A day in Turin

Frank Fitzpatrick of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes about the life of a scribe at the Winter Olympics. For outsiders and up-and-comers who think sports writers ought to simply shut up and be grateful for having a wonderful job, it might be an eye-opener. Certainly didn't strike me as an appealing 17 days.

AP-LPGA dispute resolved

You figured it wouldn't go on for very long; the LPGA had too much to lose. Here's the statement:

LPGA/AP joint statement regarding revisions to photo media credential regulations and coverage of this week’s Fields Open in Hawaii Feb. 24, 2006

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and The Associated Press (AP) have resolved today the most significant issues arising from revised media credential regulations for coverage of the LPGA Fields Open tournament in Kapolei, Hawaii. Beginning today, AP will provide normal coverage of the event.

The LPGA has always intended for its credentials to provide media companies with the same rights to use news and information obtained at LPGA events that are available from other mainstream sports leagues and governing bodies. AP is satisfied with assurances from the LPGA that its regulations were never intended to and don’t limit access or editorial use of information and photos obtained at their events.

The LPGA confirmed today that the following language applies to its events and will be included in future editions of its credential regulations:

Notwithstanding any other provisions of the LPGA Photographer and Journalist Media Credential Regulations, media outlets may make unrestricted editorial use of any images or articles they create pursuant to their access to any LPGA event.

AP also confirmed on Thursday that it had no objections to limits on commercial use of its coverage in the LPGA media credentials, which is a standard provision of most major event credentialing policies.

Rosenbush leaving SI

Veteran newspaper and magazine editor Sandy Rosenbush is leaving her job at Sports Illustrated, her managing editor has announced. In Sandy's immediate future is devoting even more time to her great work with the Sports Journalism Institute. There also might be some additional teaching in her future. Those who have worked with her consider one of the best in the biz.

Stupidity, thou art spelled 'L-P-G-A'

This just in from the AP through an advisory e-mail:

"The Ladies Professional Golf Association has introduced new media regulations to which news organizations must agree before being admitted to cover LPGA events. AP considers some of the changes to be unacceptable. They impose unusually strict limits on permitted use of stories and photos produced by journalists, and give the LPGA broad rights to use those stories and photos for their own purposes at no charge.AP journalists have been denied admission to the Fields Open unless they sign these terms without modification.

"AP is in discussion with the LPGA, but until our differences are resolved we are unable to cover LPGA events."

Just what the LPGA, with a lot of young stars just arriving and a chance for a huge spike in interest, wants to do: Alienate the people who cover them.

Without specifics, pretty dumb on its face. But I don't know that it's going to look any less dumb WITH specifics.

AP on ESPN's Solomon

David Bauder, AP's TV writer, checks out ESPN's experiment with ombudsman George Solomon after six months on the job. Vimce Doria, ESPN's news director, says Solomon's observations haven't reversed any decisions or changed policies. I suppose at that juncture, I kind of wonder: What's the point then?

Got it wrong, but all right

Veteran, admired baseball write Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News says he was wrong about Jim Beattie being the next GM of the Reds ("I was misled by a couple of outside sources, who believed Beattie was the choice. They were wrong and I was submarined.") but says he's happy with choice Wayne Krivsky. I think Hal will probably survive this career misstep.

More award mania

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel becomes the latest paper to announce it will no longer vote for sports awards. This is a news story by Charles Bricker. In the print edition, a column was written by relatively new sports editor Brian White.

Janet Weaver on Lee

The Tampa Tribune editor writes about her decision last week to fire high school reporter Rozel Lee for tweaking her vote for an award, rating one player lower than she would have so another won.

The spin on Deadspin

The New York Times has a story today talking about the increasing relevance of deadspin.com. Will Leitch, who started the site, once covered the Cardinals for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "My hope is that every single person who visits the site comes away with something that no one else is telling them," he told the Times.

Kornheiser vs. Wise?

Harry Jaffe writes about the supposed feud between Washington Post sports columnists Tony Kornheiser, the beloved veteran, and relative newcomer Mike Wise. But it comes off as being more show biz than showdown.

And the NFL wanted to go back?

Joe Strupp of Editor and Publisher talks with sports writers to chronicle the horror of covering the 1982 Super Bowl, the last one played in Detroit. Among the problems: bad weather, late or broken down transportation and an ill-timed arrival and departure by Vice President Bush. They're hoping for better this time around.

Also rans

The Washington City Paper writes about the Washington Post's decision to drop charts and entries from Laurel Park and Pimlico. Writer Dave McKenna wonders how long they'll be able to get away with it; the Baltimore Sun did something similar a while back but wound up putting them back in after reader complaints. Certainly, this wouldn't have worked 25 years ago, but with the Internet, horse players now have plenty of places to find results. I'm guessing they're gone for good. Also, veteran turf writer Joe Kelly notes that the Sun used to have a rule against giving results over the phone and said most papers probably did. He's right; every place I ever worked, we told callers it was illegal to give them over the phone -- whether it was really true or not.

Hard to imagine

The Palm Beach Daily News writes about sports editor Mike Strauss, and with good reason -- he's been working in newspapers for 75 years. And at 93, he's not ready to retire yet.

Slate on the Redskins, others

Jack Shafer at Slate weighs in on the efforts of Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder (and others) to control the information disseminated about their teams by purchasing or running media outlets like radio stations and fan sites. His take on the modern sports writer is, in most cases, about 30 years out of date. I do, however (and always have) agree that entertaining readers is an extremely important part of sports writing and separates it from the work of reporters in other sections.

East Coast bias?

Dave Doyle of foxsports.com looks into whether this is fact or myth in this story posted today. The case is made by those on both sides of the debate. I tend to agree with the notion that it might have been the case somewhat when the only way to get information was in East Coast dailies that couldn't get West Coast scores into the paper, but that the situation has changed drastically with 24-hour sports news on TV and radio and, of course, the Internet.

Where I work, our writers get accused of it all the time -- we get a lot of "biased New Yorkers," too. Of course, that ignores the fact that those writers are based in Ohio, Kansas, Florida, California and yes, one in New York -- and that they come from completely disparate backgrounds.

Um, never mind

Good sports sections have good planning and preparation, and the Indianapolis Star was certainly ready for the Colts winning the Super Bowl. The downside, of course, is when the thing you planned for fails to materialize. Editor & Publisher writes about the Star's best-laid plans -- including special sections, victory editions, 20 staffers at the Big Game and a book -- that went down the tubes when the Colts lost in the divisional playoffs to the Steelers. "It is a big letdown," said Tim Wheatley, the paper's assistant managing editor/sports. "But we are on to the next thing. At least now we've got a great plan for next year."

Campaigns against writers

Part of me doesn't even want to dignify it by noting, but it is being discussed in the sports media, and I'm certainly not worried about the Globe listening, so what the heck. A site called bostonsportsmedia.com is trying to drum up a campaign to get veteran scribe Ron Borges fired. It will fail, of course. When those things start actually being taken seriously, this business has devolved into a place I don't particularly want to be.

Saying goodbye to Shav

T.J. Simers writes his Christmas Day column about retiring L.A. Times auto racing writer Shav Glick. A very nice piece about an old-school newspaper guy -- but also a bit sad on one front. When asked what he'd tell an aspring young journalist, he replied: "Get out of the newspaper business." And this from a guy, Simers notes, who wouldn't be retiring if his health would allow him to continue.

Oregonian vs. the Blazers

Portland Oregonian sports editor Mark Hester writes about a dispute between the paper and the Portland Trail Blazers concerning Jason Quick's story evaluating the team after 20 games. Hester says the headline might have been stronger than the story and that the team's objection on that front "has some merit."

The Blazers' press release on the matter (via HOOPSWORLD).

Quick talks about it on his blog (scroll down to Dec. 14).

Globe to charge for sports content?

The Boston Phoenix reports that the Globe is considering a new service called "Sportsplus," and if they go ahead with it, it will be of unfortunate interest to loyal followers of teams in New England. Among the things they'd charge a subscription fee to get to?

a) Daily columns by Bob Ryan, Dan Shaughnessy, Jackie MacMullan or other Boston Globe sports columnists

b) Sports feature stories, pre-game and post-game analysis

c) Sports articles from opposing teams' newspaper web sites

d) Daily Blogs such as Reiss's Pieces, Extra Bases and Net Minderse) Game-time Blog by Boston Globe reporter

There's a lot more if you click on the link. I can't say I don't expect more of this in the future.