Now im not as good at this as Sandman (Brian Sandalow) and Todd Mavreles but I figure blogging is something I should do more often, and right now I have the time.
(I’lll get to my girls basketball coverage shortly).
I’m on this lengthy lay over in Tucson, Ariz., something about a ticket mix up. Long story and don’t really want to get into it.
I am on my way to Los Angeles to celebrate New Year’s with firends and family. I’m also going to get to go to the Rose Bowl. I shelled out $200 for a ticket. Not such a hefty price to watch a BCS Bowl game. I doubt I am going to have good seats but I haven’t seen the Trojans live in sometime.
So I’m sitting here at the Tucson Airport and against my better judgement I decide to surf rgvsports.com. I was looking at a few girls basketball stories and scrolled down to see a few comments.
I am not sure where I went wrong but I seem to be the most hated person by McAllen High fans or by girls basketball fans in general. I am not sure who dislikes me at this point.
Because I don’t cover every single McHi game, doesn’t mean I don’t respect the Lady Bulldogs.
I have them No. 1 for a reason. McHi will be getting a lot of coverage in the coming weeks, and the Lady Bulldogs have been getting more coverage recently. As I told a McHi coach, the Lady Bulldogs will be the most covered team in the Valley by the time the season ends.
It’s a long season. I will be more than happy to sit down with anyone after the season and count how many stories were written about McAllen High compared to other teams.
I am the girls beat writer not the McAllen High beat writer. One of the things I like to do is spread it out and try to cover everyone. This is one of the things I have done in the past in my other beats and something I am glad that I do.
Sharyland got plenty of coverage at the end of the volleyball season. The McHi girls soccer team got plenty of coverage at the end of their season last year and was the only girls team in the Valley to have every one of its playoff games covered.
Something tells me the same will be true for the McHi girls BBall team.
I try to be as balanced as I can. There has been a couple of questionable games we have covered but in all honestly most nights there aren’t very many attractive games to cover. There are some good teams and there are some not so good teams.
I am a journalist not a publicist. My job is supposed to be about balance not to cover every blow out McHi plays in.
I am not sure how it was done in the past when Edinburg High was really good two years ago. If Edinburg High was given an overwhelmingly amount of coverage than anyone else two seasons ago, that is something I don’t agree with.
But I was not the girls BBall reporter then and don’t know the circumstances surrounding the coverage that year.
There are more than 40 teams in the Valley. I would not being doing my job if I just covered only McAllen High.
As far as tournament coverage, The Monitor has scaled back its coverage on tourney’s in all sports not just girls basketball. It is our policy to cover only championship games.
As sports reporters for The Monitor we have other duties than just going out and covering games.
There are some nights I might not be able to go out and cover a game and someone will have to go out for me because my help is needed somewhere else. Quite frankly, I am surprised that I have been able to get to as many games as I have.
I will be more than happy to have someone follow me around and see what I do. I also cover other sports than girls basketball. I cover volleyball and the playoffs for that sport takes place while the basketball seaon is beginning. In my world, I have to have priorities in order to maintain sanity.
I guess I am not that sane if I’m blogging about girls basketball from an airport at 4 in the morning.
I am more than happy to discuss my coverage of girls basketball with anyone. My work number is (956) 683-4448 and my e-mail is prasmussen@themonitor.com.
Now aren’t you glad you have me as the girls beat reporter?
Happy New Year!!!!!
