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dragonlady7THIS is how you cover roller derby. Oh my GOD. The Chicago Tribune covers Windy City's struggle to advance to the 2007 WFTDA national tournament.
Isn't that an amazing story?
I was so totally pulling for Windy City.
Even though Madison is Sweets' old team and Crackerjack is her personal friend and mentor, so at the actual time the bout took place, I was rooting for the Dairyland Dolls all the way.
That's the way to do it. They got the weird dynamic, how it's sarcastic spectacle and serious sport, how it's some serious jocks and some serious misfits and some tattooed freaks and some otherwise totally normal-boring people, and all serious women, and all heart, and all-volunteer. And they got the energy behind it, the cultural phenomenon.
And they actually described what the gameplay is like. I've never read a mainstream news source doing anything like that.
It is not a sideshow. Nor is it a ladies' softball league having Tuesday night games at the Y. If you dismiss it as either, you miss the point.
And they did not use the phrase "by day". It is a goddamn miracle.
I won't spoil you and tell you how it ended, or where Windy City ended up in the regional or national standings this past season. It's a better story if you don't know.
Here's another decent derby news story, even though it begins with "By day..." just like every single other fucking derby story.
Washington Post: Scare Force One.
Isn't that an amazing story?
I was so totally pulling for Windy City.
Even though Madison is Sweets' old team and Crackerjack is her personal friend and mentor, so at the actual time the bout took place, I was rooting for the Dairyland Dolls all the way.
That's the way to do it. They got the weird dynamic, how it's sarcastic spectacle and serious sport, how it's some serious jocks and some serious misfits and some tattooed freaks and some otherwise totally normal-boring people, and all serious women, and all heart, and all-volunteer. And they got the energy behind it, the cultural phenomenon.
And they actually described what the gameplay is like. I've never read a mainstream news source doing anything like that.
It is not a sideshow. Nor is it a ladies' softball league having Tuesday night games at the Y. If you dismiss it as either, you miss the point.
And they did not use the phrase "by day". It is a goddamn miracle.
I won't spoil you and tell you how it ended, or where Windy City ended up in the regional or national standings this past season. It's a better story if you don't know.
Here's another decent derby news story, even though it begins with "By day..." just like every single other fucking derby story.
Washington Post: Scare Force One.
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Date: 2007-12-13 10:08 pm (UTC)Still, both were features, not regular sports reports. The Tribune's reminded me of the story we wrote when the local Little League got into the wold championship, or whatever the heck it's called. We wrote several stories about that effort. But are we now covering every game? Did we even cover more than the two or three important games? Nope. I just think the features are the best you can hope for.
Another idea, though -- most papers print a schedule of events, and I bet you can get the News to include your bouts on that. If they don't have a sports calender yet, maybe you can suggest one.