My thoughts about the move of the Detroit Shock to Tulsa are on ESPN.com now, and I’ll look at that more on that site and here later as well.
But here’s a question for readers/followers of women’s basketball in terms of media coverage. Essentially, it’s this: What are the things you most look for and find to be informative or insightful? I realize this is going to be a mixed bag, because people have very different views on these things. But I’d like to hear various opinions.
Do you like the live chats we do on ESPN.com? Do you prefer more quick-hit blog entries on that site? What did think of Cover it Live, the interactive chat thing we did during the WNBA All-Star Game and WNBA Finals?
I’ll be blogging for the Big 12 conference at its league media day in Kansas City on Wednesday. You can go on-line and read all the coaches’ comments in the press conferences because they will be transcribed. So what do you look for in blogging from an event like that?
Just some background: I started writing a regular women’s basketball notebook in 1994 for the paper I was working at in Virginia. At that point, I’d covered the sport with game stories and features for a decade. The weekly notebook was a different outlet, but back then our newspaper did not have much Web presence. I never got a sense if anybody at all was reading the notebook.
Nonetheless, I did it for a couple of years, then changed jobs and moved to the Kansas City Star in 1996. At that time, someone from ESPN told me that its Web site wanted to start a women’s basketball weekly presence, and that’s how I got started there. So this will be my 14th college season writing for ESPN.com.
It’s strange how long ago 1996 seems in terms of things with the news-gathering industry. We didn’t know for sure then how the Internet would affect our business, but for an excellent look at that from a newspaper perspective, I refer you to this article. At any rate, back in ’96 I usually wrote my weekly piece more in notebook style, trying to touch on several different conferences and matchups each time.
As both the site and the women’s basketball audience grew, I stopped doing notebooks and focused more on columns and features. Writing “short” is not my strength, so the quick-hit blogs are actually the hardest for me. During the WNBA Finals, though, I was able to keep them to 10-12 inches ling (which to me is really small) and make whatever point I had quickly.
This blog, which I started a year ago this month, has been more an opportunity for me to write essays, mostly on women’s basketball but also other women’s sports topics. And it also presents more of a direct way to communicate with readers because it doesn’t go through an outside editing process. For better or worse, it’s just me.
I do scan message boards about women’s hoops topics and definitely take to heart readers’ suggestions or complaints I see on them. But I never have posted anything on any message board. The reason is that I always felt those were forums for readers and fans of the game. Some in the media feel differently and regularly post on those boards. And there are people who are fans and have their own blogs or contribute to web sites, and they post on boards, too.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with any of those options. I just think if I have something to say, I can say it here or on ESPN.com. But I really do like to hear what readers think about what we do. Because in the changing media world, it’s more important than ever to pinpoint and serve your interests.
What? I had to re-read your latest entry to make sure that I get the gist of what you were trying to say. If you truly wanted to hear from readers, you WOULD make a *response* to them via twitter, emails and/or here on your blogsite.
But you do not bother to answer my tweets. You never left your official email address for someone to get in touch with you via email. And you never bothered to answer YOUR readers’ questions on YOUR blogsite.
That is the problem. You like to dish things but you won’t hear nor listen.
I repeatedly asked/tweeted/addressed to you before to explore the possibility of writing an article about USA Deaf Women’s Basketball team which was dominating the international play for many decades until last summer in Taipei where Deaflympics 2009 was being held. For the first time in USA Deaf Women’s Basketball team, they lost to Sweden, 71-62.
It was USA Deaf Women’s Basketball team’s *first* loss in any international play!
All of this above happened much later but PRIOR to the Summer Deaflympics in Taipei, I tried my best to get ahold of you. You deliberately ignored my tweets/comments.
And now you made this entry in an attempt to “communicate” with the readers?
To me, it was too late. And you lost my respect for you when you failed to communicate with me in the first place.
R-
Dear Ridor, please take that ax of yours and grind it someplace else.
Mechelle, I most enjoy reading feature-type stories about players, coaches and teams that aren’t so much about the x’s and o’s of the game, but how how the game has changed them, or how they have changed the game. Historical pieces are always great, and in that same vein, posts about players who have retired (e.g. Jackie Stiles). Anytime it has to do with Big 12 or Missouri Valley, all the better.
I also like posts about other great female athletes, irrespective of their sport.
Hope this helps.
You are doing a great job in this new world of journalists-as-independent-contractors. I have to believe it has something to do with your tenacity, veracity, integrity, historical perspective and great love of women’s hoops. Take care.
Well said stat_girl. I would reiterate everything you wrote.
My media preference is 100% the internet. I visit as many websites & blogs as possible, filter out my favorites, occasionally try to find new ones (like your blog I most recently discovered) The internet is up-to-minute information with a variety of media, like video highlights, live game airing online, live chat, blogs, or articles. I stay away from forums, there always seems to be more bad than good on those things. Legit websites like espn.com assure me I won’t be wasting my time and that I get accurate info.
The only thing I’d change about women’s bball media coverage is the lack of air time on television it receives. You’d think with digital cable’s endless programming, there might be a women’s basketall channel dedicated to airing not only women’s college hoops & the WNBA, but oversea’s leagues as well. I’d love to watch my fave players in action over there.
I’d also love to watch as many college games as possible.
Keep writing, I’ll keep reading!
i look for anything that NOT written about UCONN or Tennessee. Every WB writer in the nation writes constantly about those programs and we are tired of them. The domination of the big 2 is one of the things holding back the development of WBB… or the fan base.
i also think that since YOU’RE the voice of WBB, I like it when you veer away from political correctness into somewhat controversial areas… a big Becky fan, I liked it when you stated that USA basketball made a mistake, not Becky.
should a college coach really be the olympic coach? unfair advantage… packed with Huskies, etc.
Won’t it be interesting to see how many USA women jump ship for opps to play on foreign olympic teams since the opps are so limited here with the huge talent pool, so that USA Huskies – ie UCONN 2 – could get throttled by a British or Soviet team comprised of American women who didn’t make the cut?
i would love your job:) but not sure i could feed the family
I agree with Jess. The biggest thing i wanna see is more tv time, and a womens bball channel would be amazing!!!!
Jess – interesting thought regarding overseas play! I hadn’t thought about that.
Mechelle – continue to do what you do. I was sad that you fell in the KCStar cuts but rejoice now in your blog. (Also: note that today the NYTimes is zapping 100 newsroom employees.) I’d like your territory to include all conferences, although I know you are based in the Midwest. Also, I’d like to see you as a TV commentator at games with a wide interest (Something like the currently defunct UConn-Tennessee game). You already are with ESPN – why not on camera as well? With OCC games all over the country between now and January, there should be some good hints about the NCAA tournament. I’d like your take. Your opinion is respected by most readers, so let’s see it! If a UConn victory is a given, let’s all play for #2. Who has the best chance?
We all have different takes on what we would like, and it’s an endless job that you media folks have to satisfy us all. I’m guessing I represent a small demographic….middle-aged white male….that relishes WBB. Nonetheless, I would echo what (most of) the above responders have stated.
I rely on the web for my latest hoops coverage, e.g., stats ‘n scores. Between ESPN and WNBA.com, I get just about all of the opinion/human interest stories I can digest. Of those two sites, my preferences are strongly for Mechelle’s articles, Graham’s, and then Charlie Creme’s. WNBA.com has a smattering of good work in the “creative” department, but all together it makes for a decent smorgasbord.
Rebkell’s is interesting. I bop in there occasionally for any late-breaking news (don’t know how valid it always is), and some of the threads are amusingly fun. I don’t post there.
This is my main WBB blog site for visiting. I also visit and post on Chantelle Anderson’s blog (on YardBarker), but not too often. My preference for this site is based on what I see as a very distinct combo of opinion/perspective and professional observation, all crafted into artfully written pieces that make me laugh, ponder, reminisce, wish…. etc.
Keep on writing, woman!
On ESPN.com, I most like the game/team/conference analysis. I like the blogs, bracketology, game recaps for the games I didn’t see. Profiles of coaches and players are an enjoyable “side dish” for me. Chats are not for me.
I loved when you live-blogged the Big XII tournament last year. For Big XII media day, I’d be hoping to get the “insider” view, extra info or context not in the coaches remarks, maybe your “reading between the lines,” and your opinion of teams/players prospects and particular challenges this season. For that matter, I’d like the same thing from you for all the conferences! (Bearing in mind that there is only one of you.)
On your blog, I like hearing your thoughts about basketball, about women’s sports in general, and about sports journalism; enjoy your musings on life, politics, and social/cultural issues, and your stories from childhood and college.
Living as I do in an area that is several hundred miles from any major media market, the internet is the only reliable source of news for WBB (ESPN’s TV coverage has improved in quality, but the quantity is abysmal). Pretty much all my WBB news comes from your blog, ESPN.com, Rebkell, Women’s Hoops Blog, and (increasingly) Swish Appeal. WNBA.com is always a day late at best, and, as you mentioned, their take is always heavily edited. I only visit their site for scores and stats (and Live Access, on the very rare occasions when it works), never for the stories.
I generally am only mildly interested in features and interest-stories; I always read yours because of the excellent writing, but rarely anyone else’s. I guess it’s more fair to say that I actually do like those stories, but only if the writing is of sufficiently high quality to make the story interesting; you’re the only WBB writer I’m aware of that always writes that well!
Chats are of no interest to me whatsoever. They rarely fit into my schedule, and my middle-aged fingers can’t type fast enough to keep up.
I would like to see more hard news–trades, injuries, team movements (!), stats, college signings and rosters, draft prospects, USA Basketball news, etc. ESPN.com is very good at this, but it’s amazing how difficult it is to find a list of the upcoming college seniors!
I agree — too much UConn and Tennessee. Ok, I am biased but I am not going to grind an axe about it, but I like to hear more about the Mid Majors. And, I do have an axe to grind here, there are other teams in the MAC than Bowling Green. Just ask Tennessee.
I for one would like to see more in depth features on the players and not just the superstats. EVERYONE does that.
I like the chats and the Cover It Live thing, but I wish it could be done without ESPN being involved. It often feels like The Worldwide Leader goes out of its way to make WBB fans feel unwelcome on its site.
The quick hitters are nice, but they need come on a regular basis. People drift away from sites if they don’t know when the next new whatever will appear. A notebook style thing once a week would be fine, but it would have to go a little deeper than the daily posts at newsblogs like http://www.womenshoops.blogspot.com/ .
I like the features, and I think there’s more of an audience for that than there was a few years ago. There’s a lot more people who have solid knowledge of the game than there used to be.
I enjoyed your ESPN story on the Detroit Shock leaving for Tulsa.I will be sad to see them leave because I saw Tweety Nolan grow up and play at Flint Nothern as a classmate of my daughter and will miss seeing her play live.I guess that before you talk about how best to cover womens basketball the NBA/WNBA,NCAA needs to treat it like it treats the Mens sports.The Shock could have made it here if the Palace people the help of the WNBA like the NBA gives the Pistons.But the WNBA is so Mickey Mouse in the way the run it that the Shock should have been sent to Orlando and play there games in the Magic Kingdom.From the way the games are televised,or put on radio (lack there of)and pay the players enough where they don’t have to play a two seasons in a year,one overseas and one here,the play on the court would improve and the leauge would really grow.People would care more if they put in as much work as the players do.—- Mike Matthews
As a few others have said, I would enjoy more features about the players who aren’t the super darlings of the WNBA, and former players in the league. I appreciate the time you give to them on this blog.
Also, I appreciate you giving your opinion, Mechelle, on various happenings in the league. Even when I don’t agree with you, I respect your opinion.
During the season, injury reports would be great. I pick up what I can off the Rebkell boards, but don’t have a lot of time to read everything there to sift through to what I’m seeking.
That being said, I just want to throw in that I’m very sorry that Detroit is losing its team. However … after following this league since its inception, I have only been able to attend ONE SINGLE GAME in all those years, since no franchise is within any sort of reasonable traveling distance to me (the closest being a 9 or 10-hour drive). And when I’m on the road, the thought of driving my big rig into somewhere like the Staples Center gives me hives.
But now, my favorite team, the Shock, is moving to Tulsa. And glory be, that’s only a two-hour drive from my home. I’m sorry for Detroit, but thrilled for myself. I can’t wait until next season.
“… And, yes, the WNBA has its “haters” — men whose enmity for women’s basketball is drastically out of proportion to what impact the league actually has on their lives (zero). Just look in the comments section of this and other stories on women’s hoops, which they vociferously claim to not care about … yet still read and comment about.
I’m always tempted to tell these fellows they’re on to the secret, intergalactic, supernatural plot of feminists, lesbians, Venusians, witches, phantoms, Indigo Girls devotees and not-manly-enough men to overtake the world and institute mandatory (a word that then will be changed to womandatory) attendance at women’s sporting events.
However, these guys tend to be hothouse flowers — “Stop shoving the WNBA down my throat by mentioning it! I simply can’t bear the thought of its existence!” — and I don’t want to further upset such delicate constitutions by teasing them. Instead, I usually just say, “Um, try not clicking on stories you’re not interested in … it really isn’t that hard.” …”
More like that! More like that! (I’m going to save your words to post on message boards in the future. Thanks!)
You really care about wbb and it shows. That’s what we want to read. That’s why wnba.com feels cold. It is cold. Business cold. We need more people who write out of passion, and it’s obvious you do. Doesn’t matter how it GETS across — articles, live chat, blogs, whatever — just get it across. You have the talent, passion, history, experience, insight, etc. for this role. And THANK YOU for doing so!!!!
Mechelle
I really love your feature articles about players – I recall the great article about Evan Unrau.
I also found your articles about the KSU program and coaches very useful and interesting.
So, here are some things I’d like to see
* more about the coaches, their coaching and team management philosophies (and not Geno and Pat)
* your perspective (as someone said) in between the lines about programs and conferences
* notice about key matchups coming our way – games that I might not pay attention to outside of the conferences that I follow
I agree that I’d like to see you providing more analysis for ESPN televised games (on camera) – but perhaps as an intro or halftime.
Mechelle,
Everything you write about the game has value and your postings here have been a blessing.
Live chats don’t do much for me, although I do enjoy live blogging at games when it includes observations about the crowd, the officiating, coaches reactions and the players. But I much prefer the pieces you write which distill your observations and experiences into your well written pieces.
Echoing the postings above, I do like to get an in-depth perspective on the teams. I’m a Big 12 fan, so I appreciate the insight you provide on the teams there. I’m also interested in things like why Sylvia Hatchell developed the playing style Carolina uses and why certain recruits pick one school or another. Another idea — what causes programs that had great success like Old Dominion wax and wane. These are all college examples since that’s on the immediate horizon.
In the pro arena, I am curious about some of the owners and their motivations with WNBA teams.
Just keep writing, please, as everything you write is worthwhile.
I appreciate your coverage of women’s basketball. I echo the comments written before that I’m interested in anything besides Geno vs. Pat.
This is slightly off-topic, but since you are affiliated with ESPN, I thought I would mention this. I sincerely appreciate ESPN’s coverage of women’s college basketball. Overall I think they do a good job. But one area that needs improvement is the often condescending manner in which they cover women’s NCAA basketball.
I hate it when a commentator will say that a team’s women’s coach (let’s use Sherri Coale as an example because that is a case I distinctly remember) is a friend of the men’s basketball coach or the football coach and they share ideas or strategies. Then the camera pans to the men’s coach or the football coach in the stands supporting the team.
In a football or men’s basketball telecast, a commentator would NEVER say Bob Stoops or Jeff Capel share ideas with Sherri Coale. Sherry Coale and her program are too accomplished to need this form of condescending validation.
This condescending tone (there are examples of this in every televised game) pervades the telecasts and it denigrates the women’s college game. Somebody needs to call them on this. (I guess I just did.) Please forward my thoughts to them.
Regarding women’s professional basketball I agree with Jean regarding WNBA owners and their motivations. Especially the non-NBA WNBA owners and their backgrounds and future plans for the league.
Also, it’s amazing to me the opportunities that women have to play overseas and the substantial salaries that they earn. I’d like to learn more about the franchises they play for, information about the owners, and what the life is like as an American women’s pro ball players playing in a foreign country.
I second all that DH says. I’ve never thought about that bit of … well, condescension as described, but it really IS out there.
I’ve also wondered many times how foreign leagues have been able to pay so well for so many years, with (apparently) not so big a fan base as the WNBA supposedly has. What exactly is their business model, and can anything be learned from it stateside?
I have lived in Tulsa for almost three years and love the city.
I’m excited for the arrival of the WNBA and look forward to attending the games.
Thanks for the wonderful write-up on espn.com and for the kind words about my adopted hometown.