In today's sports world, full of lightning-fast information, we can't possibly devote five minutes of Monday morning’s SportsCenter to reflect on what happened Friday.
Friday? Are you kidding? There's baseball in Japan, Pacman wants to be a Cowboy, and Patrick Roy's kid is going Chuck Liddell in Junior Hockey.
And of course, the NFL draft is only ONE MONTH away! We must know the weakest positions for every team in the NFL, and we require full coverage of the wind-sprint/ bench press competition in Indianapolis.
Why would we want to hear about the biggest wins in the history of some mid-major basketball teams, when we can see clips of Felix Jones jogging around the RCA dome in mesh shorts?
I understand that “balanced” coverage is the supposed goal of ESPN and other sports media outlets. But, as a former athlete and a current high school coach, I believe that it is not always the wins that define the measure of an athlete.
Let's not take anything away from the compelling stories of Davidson and Western Kentucky. But I'd also like to hear about the state of Siena and San Diego's programs, in the aftermath of their tournament appearances.
How have their fans, coaches, and young players reacted to reaching the pinnacle of their athletic careers and then, merely two days later, suffering a crushing defeat?
In my mind’s eye, I can envision a two to three minute video package on either team.
It begins with video of the team celebrating their win. Then there are two post-game quotes from the winners, one about the win and one about preparation for their next game.
And then the images of defeat flash upon the screen, visceral reactions from the moments directly after the second round loss. Press conference clips from the losing players and coaches are spliced-in with the footage. They talk about the loss, and what went differently than in their first game.
The piece ends with the team's return to campus. After everything has settled in for a day, the players and head coach try to put the tournament experience in perspective. What was the stronger emotion: pride in victory, or the sting of defeat? How does this affect the future of your program? How do you keep the players’ heads up and focused on what they accomplished?
To me this is more compelling television than a report on what Jerry Jones wants to do with his first round pick.
But maybe I’m in the minority.
(Subtext: Thanks to the Internet, we can all see what the respective teams' local media has to say about these two particular schools.
The North County Times has an article about San Diego here: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/03/26/sports/collegesports/30524bd2ce7fe8958825741800153eac.txt
New York's Daily Gazette caught up with Siena after the loss: http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2008/mar/24/0324_fisher/
It'd be nice to see more coverage in this vein.)
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