Quick must-read from examiner.com. Link comes via The Big Lead.
Matt Steinmetz presents the Golden State Warriors as a case-study for the evolution of the media covering NBA teams. The changes that have occured over the past decade or so are startling. The gist is this: 15 years ago, 7 newspapers covered the Warriors regularly, today just 2 do -- and they don't even bother showing up for some away games..
Just two Warriors beat writers will be covering the team, and they’ll be withdrawn at the first sign of trouble. There may be times that because of travel logistics, one or both of those papers won't have a writer at some practices altogether.
As for the Blazers, despite Mr. Steinmetz's portrayals of the changes that are occurring, it appears the Warriors are not exactly representative of the entire NBA. Even though times are pretty tough at The Oregonian, Jason Quick assured me via email that the Warriors are an isolated case and that he "could never foresee a circumstance when The Oregonian would pull off road coverage of the Blazers."
It's very nice to know that The O is more deeply committed to Blazers fans than the San Francisco Chronicle and Contra Costa Times are to Warriors fans. Five years ago, could you have imagined being relieved to find out that a market's largest newspaper was committed to financially backing its year-round coverage of the market's professional sports team? Strange times, indeed.
Then again, last month could you have imagined Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG imploding?
Now that we've welcomed ex-Sonics fans to the bandwagon I suggest that malnourished Warriors diehards consider hopping on our bandwagon too. We can promise you this: you'll get to watch a young, exciting team and you'll enjoy 82 games a year of quality newspaper coverage. Tough offer to turn down.
As a sidenote, don't overlook this portion of the linked piece...
Consider that no fewer than three recently laid-off Bay Area sportswriters who are starting their own websites/blogs inquired about acquiring Warriors’ season credentials.
In the wake of anti-blogger sentiment among mainstream media members, the irony here is pretty thick. Think they'll be the last 3 journalists to find themselves in this position? Not a chance.
I say credential those 3, but with one caveat -- any fan blog with greater traffic than those personal websites gets a full look as well. Golden State of Mind: start prepping your application!
-- Ben (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com)