"I don't care if I never get back"*
Our front page story last week about Thirsty Thursday -- cheap beer night at the Grasshoppers games -- chapped some of our readers. Too much beer, too much crass behavior, too much sexy talk. Watch the baseball game, for goodness sakes!
One letterwriter wrote: It seems with all the news happening in our world, there could have been a much more newsworthy article than a full front page devoted to twentysomethings getting drunk. Our children in grade school go through the DARE program to learn to stay off drugs and alcohol. The News & Record is in every school library and is used for current events in school. This article was the first thing they saw that day for news. How does that back up what they are learning? Instead it glorifies alcohol and makes it look like the cool thing to do.
And another:
We have attended games on Thirsty Thursdays and have enjoyed the party atmosphere there. However, a main thread of the article seemed to be to make light of overconsumption. While it is certainly appropriate for young and old alike to go to these games merely to socialize and pay no heed to the game, the article seemed to indicate that it is also appropriate and encouraged to overindulge. Not so. We believe the paper must be particularly careful of the impression it gives to readers.
A second issue is its placement on the front page. The front page ought to be reserved for international and national news, and local news of great import. Examples of the later are the police department problems and Project Homstead scandal. The Thirsty Thursday article is not in this category, and, frankly, its placement on the front page caused us to be embarrassed for the paper.
I've been in the business long enough to know that "bad" behavior portrayed on the front page -- unless it is accompanied by the clause "under arrest" -- evokes complaints about the paper's judgment, both in featuring that behavior and in featuring a story about that behavior on the front page.
We didn't set out to make light of or celebrate overconsumption of beer. Still, our observation is that it does occur there on Thursdays. Given the name of the Thursday promotion, someone may well assume that the point of the night is to indulge heartily. (By the way, most of the people quoted in the story are in their 30s, and, presumably, old enough to make their own choices.)
Why was the story prominently displayed on the front page? (It didn't really take up the full front page.) People go to the ballpark to watch baseball but it's more than that. They go to socialize. First Horizon has become a destination to see and be seen. We wanted to capture the colorful atmosphere that attracts thousands of people downtown night after night.
We also like a front page that has a mix of serious news and lighter news. If a reader doesn't care about the polygraph tests or the Toyota plant, for instance, he or she might read about the social scene at the ballpark. Or not.
As baseball fans know, baseball and beer are paired throughout history. Well, baseball history.
The article did provide value to at least one reader, who wrote: Thank you for the article regarding the reduced prices for beer on Thursday nights at the Grasshopper's games. Should my wife and I decide to attend a baseball game, we will make sure not to go on a Thursday.
* A lyric from "Take me out to the ball game," and not necessarily what a spectator might say at the end of a Thirsty Thursday. :)
Comments (8)
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"Baseball and Ballentine" the old jingle went...
Hey, c'mon, lighten up, ya'll. Young folks, who we are trying desperately to recruit and retain in Greensboro, are having some FUN. No one's promoting drinking to excess, not even the liberal N&R. Jeez, Louise, get a grip and let the kids enjoy themselves. Sheesh. (I'm done.)
Posted on May 10, 2006 6:21 PM
I sit in the middle of all that "drinking"; but then I sit in the Grandstand every game. What was funny was that the next Thursday night was the worst attended Thursday night (of the three held so far).
While on the surface it appears as if it's a 20ish crowd, there are 50ish people up there as well. Some of the more interesting people I have met have been parents with the adult children having a good time.
As for the beer consumed, it's still amateur night in Greensboro compared to the 80's era Dadio's Wednesday Night Ladies Night (a record 95 full kegs emptied). But then, that was a different time.
Don (not the Hoppers's President :) )
Posted on May 10, 2006 8:19 PM
I played baseball all the way through high school and have boxes full of cards from the 50s and 60s. But I go to Hoppers games as a social occasion and to drink a couple of friendly beers.
Honestly, I thought the story we published on the front page on Tuesday about the guy who gave one of his kidneys to his girlfriend -- you know the one with the eyebrow piercing and who we said was living with the woman out of wedlock? -- would evoke more letters for encouraging bad behavior than this one.
Posted on May 10, 2006 8:27 PM
John, I'm sure you've noticed that it doesn't take much to "chap" many of your readers, at least one of which applies to the "Thirsty Thursday" story.
A partial list:
1. Humor
2. Any story that depicts any person having any sort of pleasant experience.
3. Any idea sprung from any event occurring or standard evolving after 1970.
4. Any story that hints at any sort of change of any kind whatsoever.
5. Any action taken or comment made by the newspaper or any local public official that in any way reveals intelligence or a propensity for creative thought.
Enjoyed the "Thirsty Thursday" story very much; thanks!
Posted on May 11, 2006 6:18 AM
I don't remember any references to over-consumption in the story, and I can't recall any incidents at the ball park involving people who over-imbibed.
Seems to me that there are always going to be some kill-joys who just can't stand to see other people having a good time.
Cheers.
Posted on May 11, 2006 9:55 AM
I'd think that the writer would have been more upset by the articles this week detailing how to abuse cold medicine and morning glory seeds.
Now, if there was a Morning Glory Monday out at the ball park, that'd be something to worry about.
Posted on May 11, 2006 9:58 AM
John, are journalists still a hard-drinking crowd? As I often tell my colleagues, I became an academic on the basis of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," and have been sorely disappointed by all the bottled water swilling that goes on.
Posted on May 12, 2006 1:40 AM
Only some of us, Scott.
Posted on May 12, 2006 5:12 AM