“Some of our people brought in little blog sites [that said] ‘We saw this’ and ‘We saw that’ and ‘We saw this,’ ” Tressel said. “I guess you’re just trying to lower the percentage of that going on. Our coaches work hard on what we’re trying to prepare and would rather not have their thoughts and ideas and game plans out there kicked around until they get to showcase them.”A few thoughts on this, coach;
1) I've just scanned through some of the best-known blogs that follow Ohio State. Eleven Warriors had nothing on Saturday, nor did MotSaG, Our Honor Defend, Around The Oval, Buckeye Commentary, Dotting The I, or yours truly, the Buckeye Battle Cry.
But I did find one site online that told a LOT about the practice....it was a local print newspaper, the Canton Repository. Writer Todd Porter wrote plenty about the practice, including the results of the scrimmage, who stood out, and some details about Pryor.
I've been able to locate plenty about this year's Ohio State team, and the info is readily available all over the internets. But the only info I got on the closed scrimmage from Saturday came from a guy who had the credentials. Perhaps all of his words were approved by you, but the point is, that was the only place that I located any info about the scrimmage.
2) We at the Buckeye blogs are your friends, coach. We are also your most avid supporters and defenders. When things go wrong, we will go into great detail to dissect what we saw and what we would like to see in ways of improvement. When things go right, we are the first ones to pour on the praise and speculate on what it means for the future.
When the vultures start showing up (and believe me, they show up anonymously on our sites constantly), we are the ones who defend you night and day.
Sportswriters have editors and advertisers and media consultants and filters and everything that forces them to stop and re-think every word they write. We bloggers have none of those barricades. We get to publish our thoughts, and our readers are the only ones who give us guidance and further insight.
Lest you think that we bloggers can turn into a wild pack of insane asses, think again. There are so many of us out here, that the cream does indeed rise to the top, while the blogs which feature insane ramblings get shunned right into minuscule page view numbers.
Reach out to us, coach. Invite us into the press conferences and the practices. We can and will follow the rules of proper journalism, and we can do it quicker and more frequently than the 20th-century form of journalists. If you have something you want pushed, tell us about it. We don't have a three-article-per-week limit on what we can publish. We can hit the site as much as needed and write as much as we can about the team we love so very much.
Talk to the AD. Find three press passes for Ohio State bloggers and give us a chance at the Ohio State/Ohio game this year. We'll make sure that three respected bloggers show up and do their job as good as or better than any local newspaper. We'll prove to you that we can and will do the job admirably.
There are thousands of college football blogs out here now. You can help us evolve into a more accepted form of journalism by providing better access. Give us that chance, and I assure you we won't let you down.
1 comment:
I second your plea for more program access for bloggers. This isn't a foreign concept to the athletic department, since The Ozone obviously gets access. It's undeniably in the university's interest to foster a community of informed, professional, well-written blogs (none of which apply to The Ozone, I'll add). Open it up a little, I say.
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