In my new duty working for CSN Washington, I overheard a conversation between a couple of reporters. One of them commented that the story he submitted yesterday was the first one that he had written in several weeks that actually dealt with football.
This got me thinking. There is a tremendous amount of Redskins coverage that deals with off-field issues. Since there is a finite number of articles that can be produced in a given day, any coverage of such matters takes away from what can be published about what happens on the field.
For example, today almost everyone out there wrote up a story on the Greg Blache statement in response to John Riggins’ “dark heart” comments in reference to Dan Snyder. The time and resources spent on those story could have been spent, say, writing about how the thin linebacker corps and special teams will adjust in the event that H. B. Blades can’t play on Sunday.
The papers, TV and radio stations, and websites are giving their readers/views/surfers what they want. Or, more precisely, they are giving the people what they think they want.
But is it really what you want? Would you rather see less soap opera and more hard football news? Do you think they’re giving you all of the movie star gossip and not discussing the movie?
Or do you like all of the coverage of the off-field drama? Are they giving you what you want at the expense of more hard football articles?
Vote in the poll here and the post your comments below.
Rich, I like the way you cover the Redskins. However, overall I would prefer to see more football news and less “As The Redskins Turn”.
Any discussion of the team that leaves out the off-field management drama would completly overlook the attitude, frustration, and outright anger MANY MANY (most? I think so) fans feel about this team after 10 years. Fans have finally realized a new QB, or RB, or head coach, or other shiny objects will solve the fundamental issues with this organization. On top of that you have the increasingly poor and expensive game-day experience (the team notwithstanding) as well as other related topics like ticket brokers, censorship, etc that have an effect on the fans. These things HAVE to be covered because that’s what people are talking about every day, all day. That said, people do desperately love the team and want them to win and do well, so the players and on-field performance matter too. The balance so far seems about right. I just worry the press will overreact the other way and stop reporting on the frustrations of the fan base with the actions of management.
The simple fact of the matter is, if we were winning games there would be little to no attention given to the off-field issues. A winning record creates a need to find out what they are doing right. The media has always focused its attention on the teams that are in disarray. It just happens to be our turn, unfortunately. The Danny and Vinny aspect of the story is just the lime in the Corona, so to speak. Those two give the media an added element in discussing this debacle
Jeff, you are exactly the type of person who Rich speaks of. You could care less about the Redskins as a team. Seems to me like you were sucked into buying season tickets, when the team was doing well and now have seemed to have lost intrest and looking for a reason to complain. I need football information only right now, were in the middle of a season. Snyder is never going to sell the team or do anything stupid during a season. Give me information, not drama.
When I first started following the Redskins I was 9. Back then I didn’t even know who the owner was nor followed what transpired during the week. All I cared about was what happened on Sundays [and in Redskins history, even then I was an avid reader of football history] I rooted for the Redskins because they were the local team and I loved the team colors and name but primarily because my father rooted for them. I can’t imagine not being a Redskins fan. However having Dan Snyder own the team makes me wonder sometimes exactly what I’m rooting for. Jerry Seinfeld would say its the clothes. Maybe he’s right because it certainly isn’t Dan Snyder. I haven’t been fond of him since he bought the team and fired much of the staff after telling them their jobs were safe. He has done many other things since then that have caused people to rightfully question his character and integrity. He may not be able to always field a winning team on the field but there’s no excuse for not having an organization that the fans can love and respect even in the down years.
Rich, You have worded your question in a leading way. In my opinion subjects like whether H.B. Blades can play have been irrelevent since the loss to Carolina. That is when the season ended. What happens on the field now makes no difference unless we are able to create an extended, real-opponent pre-season. Then at least we can evaluate and devlop the new talent.
At this point the team, the media, and the fans need to keep our eye on what we do to make this team better for the future. That future, if it is to be successful, does not include Cerratto, Zorn, Campbell, and perhaps a significant amount of current players. That being the case, I could care less who fills in for H.B. Blades or who returns punts. Like the cliche says, we are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. I am actually dissappointed that we did not fire Zorn after Philadelphia. I really feel like we are losing valueble time in rebuilding this team. Any discussion of on field issues distracts everybody from acknowledging the truth. This team needs radical change as soon as possible.
@Glenn, I see what you’re saying about the poll question. Anything that I came up with that was more neutral took up way more characters than the poll setup allowed. I trusted that the readers here would be able to figure it out.
We shouldn’t be concerned about any news coverage negative or (if possible) positive. The only thing we need to be concerned about is football operations and that includes everything from the front office to the on-field performance of our team. The only hope I have is that Cerrato is gone after this season. We need to realize that whether we like Snyder or not, he’s a Redskins fan and he’s not going anywhere. I’ve started to live with it. I hope we all can.
Anybody but Cerrato in 2010.
I don’t read the Post stuff nearly as much as I used to but I agree that’s there’s way too much stuff in there that deals with off-field stuff and not enough about what’s actually happening with the team on the field. Aside from Wilbon the columnists don’t offer me much anymore. I get most of my news from Jason Reid’s blog which I find easier to digest than full blown articles and refreshing full of his honest opinions. I have to admit I miss Paul Woody’s presence amongst the Redskin media. He always had a fair, reasonable and informed take on the Redskins and his voice is definitely missed. I also have to give you props here, Rich, since I also believe the way many other readers of your blog do in that you do an excellent job of covering our team.