HCWolverines06

DAWG6, Ozzie Parker and Patrick Banks had a combined front page feature on them two seasons ago (much like John Hardin's Cassidy Veach and Justin Pitcher did when they were in middle school). Parker and Miller had a separate write up on themselves when they finished second last year, so please don't act like they didn't get any coverage. I know for a fact (talked to one of the three sports writers) that NO middle coach has turned in any results this year. Only one weekend tournament was called (faxed, e-mailed, etc.) in in the last two weeks. If the coaches are saying that, maybe they have e-mails or faxes or phone bills to prove it. What good would it do for the paper to take the result, not put it in the paper and make the situation worse? Why would the paper withhold the information on page 2? --- BIGFAN, Did anybody from LaRue tell the News-Enterprise that the middle school regionals were this weekend? That would have been a big help. Don't let them know FAR AFTER the event has already happened if you want coverage. As far as the LaRue Herald's wrestling coverage, that's a different breed altogether. Linda Parker's son wrestled, so when she was the editor, did it really surprise you that the wrestling team got tons of coverage? No, but she had a bit of bias since she had a family member wrestle and she was a wrestling booster. Now, LaRue COunty only has three sports to cover with in its weekly paper (boys' basketball, girls' basketball and wrestling), while the News-Enterprise has tons more to deal with (nine local high schools plus UK and U of L), so its not fair to compare the two. Now if Hopkinsville or Owensboro or Frankfort or the Danville papers (all daily papers about the same size as the News Enterprise) had way more wrestling coverage than the News-Enterprise, you might have a complaint. But I doubt they do much more than the News-Enterprise does. "The crowd at a wrestling match will always be equal to or bigger than a basketball,softball or baseball game." - Maybe at a wrestling TOURNAMENT with 7-plus teams, but not for just a match. There's is no way a wrestling match in this area will outdraw a Central Hardin-E'town or E'town-John Hardin or JOhn Hardin-North Hardin or North Hardin-Etown or North Hardin-Central Hardin basketball game. "Do not put all the blame on Coaches, Let somebody at News Enterprise do their job." - The News-Enterprise shouldn't have to do its job (writing features, previews and recaps of tournaments, sending out a photographer) until the coaches start doing theirs (once again, turning in results on a timely and consistent basis).

It's not a resentment, per se. The paper doesn't cover all 17 area varsity basketball teams, but it usually able to get results for all (or most) 17 teams when they play (Because hoops coaches understand that if you want something in the paper, you might want to turn it in). Basketball coaches are volunteers (or do it for little pay) just like wrestling coaches. But the resentment is there when there are four ways to turn in results (phone call, e-mail, fax or drop off a hard copy of the results) and coaches choose to do NONE of the four. Coaches act like turning in results is not a big deal, but then they turn around and act like the small coverage they are given is a big deal. You can't have it both ways. This past weekend, four area teams competed to my knowledge. NONE turned in results. Last weekend, four teams competed. Only one turned them in in a timely fashion. One out of eight is hardly justifiable for deserving more coverage. Unless they start accepting what's right in front of them, they'll never get more. Bottom line. Plain and simple. No arguing. The paper takes results up until 11 p.m. on Saturdays and midnight every other day. Not that hard to make. The News-Enterprise has won awards for its wrestling coverage in the past. A few years back, a pair of brothers wrestled each other in the regional tournament and that story was named the top sports story of the year for any daily paper in Kentucky. Also about 3-4 years ago, a story about North Hardin's female coach was picked up and ran by The Associated Press (part of the story even got a brief mention in the USA Today and New York Times). The writers will put in the time and effort if it is warranted, but by the coaches choosing to ignore them, they are saying it is definitely not warranted. There are three ways to improve the situation: 1) Turn in all results from now on (no excuses whatsoever) as soon as possible 2) Apologize or give reasons about why previous results were not reported. 3) Stop badmouthing them in e-mails, letters, phone calls or message boards/forums. Being hurtful is not the way to get what you want. It is perfectly acceptable to complain, but do it an adult-like fashion and without insulting them. Back your beliefs with facts and not by telling them "you suck" or "you don't care" or "you won't change". If you keep acting like that, you're right, they won't change. Maybe the coaches need to take it upon themselves to change first before the paper does.

grappler-of-old, The results will certainly be printed, if someone does indeed turn them in. As far as a story or photo, probably not. And I agree with you on your thoughts. Results are a must, but coaches/statkeepers/parents must be willing to turn them in. It's ridiculous when a girls' basketball team can fax stats from California or Meade County (which isn't really in The News-Enterprise's coverage area) can call in stats from Florida, but wrestling coaches forget/refuse to turn in results just once or twice a week. And I agree it must be earned, but wrestling teams won't earn it if they keep badmouthing them or ignoring them. The paper will just ignore them back and give them little coverage, if any at all. ----- eville dad, I have a role in the paper ... in a way. I am an immediate family member of someone who has a HUGE role, and I know a few other folks that have major roles, too. So I know how they think. I've been in that office many a time. With that said, the paper won't do anything about the middle schools NOW if the middle schools have ignored them ALL SEASON LONG. Middle school basketball, junior pro/youth/little league basketball and indoor golf and indoor tennis people turn in results all the time, but I guess it hasn't crossed any of the middle school coaches minds that they should too. So now when you want and think you deserve the most coverage (since this is the highlight of the season), you are not going to get it. Like I said earlier, if you don't cooperate with them, they will never cooperate with you in the future. In order to get more coverage, you have to prove you are worthy of the coverage you are already getting. It's like a ladder: You want to get to the top, but you have to use the lower rungs to get there first. Some (not all) of the coaches in our area don't want to use the lower rungs when they are easily available, so they'll never get to the top no matter how much they complain, how much they call or how many e-mails or letters they fire off. Ignoring the paper when they invite you to turn in the results (with no charge, no less) is like a slap in the face. Slap them one too many times and they may never deal with you again. Some wrestling people feel they deserve more coverage, and I can agree with that. However, the wrestling folks are sitting at the bargaining table with no leverage to use. Getting match/tournament results in the paper is not difficult at all: All you have to do is be willing to turn them in.

Highly doubtful you'll get anything in about the middle school state tournament. They don't cover the middle school cross country or golf state tournaments, so I wouldn't assume wrestling would be different. Middle schools are less of a priority than high schools are. And if the middle school coaches haven't turned in ANY results this year, they shouldn't get any coverage NOW. To get some, you've got to give some. Since the middle school coaches haven't given them any results or information, they' ain't getting any coverage. That's a rule of thumb for most people in the media. As far as regionals, you'll probably get it. Much more tempting to drive to John or Central Hardin then spend all day at Danville or Anderson County. They did a good job last time regionals were at Central and the year Knox had it.

DAWG6, My guess is you are a bit miffed that they didn't cover the North Hardin Invitational. Let's see: - Chuck got an award in Lexington Friday night and covered the UK game there Saturday afternoon, so he wasn't available. - Adam covered the Fort Knox-Central Hardin basketball doubleheader on Friday, so in addition to those two stories, he also had the COnnecticut-Louisville basketball game on Saturday night. So he wasn't available. - That leaves Nate, who stayed behind in the office to produce pages, read stories, crop/edit photos and get the results of events they didn't cover (although none of the wrestling folks took advantage of that, UNLIKE their basketball counterparts). The photographer (usually only one works on a Saturday) was at the funeral of the JH kid that died of cancer, I believe. So what do you expect them to do? The paper didn't cover the Wolverines' early afternoon signing meeting, or the Central Hardin girls' basketball game against top-10 Christian Academy-Louisville. Wrestling coaches should realize that if you schedule a match/tournament on the same day that BOTH Louisville and Kentucky play at home, it is going to be real difficult for you to get any type of coverage. Louisville and Kentucky are their cash cows, thus that's where they'll be.

DAWG6, 1) There was a photo of a LaRue wrestler a few weeks back. It was called "Carmen Chameleon" and it ran on the back page in color. 2) Photographers usually take Wednesdays off, since they usually shoot Friday nights for basketball, Saturday, Sunday and Monday for news and basketball on Tuesday and Thursday. You gotta remember that they only have two photographers for the WHOLE newspaper, yet they have three sports writers, five news writers and two features writers. Photographers are usually overworked and need some time off. Wednesday night is usually it. 3) Just because you are interviewed doesn't mean a story will come from it or ANY of your quotes will even be used. 4) You might want more coverage, but you are not going to get it unless coaches cooperate. None of the five schools the News-Enterprise covers decided to call/e-mail/fax/drop-off their results in a timely fashion on Saturday, but yet the results somehow were given to its RIVAL? I don't get it. How does that happen? Like I said earlier, if you don't at least give them the minimum (NO EXCUSE for not getting them results, they SHOULD NOT HAVE TO GIVE YOU MORE (photo, column, feature on wrestler/coach/team).

grappler-of-old, Our local paper (The News-Enterprise in Elizabethtown) prints results from Wednesday's matches on page 2 every Thursday. They usually even throw a photo of mat on the front page and let readers know where to find the results (and occasionally list who won on the front). Everyday on page 2, there is a list of that day's events and the next day's events, letting people know when and where the next wrestling matches are. The results also appear online for free the next day (paper copy costs 50 cents). The local public access tv station even broadcast a match LIVE earlier this season (although they did not make enough advertising money to support it). And unlike basketball, every wrestler is listed as long as they competed (when was the last time you saw a basketball story/boxscore mention the first and last name of every player?). Sadly, some coaches do not take advantage of this (turn in the results late or not at all), so its hard to argue that you deserve MORE coverage when you can't/don't accept the coverage they offer to give you. I know from experience that If I forgot/didn't call after a game, they would be hesitant to ever print us again (bottom line, do not, under any circumstance, blow them off. Especially on Saturdays. Since Sunday is the most-read edition for most newspapers, that's the day you especially want your results in there! So whhy not report them?). As far as needing the newspaper's coverage to boost fans, that's not entirely true. The newspaper usually previewed my semi-pro football team's games as well as the local minor league basketball team's games, but the fans still didn't show. The UK, Louisville and Western Kentucky women's teams are all very good this season and receive a good amount of newspaper/radio/internet and tv news coverage, but fans aren't exactly jumping out of the woodwork to watch them play (thus they don't receive near the amount of coverage as the men's teams do). In order to get more coverage, you MUST PROVE you deserve it. Give them reasons why. Give them a story that will win them awards and non-wrestling fans will read if they just take the time to write it. Just telling them your coverage sucks and you need to do more" is far from a good reason.

DAWG6, Do "people" really care about wrestling, or is it more the competitors/coaches and immediate family and friends? When we first started out they covered us to see what it was like, and then we didn't have much fans, they wouldn't show up or do anything more on us until there were bigger crowds. Thats the thing about wrestling, swimming, tennis, track and cross country. The fan support just isn't there. Girls basketball games in our area draw 1,000-2,000 fans per game (maybe more when Central and E'town play), but I don't think there has EVER been that many paying fans for any wrestling event in this area. Thus, until wrestling's popularity grows (meaning more fans at matches and tournaments to prove this) or teams other than LaRue County get extremely good (North Hardin is doing good work catching up, but Central, John and Knox have a LONG, LONG way to go) the wrestling coverage isn't going to change. As far as changing the guys' minds at the paper, that will take some work. If I were them, I would be pissed if I saw that someone called the results into my rival 45 miles up the road but didn't call/e-mail/fax them into me). Coaches should always turn in results from tournaments/matches the day of (NOT THE DAY AFTER). You also need to notify them if a match has been scheduled or changed. That's not rocket science, that's common courtesy.

I don't think the Courier-Journal was at the North Hardin Invitational (they were at South Oldham's), so my guess is somebody called/faxed/e-mailed them the results early enough to get them in the paper. I doubt anybody called or faxed or e-mailed Chuck or Nathaniel or Adam at the paper last night. Whenever we play games on Saturday nights, we have to get the results to them by 11 p.m. to make Sunday's edition. I guess no one got The News-Enterprise the results in time, but yet they somehow remembered to get them to The Courier-Journal.

----- Courier-Journal: Trinity captures Dragon tourney: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060122/SPORTS05/601220445/1002/SPORTS ----- Courier-Journal: North Hardin Invitational team scores (check very bottom of page): http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060122/SPORTS05/601220494/1031 ----- Courier-Journal: Mentions weekend tournaments (check bottom of page): http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060120/SPORTS05/601200476/1031 ----- Courier-Journal: Updated rankings, one match score: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060119/SPORTS05/60119003/1031 ----- Shepherdsville Pioneer News: Bullitt Central wrestlers beat PRP 42-36 at home http://www.pioneernews.net/articles/2006/01/17/sports/sports01.prt ----- Kentucky (Bardstown) Standard: Links to reports/results on Nelson County: http://www.kystandard.com/shared-content/search/index.php?search=go&o=0&q=wrestling&d1=11-01-2005&d2=01-22-2006&s=recent&r=Subject%2CAuthor%2CContent&l=100 ----- Elizabethtown News-Enterprise and Fort Knox Turret: Links to past results, articles http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/shared-content/search/index.php?search=go&o=0&q=wrestling&d1=11-01-2005&d2=01-22-2006&s=recent&r=Subject%2CAuthor%2CContent&l=100 ----- Lexington Herald-Leader: Woodford County mentioned in Mike Fields' weekly notebook: http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/sports/columnists/mike_fields/13668074.htm ----- Union County Advocate: Union County results/stories (type in wrestling in search box) http://www.ucadvocate.com/emm-bin/archives.cgi ----- Wayne County Outlook: Wayne COunty results/stories (type in wrestling in search box on left side) http://www.wcoutlook.com/ ----- Ashland Daily Independent: Type in wrestling in search box at top right; then register for FREE to use http://dailyindependent.com/new_front/ ----- Kentucky (Hopkinsville) New Era: Type in wrestle, wrestling, grapple or grappling in search box in middle of page http://www.kentuckynewera.com/emm-bin/archives.cgi ----- Ky Post/Cincinnati Enquirer: Northern Kentucky results/stories http://search.cincinnati.com/sp?aff=5&keywords=wrestling http://search.cincinnati.com/sp?keywords=grapple&aff=5&Go=Go http://search.cincinnati.com/sp?keywords=wrestle&aff=5&Go=Go -----

DAWG6, Being a member of the Hardin County Wolverines, I know some of the guys at The News-Enterprise and I appreciate the coverage they give us. Many papers couldn't care less about semi-pro football. With that said, I think guys like Kendrick Johnson (the Wolverines' president, founder and coach) and assistant coach B.J. Bell (media/public relations) understand what you have to do to get it in the paper. My question is, did anybody from the North Hardin or LaRue County e-mail the results to the paper? Fax? Call them in? Drop them off on the way home? Did anybody take it upon themselves to let the paper know who was coming to these tournaments or what the schedule of events was? If you don't do any of that, blame yourself, not the paper. They didn't send a writer to ANY of the high school basketball games that appeared on page 4, yet there was like a 750-word writeup on all of those games. The News-Enterprise does a better job than most papers at getting in ALL sports in there (although I need to convince my niece's swim coach to drop off a copy of their results once in a @#$% while). You can click for past wrestling results that have appeared in the News-Enterprise (change the .txt to .prt at the end of the specific links so you don't have to register: http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/shared-content/search/index.php?search=go&o=0&q=prep+wrestling&d1=10-30-2005&d2=01-22-2006&s=recent&r=Subject%2CAuthor%2CContent&l=100 As far as one place to get results, that's a great idea. The track and cross country coaches have figured that out with their web site, www.KTCCCA.org