Box Score Beat

The Expanding Boundaries of Sports Reporting

Posted on 08. Jan, 2009 by Collin Orcutt in Shifting Journalism, Sports Journalism

Stick with me as I point out the obvious here, but it bears repeating and further analysis: the format of sports journalism, like all journalism, is changing.

Traditional article form is giving way to the form of blog posts. Years of stripe-earning beat writing is no longer the only way to gain a readership. And the thoughtful aggregation of content can be as just useful and important as the thoughtful creation of it.

The art of reporting is no exception.

In the past, sports reporting was (to the eyes of a 25-year-old, keep in mind) fairly straight-forward. To cover a game, you went to the venue, observed the event, talked to the coaches and players and wrote your story. If you wanted a story that gauged fan reaction, you went to local bar/restaurant/stadium/drive-in/wherever and filled your notepad with quotes from the sport-loving public.

No more.

Why? Due to the internet, the sports public — and its conversation — has simultaneously spread out and become more connected. Fans across the world can now argue the merits of LeBron versus Kobe. This diffusion of fandom demands an expanded form of reporting.

That doesn’t mean traditional sideline and press conference reporting is obsolete, not by a long shot. It’s just no longer the only option.

Take, for example, a favorite blogger of mine Henry Abbott. He created TrueHoop, a site where he aggregates, ponders, and creates. He does not go to a lot of games, but he watches a lot of games, and he reads a lot more writing about those games. The best of it he shares with his readers in hopes to create a discussion and an informed sports public.

Scouring his daily links post today, I found something representative of this new style of reporting. Abbott had linked to and commented on a poem written by Brent Barry. The poem, found on Sports Illustrated’s “Point After” blog, is about the void in Sonicless Seattle. What Abbott focused on in his synopsis, though, wasn’t just the poem, but instead a heartfelt comment left in response to it.

Certainly this isn’t the first time someone has noticed the comments of post. And surely it’s not the first time someone has commented on a comment. But Abbott gave more space to quoting the comment than he gave to what the comment was responding to. In a conceptual sense, Abbott placed the emphasis on reporting the conversation the original issue itself–just the type of creative new reporting the ever-changing field calls for.

Tags: Henry Abbott, New Journalism, Reporting