information, you also get much more in-depth analysis.
You’re right, for the casual fan the PPG stat is the easiest stat to interpret. The question is, does the casual fan buy the newspaper to read the sports section? I’m pretty sure the answer to that is no. There was a time when newspapers could simply appeal to a broad scope of the public and be successful. I guess I’m saying that I think those days are coming to a close.
As an analogy, I see newspapers today like TV in the 1970’s. There were only three networks that tried to appeal to the masses. Then cable came along and now there are hundreds if not thousands of options that cater to very specific audiences. I think written publication is already headed in that direction via the internet.
Just my $0.02.
Fair enough
Maybe it’s partly that everything in this world is becoming specialized, and general reporting across the board (sports, politics, business, home life, entertainment) just doesn’t interest anyone as much anymore.
I thought that the loss of advertising revenue is what has been sinking newspapers. At my most recent graduation (here in P town) the commencement speaker was some loony editor for the Seattle Times who claimed that advertising was responsible. He said that the readership (at least measured by sold papers) hadn’t dropped off noticeably, but the ad revenue had sunk considerably and took the profit margins with it. I don’t know if that’s true (like I said, the guy was a loon, publicly “calling out” google and craigslist as culprits), but if it is, there’s definitely a bigger reason for newspaper forclosures than the across-the-board reporting.
Most of that ad revenue they've lost
Is in the classifieds. Craigslist has absolutely destroyed that revenue stream, and it was a significant part of their revenue. But your perception is correct — they’re dinosaurs who don’t know any other way to do what they do. I would argue that coming up with a new business model is actually less than half the solution, because the next successful journalism business model is going to depend on mainstream journalism that looks nothing like it does right now.
You're probably right
That the loony got the part about loss of ad revenue being the biggest part of the downfall. I was recently under the impression that the combination of free advertizing through craigslist, ebay, cars.com, etc. and loss of circulation causing less and less businesses to advertize in the paper was pushing down revenue. Maybe the loss of circulation is exaggerated. Overhead is probably a big reason as well (paper and ink and employees are just getting more and more expensive).
As I stated above, it’s probably the combination of these factors (and probably others too) that are causing the downfall of this medium.
by '03CouveCoug on Apr 10, 2009 8:23 AM PDT up reply actions
I don't think it's the sole reason either
But it’s definitely part of it. Like you said, readers are demanding better, and a lot of newspapers have no idea what “better” is.
As for the “casual fan” argument, I’ve heard that before, usually in reference to baseball. I get that with baseball — some of their stats are so esoteric you really do have to be a math whiz to understand them. But these basketball stats we’re talking about? Other than offensive rating, they’re all really intuitive — they all still build off of averages and rates. That’s not so terribly difficult to understand. Heck, if you’ve got Sports Illustrated writers broaching the topic with relative ease, how hard can it be? I don’t mean that as a knock on SI writers, but they’ve got perhaps the most traditional readership in sports. It’s time to embrace a better way.
When I read the sports page, I read the columns and the notebooks — stuff I can get there that I can’t get anywhere else. If a newspaper really wanted to be progressive, they’d boil down their game coverage to six inches and spend a lot more time on analysis that their readers aren’t going to get anywhere else. Instead, they make that kind of stuff available on the Web … for FREE. They’ve got it totally back-assward.
The funny thing is, this is the same conversation I have with my high school reporters. What are you going to give your readers that they can’t get anywhere else? Make people want to read your publication — make it a must read, make them feel like they’re missing something really important if they don’t read it.
There’s a reason why we’ve got a lot of people who come back to this site four, five or six times a day. We’ve made ourselves a valuable part of your day, and you feel like you might be missing out on something if you stay away for too long. When was the last time someone said that about buying a newspaper?
Nuss you would really enjoy
This. By Howie for Cougfan. Declaring the Cougs “National Champs of Defense” and using a host of awesome statistics to compare PSU and WSU.
This is where per game statistics go to die.
CougCenter
Yeah, I saw that one too
But I thought I’d cut Cougfan a little slack because they’ve done some nice reporting recently.
REALLY nice reporting
they were the first to break TB leaving and Chadwick being released. Maybe we should start believing them more?
This is where per game statistics go to die.
CougCenter
by Craig Powers on Apr 9, 2009 10:18 PM PDT up reply actions
I get up an hour early every morning....
just to read everything new on CougCenter before leaving for work. Then I check it during lunch hour and first thing after dinner. You guys (and gals too) have me hooked all the way on this site. Love it. Keep up the good work. I feel truly connected to the university now.
Thanks everyone!!! Go Cougs!!!
It's also nice to be able to express an opinion....
on a site like this. I felt disconnected from the school for so many years. A site like this completely makes me feel I know what’s going on because it’s such up-to-date-information. It’s practically instantaneous.
One thing I see happening is all the Cougs out in cyberland, throughout the country and world, now have a way to unite, so to speak. The media center of Washington is in the Seattle area, of course. It’s all about the school that wears purple uniforms. Very little important information about our school eminates from those rags or forums. Sites like this help unite us and make us stronger.
It’s like going to any Coug game, no matter where it’s at. There’s a special feeling wearing Crimson and Gray. I take it seriously and consider it quite an honor. Just saying….and I know I’m not alone in that opinion.
Go Cougs!!!
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