High School Softball Forum: Disappointed

Replies (24)

• Disappointed=Oran I think your school is covered by the Sikeston Standard contact Alex Wallner

  -- Posted by sheetrock on Tue, May 4, 2021, at 7:01 AM

• He hardly ever shows up any more

  -- Posted by aa019757 on Tue, May 4, 2021, at 7:21 AM
  Response by Alex Wallner, Sports Writer, Sikeston Standard Democrat:

  Here's my last week...

  Monday, track meet

  Tuesday, baseball game between two local teams

  Wednesday, baseball game, boys tennis, and girls soccer all in the same day at the same time

  Friday, softball game and a baseball game in the SEMO Conference Tournament on the same day

  Saturday, track and field at the SEMO Conference Meet

  I hardly ever show up?

  Also, I'm covering the district championship game at Oran on Thursday.

• 

  Don't blame the reporters, they can only be in one place at a time. I think the SE Missourian has 1 full-time sports reporter & the SD has 1 1/2 sports reporter. IDK about the Dexter/PB/Kennett papers, but it can't be much more. If there are 10 games going on within these coverage areas on the same day, they have to be choosy. Also, the SD is technically Sikeston's paper so if Sikeston is playing, that's where he probably has to be if it's close.

  There was a time each of these papers had 2-3 reports available to cover games, but those times are gone. I say if you really want to increase the coverage, start an online publication, sell $5 a month subscriptions, & get some folks to cover these games for you. It's really not that expensive to do. Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands, especially if the entities in charge of these publications won't bring on the personnel to fill the need.

  -- Posted by $ecretagentman on Tue, May 4, 2021, at 9:12 AM
• 

  To add to this, you said, " Our girls just beat one of the top ranked softball teams in class 1 in Missouri last week at a Dexter tournament. Semoball had a article about that game but it was mostly about our opponent..."

  You should also understand that events outside of a newspaper's coverage area (Oran @Dexter tourney for example) would be within the coverage area of the Dexter paper. They basically have first dibs on that story. The only exception would possibly be a state playoff game, but that's unlikely. Rust Media owns both the SD & the Daily Statesman, why would they pay 2 reporters to write a story on the same contest? Semoball isn't a singular entity, it's a hub for 5 different newspapers. If you're in Oran, Sikeston, NMCC, Charleston, for example, you're in the SD coverage area. They just cross-post their stories on their newspaper's website & Semoball.

  Anyway, I hope that adds some perspective. I feel like this is a conversation we have at least 4-5 times during a school year. Maybe someday you all will get it.

  Until then, good luck to all the teams in their respective sports.

  -- Posted by $ecretagentman on Tue, May 4, 2021, at 10:36 AM

• Reporters don’t have to be at a game to put the score in the paper. Info is sent in by the coaches. All the reporter has to do is some editing. Some apps even provide a game summary for the newspapers making it even easier for them to summarize a game. No one’s asking a reporter to be at each and every game, but a three line summary of a game would be nice.

  -- Posted by mosoftballfan on Tue, May 4, 2021, at 11:52 AM
• 

  I counted 25 Round-Up articles over various sports since April 23.

  -- Posted by $ecretagentman on Tue, May 4, 2021, at 12:01 PM

• If its ORAN that is saying they are not being covered, believe you owe Alex an apology. He covers your girls program better then every other program in his coverage area, or at least equal to Sikeston. It is actually a topic of conversation amongst other towns at events asking "Wonder if Alex will be here today?" The laughing answer is "probably not Oran girls might have a game" (sarcasm). We appreciate you Alex, thanks for covering our local sports when you can (not sarcasm)!

  -- Posted by MCL on Tue, May 4, 2021, at 2:16 PM

• I see articles on SEMOBall, but they don't get in the Southeast Missourian. If it is in SEMOball, why not in the paper?? I don't know about the other papers.

  -- Posted by minastirith on Tue, May 4, 2021, at 10:45 PM
• 

  minastirith - It depends on which paper publishes the article. Just because it's on SEMOball, that doesn't mean it will be in the SE Missourian.

  If you have a more specific question, I would call the SE Missourian offices.

  -- Posted by $ecretagentman on Wed, May 5, 2021, at 8:49 AM

• I do respect Alex and I know he has his plate full and is doing everything he can to get everyone's games in.

  -- Posted by aa019757 on Wed, May 5, 2021, at 10:03 AM

• They sometimes print articles from the other papers about teams that are far from Cape. They should print the SEMOball articles from schools that are CLOSER to Cape. It doesn't matter if the teams are from the "Southeast Missourian area" or not. Also, I think that probably some coaches don't send in results because they think "it won't get in the paper anyway".

  -- Posted by minastirith on Wed, May 5, 2021, at 12:49 PM
• 

  I doubt coaches don't send in results because they "think it won't get In the paper anyway." That might be their excuse, but I genuinely do not think it's the *core reason. It's either forgetfulness or laziness, but it's not b/c they think they're wasting their time. On top of that, the coach doesn't necessarily have to do it. If you're a parent or a fan, go take a pic of the scorebook and email it in. I'm not a coach, never have been, but I've emailed my fair share of scorebooks to SEMOball & the games were reported.

  -- Posted by $ecretagentman on Wed, May 5, 2021, at 1:48 PM

• Just my two cents...I think these guys do one heck of a job. I pay $9.99 a month to have access to local sports and all in all I'm never disappointed. Love Cardinals, Blues and Mizzou news but I will never spend a penny with the liberal rag up in St. Louis.

  -- Posted by Football2020 on Thu, May 6, 2021, at 8:35 AM

• I liked that 10 articles about baseball and softball were in the Missourian today!

  -- Posted by minastirith on Sat, May 8, 2021, at 3:20 PM

• I have to agree with the original post. Sports reporters these days just don’t have the work ethic that reporters used to have. So you sat outside and watched a baseball game on a Tuesday. Guess you worked about 2 hours that day. The fact that the reporter tried to justify his “work” week in here is really pathetic. And it looks like about a 15-20 hour work week. Hell, when I was a kid there would be articles in the paper about summer rec league baseball games. Trust me I know, my mother still has the clippings.....

  -- Posted by Champ1974 on Tue, May 11, 2021, at 8:22 PM

• And with baseball and softball, most area teams use GameChanger for score keeping. One phone call to the coach will give you access to every play and the full box score. GameChanger even creates an article based on the plays and stats. Maybe work an extra hour, revise the GameChanger article somewhat, and voila, you have several more articles about local games that you can add to the site....and maybe increase subscriptions while you’re at it.

  -- Posted by Champ1974 on Tue, May 11, 2021, at 8:28 PM

• Alex does a fantastic job covering the area, period! Some people aren’t happy unless they have something to whine and complain about. Alex works hard and really promotes our area teams and athletes on social media. You all should worry about doing YOUR job well. Thanks for all you do, Alex! Just wanted you to know that there are people out here who don’t complain for a living and actually appreciate what you do.

  -- Posted by truthteller33 on Tue, May 11, 2021, at 10:30 PM

• Champs synapses are not connected. That can be the only explanation for such a stupid comment(s). Sir, slap yourself. Thanks.

  -- Posted by Lil Uzi on Wed, May 12, 2021, at 12:47 PM

• Synapses????? It would appear you are the stupid one Lil Uzi. And as for you Dracula, you need to push your tube socks down a little bit and lay off the blood sucking. Clearly you’ve never run a business or have any business acumen whatsoever. But keep posting on here. Gives me a good laugh.

  -- Posted by Champ1974 on Thu, May 13, 2021, at 8:29 AM
• 

  Champ each reporter attends just as many games as they did however many years ago. The only difference is there aren’t as many reporters. Did you know the Standard Democrat has one full time reporter and one part-time reporter who covers sporting events as a second job? When I was in high school, 20+ years ago, there were around 3-4 people covering athletic events for the SD alone. I don’t know Dr. Acula, but insinuating they have no place discussing the operations of a newspaper b/c you believe they never owned or operated a business is a blatant display of classism. I know it’s a stretch because you’re probably an old and cranky boomer, but try to be better.

  -- Posted by $ecretagentman on Thu, May 13, 2021, at 4:58 PM

• How else would you explain such an ignorant, uninformed opinion? The only other explanation would be plain stupidity. I was actually giving you the benefit of the doubt. LOL

  -- Posted by Lil Uzi on Thu, May 13, 2021, at 8:30 PM

• Is that your “synapses” lil pellet gun?

  -- Posted by Champ1974 on Thu, May 13, 2021, at 10:13 PM

• Easy money, hoss

  -- Posted by Lil Uzi on Fri, May 14, 2021, at 10:29 AM
• 

  We gonna bring up the fact nobody was at the Kelly or P’ville title games? Oh wait, that was Alex’s job and nobody does it now.

  But somebody was at Oran so all is right in the world.

  -- Posted by $ecretagentman on Sat, May 22, 2021, at 3:51 PM