heh heh

[dragonlady7]

On news coverage of roller derby leagues:

Just for kicks, I decided to have a little fun with Google and see how many examples I could find of my favorite derby lede. I was not surprised that it was very easy.

He then includes about two dozen examples that use the phrase, "By day" and possibly "mild-mannered".

Eh well. We're a women's sport, and more a cultural phenomenon than, really, a sport, so I suppose we can't expect everyone to have an original reaction to that.

The New York Times did it too. At least they didn't say "by night". (No, they said "after dark".)

Here's hoping the QCRG get some media coverage that mentions that it's a sport, at all. The only media we've gotten so far made us out to be some sort of adventuring club whose entire point was to help the two reporters have a fun time. They didn't even mention that we bout publicly. Or that we were actually serious. But they did have cute face paint.

Sigh.

Comments

[kkatowll.livejournal.com]

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: in all the newspapers I know of, ameteur adult leagues do NOT get regular coverage -- and if they get any coverage at all, it's not as an organized sport. There are so many high school, college, and national leagues to cover -- and so many adult leagues of varying organizational strengths -- that newspapers can't do both can't be done. And you've got to remember that newspapers try to cover the games that they think people most want to know the results of -- the high school game, the Patriots, whatever. I don't think many adult leagues can claim much interest beyond their own families. If they were to build a huge fan base, that would be a GREAT way to get regular coverage.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

> a huge fan base

http://media.mutemuse.com/minnesota_rink.jpg

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com/2007/10/27/reuters-covers-dcrg-championship-match/

[soulofbuffalo.livejournal.com]

I thought the photo of Mia Mauler and the new recruits (was that in the Niagara County edition of the News maybe?) definitely said "athletes who are working hard." And I know the bouts have been mentioned in some of the press coverage.

My old newsroom friend Anne and I used to have this joke about summer festival coverage in our paper. As Ithaca is somewhat known for its grey, drizzly, overcast weather, we had ledes that read "rain failed to dampen the spirits ..." about 10x a year it seemed.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Oh yes-- I forgot about the News, because I wasn't there for that one and never really saw the story. I did see the photos tho. I'm glad they talked about the athletic part. Though the story was more or less about boot camp in particular, rather than the sport, so it kind of had a different angle than usual.

Rain failed to dampen the spirits. Yes, I think i've heard that one a few times too, being in Rochester. Well, you know cliches-- hard to resist.

[soulofbuffalo.livejournal.com]

aaaannd just as I was defending the press, some idiots from Channel 2 were knocking on the door of my office, which is wide fucking open to the public. The only other people who have knocked in the year plus I have worked here were the ad reps from Buffalo Rising.