Basketball, Dudley-style
As a basketball fan and high school sports supporter, I delight in Dudley High School's second straight state basketball championship. I just regret that they didn't get more attention for it. We published a story on the front page Saturday advancing the game in Chapel Hill, and Dudley's victory dominated the Sports front Sunday, including a good column by Ed Hardin.
Yet the ACC Tournament muscled out every other sporting event this weekend. Because of the thousands of visitors and the millions of dollars they dropped in town -- to say nothing of the intense games -- the Dudley-Concord game played second fiddle. That's a shame, too, because winning two state basketball championships in a row is like winning the ACC championship twice.
Ed called it right: Some of us in Greensboro don't understand what Dudley means to us. Some of us don't realize that it's our high school teams that give us identity around the state. Our high school team is Dudley and has been for a long time.
Congratulations, too, to the Bishop McGuinness girls, which won the 1-A championship, and Cummings boys, which won the 2-A championship.
Comments (6)
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The coverage of Dudley's basketball was Pulitzer type work compared to your coverage of 3A swimming state championships. At least you reported the current year's results!!! Give me a break John.
Posted on March 13, 2006 6:54 PM
I think you know, Tim, that we were directed to the state website for the swimming results, which had them posted under the wrong date. We corrected that and published the correct scores.
Besides, the team's second state basketball championship and the swimming championships are apples and oranges, I think.
Posted on March 13, 2006 8:38 PM
John,
Dudley's win was BIG and so was Bishop's and Cummings. Trying to pass off your staff's blunder as a mistake by the NCHSAA is pitiful. Perhaps your staff should look at the date on the computer generated results (that is if their idea of reporting is pulling stats from a web-site). At least John Newsome acknowledged the error.
Posted on March 13, 2006 9:53 PM
I wasn't attempting to excuse the error. I was trying to explain how it was made. No question we shouldn't have made it. And yes, we do pull results of competitions like swim meets from web sites when we are directed there by the organizers.
Posted on March 14, 2006 8:35 AM
John,
The "swim meet" you reference was the State Championship meet. 10+ local kids medaled at this meet. Over 50 local kids participated at the championship meet. Other major newspapers (Charlotte and Raleigh) had a reporter there.
Irealize there is a difference between the "major" sports and others. I just happen to be a fan of ALL interscholastic sports. I believe these kids all work hard to excell at whichever sport they choose.
Apples and oranges? Why should one be more important when it comes to reporting on local interscholastic sports. If Dudley's girls volleyball team won the state championship, do they desrve less press because they're the wrong type of fruit?
Enough said .... You and your paper will continue to make choices. Your readership is free to do the same.
Posted on March 14, 2006 1:19 PM
I don't disagree with your sentiment, Tim. And you're right. We make choices. We must make choices. Everyone makes choices. Go to a swim meet and judge the number of people there who don't have a child or relative in the meet. Go to a basketball game and do the same thing. My belief is that more people are at the basketball game. They've made choices.
Our coverage of one sport over another is not a reflection of the effort the kids make. It is a reflection of what people want to read about. If we had a larger staff and more newsprint, we could cover more sports and more events. But we would still factor in reader interest.
Posted on March 14, 2006 1:27 PM