Nice Work
Taylor Harwin's column today in the Columbia Spectator is an excellent survey of the Ivy head football coaches and their personalities.
Let me give more credit where credit is due. Harwin and the Spectator writers did a lot of the tough work I was unable to do this season as they covered the team. After each game, as I rushed out to save my job and my wife from having to juggle the home situation on her own, Harwin and his compadres braved the postgame press conferences and interviews. So in other words, his insights on the demeanors of the Ivy coaches are going to be better than mine.
And, let's be clear: the commenters on this blog and I have bashed the Spec on a number of occasions. It didn't come from malice; I was a Spec columnist myself my senior year. So I think it's important to say that I think they did a much better job this year, even as we still wish they had more football content.
One major issue for the Spec and WKCR sports is the fact that fewer and fewer current Columbia students that I talk to have any interest in going into journalism after graduation. I think the $45k annual college costs at places like Columbia and the resulting student loan debts have a lot to do with that. Starting salaries for employees at newspapers and TV/Radio stations are laughable. So, I don't blame these kids one bit. We should keep that in mind when we demand more from them. To them, this is their hobby, not a profession.
posted by Jake @ 9:13:00 PM
17 comments
17 Comments:
I think sometimes people don't want more, but less.
less cynicism, less unsubstantiated opinion masquerading as fact, less anger, less divisiveness....
That was a nice, well-done story in Spectator. Credit should be given where it's obviously due.
rs
It also occurs to me, however, that even mere "hobbyists" take pride in their work, Jake. So yes, no matter how bad starting salaries in the profession of journalism may be, we should demand, at the very least, clarity of expression, good grammar and even accuracy from even student journalists.
One problem with much of Spectator's sports coverage in general has long been the seeminbg hostility of writers to athletics in general (though there have also been many exceptions). This attitudinal issue has often led to sloppy, showoffy "reporting" and simply infuriating writing. Today's quite good, seemingly fair-minded story notwithstanding.
rs
"Less cynicism, less unsubstantiated opinion masquerading as fact, less anger, less divisveness", I agree. Articles like that written in the November 27th edition provide a perfect example of this sloppy journalism.
The article of which I am referring can be found in the Sports section and was a "round-up" of the first few weeks of men's Ivy League basketball. The writer began with praise for Cornell, who had two recent "impressive wins, including one by 15 over Army, a team that beat Columbia 81-55." The writer never bothered to check that the Columbia men's team has not and will not play Army this year. The 81-55 loss was suffered by the women's team. Yet, this reference in the lead paragraph was obviously wrong and, in my judgement, contained a barb aimed at our men's team. This is what annoys most people about the Spectator and, for those who enjoy Columbia athletics as fans, provokes anger. More should be expected of this newspaper when making claims that are incorrect and then using them inappropriately. Less information, less cynicism... the editors need to take note.
Trust me, fans of all the other Ivy schools except Penn would be thrilled to have the coverage Columbia gets. The Penn and Columbia papers are the best in the Ivy League. Dartmouth and Brown are laughably bad.
Trust me, fans of all the other Ivy schools except Penn would be thrilled to have the coverage Columbia gets from the Spec. The Penn and Columbia papers are the best in the Ivy League. Dartmouth and Brown are laughably bad.
with the advent of the athletics department websites - the spectator 'journalist' serves little or no purpose without trying to be antagonistic or 'edgy'.
As as Spec sportswriter in the '50s, I take particular interest in what's being published these days.One obvious problem is fact checking, as others have pointed out. There have been too many avoidable mistakes (on which comments have been made per story on line). I suspect the editor(s) are just not being careful and/or involved enough.
But, I still think the coverage is good, providing adequate descriptions, often analyses of games. I do wish there were more profiles of coaches and players.
The '50's and early '60's were the glory days of Spec Sports. The writers were devoted Columbia sports fans who knew their football, basketball and wrestling. In fact, I think Spec gave so much publicity to the wrestling team that the old Gym was filled to capacity when Columbia upset Cornell to win the Ivy League Championship in 1961.
The Cornell wrestling crowd was not only big but delightfully loud. A singular event coming after the hoopla of the Forte-Dwyer-Thomas-Lehner-Kutlow era.
Not sure I get the praise for that article unless all previous ones are really that bad. This is a fluff, periphery snapshot look at the Ivy coaches. For anyone remotely close to the Ivy Football scene, this doesn't really provide any color to what these coaches are really like. I would recommend that someone from the Spectator attend the Ivy Football dinner held annually now at the Waldorf in January where you can attend every Ivy suite party and get a much better feel for what these coaches are about. Columbia usually has anywhere from 5-10 tables.
The glory days of Columbia sports journalism were probably during the periodd (late 50's, I think, through at least the 60's) when James Wechsler was the editor of the then very liberal New York Post. He was a Columbia alum, too, with a VERY soft spot for Lions football, and every autumn he'd write a few columns about his passion. They were touching, well-intentioned and often funny. They were also, as best I recall, accurate, meaning Wechsler would actually call people up and chat with them. I have no idea, however, if Wechsler's columns were ever collected in book form.
For a very different take on Columbia football, readers of this web site should look up Irvin S. Faust's famous story "Roar, Lion, Roar," which was also the title of his first short story collection. It's about a Puerto Rican janitor at Columbia, tending the furnaces in the depths of Low, and his dangerously obsessive love for the Archie Roberts-Hassan-Campbell era Lions. Amazing story, I don't know why Columbia hasn't reprinted it in the game day program at least once or at least there interviewed the author (who was a Teachers College alum and, alas, is now dead).
Someone also mentioned the Ivy Football Dinner, and from his (a gender guess!) description, it does now sound very interesting to attend. It's also quite expensive, as I recall from one season's invite, something like $250 a ticket. That's a lot of money to pay for an opportunity to see Al Bagnoli, say, at his alternating best and worst.
rs
The article confirms that Jack is a classless creep and that Bags is a jerk. Nice to see Penn have an off year and to see Jack humiliated by Harvard. The league would be better off without those two guys.
Yes..I'm a he RS. It is an exceptional event. Usually one person(past football player) from each school is honored for prominence in their field. Past inductees have been actors, businessmen,politicians etc. Last year Brian Dennehy absolutely stole the show with his speech about his days as a Columbia football player--was incredibly funny and managed to take very discrete shots at most of our 7 nemesis'. I wish the school had a copy of it to distribute as every Ivy fan would be highly entertained. Clifton Dawson was also given an award for breaking Ed Marinaro's rushing record. Dawson is an awfully nice kid and very humble. Marinaro not so much. His advice to him upon getting to pro camp as a rookie was to burn all his "property of Harvard Football" gear as they would annilihate him over it--had to be there but was funny. Anyway it is a pricey event but the School does buy a bunch of tables and hosts a nice suite party before the event-as all the others do as well. I would think they could scrounge one ticket up for an aspiring journalism student. I would encourage anyone who is a fan and can afford it to go as it really is a who's who of past and present Ivy greats in the room...
As I've posted b4, the book is out on what sort of guy Bags is in the inner college football circle. Winningest coach in Penn history and he can't snif a second i'view at any D1 school-Army job a few years back was as close as he got and he didn't make it as a finalist after winning the Ivy title a few years in a row at that point. Knowles is a bit of a putz too...We should count ourselves lucky with the quailty of individual we have in Coach Wilson.-he'll get it done soon.
Thanks you for reminding me that Knowles is also a putz. Bags and Jack, however, are in a class onto themselves.
RS, if memory serves, the protagonist of "Roar, Lion, Roar" becomes so obsessed with Columbia football that he commits suicide after the Lions lose to Princeton. Let's all resolve to stop short of that. By just a centimeter.
LionFan
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