Archive: Opinions

It probably didn't escape your notice that we have sports news from Groton this week, but not from Lansing.  I have often heard Lansing sports enthusiasts (that's just about everyone in town, right?) complain that the Ithaca newspaper does not provide good town sports coverage beyond scores, and that our student athletes deserve more recognition than that.

So why hasn't the Star carried more Lansing sports news?

There are two chief reasons the Star doesn't have better sports coverage.  The first is a matter of numbers: money numbers and people numbers.  We have very little of either.  With one reporter covering everything there is not time to attend the many games and meets our young athletes compete in and still be able to cover municipal and local news.  If we could afford a dedicated sports reporter we would certainly have one, given the heavy focus on sports Lansing favors.

Secondly, I am probably one of the only people who lives in Lansing who is entirely sports impaired.  Let me be clear about this: 'challenged' is when there is hope of meeting the challenge.  'Impaired' is unable to do whatever it is, in my case ever having any understanding or enthusiasm for sports.  Heck, I actually felt more manly when I got a rotator cuff injury because someone told me baseball players get those!

So in the rare instances when I have attended games I haven't understood what I was looking at.  Really.  In my mind the only difference between a punt and a bunt is that the 'p' is backward and upside down in 'bunt'.  I only watch Olympics skating because the music is nice.  I am probably the worst person in Lansing to write about athletics, as evidenced by the occasional sports articles I do write.

That is a killer combination -- nobody to cover sports, and the only person available is completely incompetent at it.

I feel guilty on weeks when we have nothing for the sports page especially because a wonderful fixture in the Lansing Sports Scene, Geoff 'The Voice of Lansing' Wright, has advertised on our sports page for nearly a decade.  Geoff doesn't need to advertise in the Star.  He does it to support the sports community here.  And to be honest, whenever I lament that I should get rid of the Sports page and just put occasional sports articles on the Around Town page I think of Geoff and I don't do it.

So how come we have had some really excellent sports coverage in the past?

I know we can't provide sports reporting, but what we can provide is a venue for sports coverage.  Every season (Fall, Winter and Spring) I reach out to the Varsity, JV and Modified coaches to ask them to either send reports on their teams themselves, or to find a parent or student who wants to write about their team.  I even had a glossy post card printed to be distributed in the school athletics office and the Town Rec Department explaining this and asking for team reports.  In the past few years the best responses have come in the Fall season for some reason.  I don't know why.

Sometimes a coach or a parent steps up, and the quality of the articles is often outstanding.  For example in last Fall's season we had such great football articles by an athlete's parent that I almost felt I was experiencing the ups and downs of each game as I did the editing.

I remember one of former Lansing High School Principal Michelle Brantner's favorite expressions was, 'It is what it is'.  Whenever I think about sports coverage in the Star I think of that, hoping it will make me feel better.  The reality is that with our limited resources we simply can't cover sports, but with unlimited space because we are a Web-based newspaper, not limited to a few lines on a piece of paper, we can offer up our sports page as a venue.

We have always considered the Star a community newspaper, and from the beginning we envisioned community participation is various ways.  Over nearly a decade many Lansing residents have contributed articles on various topics, including those really excellent sports reports.  This is a way the community can participate, and in doing so recognize our hard working young athletes.  I may be sports-impaired, but you don't have to get sports to see how hard these kids work and how really great they are, to know that we have many, many successful, hard working coaches and athletes in this town.  They deserve much credit, but so do the coaches and parents who have written about them over the years. 

If you want to be one of these heroes our submission guidelines and deadline information are at http://news.lansingstar.com/  But you don't have to read all that.  What we need is a minimum of three paragraphs in the form of a news article, third person (don't say 'we' -- instead say 'the team'.  And no 'gimmes -- don't ask the reader to do something or buy something).  Don't talk directly to the team or the readers (like 'Great job Bobcats!' -- I have to edit those out), just report on what the team did.  Pictures make it better -- only two or three at most (with captions) -- but are not required.  If all I get is scores I try to publish them, but usually they are not in a form I can process.  Anything that is at all usable, I always accept it.

By the way, why Groton sports this week?  Because the Groton school system has a publicity person who recently started sending articles every week or so, and this week most of what she sent was about sports.  But Lansing this week -- quiet as a mouse.

It is what it is.  We can't provide the coverage, but we always offer the newspaper space.

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