News-Record.com

There's been some chatter over at Ed Cone's place that our display of the Greensboro Grasshoppers story on the front page today shows our boosterism for, I guess, the team. Or perhaps it's the name or the stadium. I dropped in a comment on Ed's site, but I'd better elaborate here.

We played the story the way we did because it was the one story of the day that people would talk about. The volcano? Still hasn't erupted. The News & Observer's main display was this story: "NCSU deals for rural land." The Winston-Salem Journal has a feature on the Land of Oz. The New York Times: a photograph of U.S. and Iraqi forces retaking Samarra.

We want people to talk about the stuff they see in the paper. We don't want the paper to be boring, any more than you do. This wasn't a story that was on TV; it was new. Plus, giving a name like Grasshoppers to a baseball team? We knew that would be debated around the water cooler, which is another reason we played up the story.

Apparently our headline is too big for some, although it's about the normal size headline on any given day. The red overline is cited, but the Sunday front page has a red headline, too, much bigger, in fact. The photo is a bit static, but it's tough to illustrate the team's new logo without showing it in use.

I promise that we don't have a stake in the name or the team or the stadium or the T-shirts sales. But we know the interest and controversy all those things create. And we do like the discussion about the newspaper and how we're doing, even if you don't agree with us!