Which Media Outlet Provides The Best Zips Coverage?

[Hilltopper]

Someone asked me yesterday what I thought of the Beacon Journals coverage of UA sports. I think its been much better in the last year or so. Tom Gaffney is a huge improvement over David Lee Morgan for starters. Cast your vote and tell us members of ZN.O why.

[GP1]

That's quite a list of bad choices. It must have taken some work to come up with the.

I voted for the ABJ. Rasor's blog is a good reason and some of the writing has been good.

Akron needs to get good enough to make the TV stations look at them. If Akron was good, they would cover them. As long as the Zips give them no reason to cover the program, they won't.

I'd also like them to get good enough to attract a weekly interview on WKNR (if that still exists) and 1100AM. A lot of people listen to those stations even though they are Cleveland stations.

[ZachTheZip]

The Beacon is the only one that I ever see coverage in, so that's my choice.

[jhbengals07]

What about akronsportsnow.com? I don't think its the Repository's responsibility to cover the Zips...although their high school spring sport coverage could use some work. GoZips is obviously the best for Zips news...but ASN gives the best coverage of all out of University sources.

[GP1]

I don't think its the Repository's responsibility to cover the Zips

I agree, it isn't their "responsibility. It is the responsibility of the Zips to make the team newsworthy. Winning is a good way to make a team newsworthy.

[Zipmeister]

There could be a new and improved source of Zip info coming. Last week I got and email from somebody like Scout.com. I'm not saying it was Scout.com, but something like it. I trashed it and then dumped it out of trash so I can't verify the name at this point. Anyhow, they were looking for someone to report on Zips sports for them and thought I might like to volunteer. If I got this email, a bunch of you must have also, and I look forward to reading your reports. If I had taken them up on their offer, my byline would have been, "A Close Look at the Zips from Hundreds of Miles Away."

[ZachTheZip]

There could be a new and improved source of Zip info coming. Last week I got and email from somebody like Scout.com. I'm not saying it was Scout.com, but something like it. I trashed it and then dumped it out of trash so I can't verify the name at this point. Anyhow, they were looking for someone to report on Zips sports for them and thought I might like to volunteer. If I got this email, a bunch of you must have also, and I look forward to reading your reports. If I had taken them up on their offer, my byline would have been, "A Close Look at the Zips from Hundreds of Miles Away."

You got that email too? I told them if they would have asked a few months ago I would do it but now that I've been perma-banned from there without cause, I have to turn them down.

[Zipmeister]

There could be a new and improved source of Zip info coming. Last week I got and email from somebody like Scout.com. I'm not saying it was Scout.com, but something like it. I trashed it and then dumped it out of trash so I can't verify the name at this point. Anyhow, they were looking for someone to report on Zips sports for them and thought I might like to volunteer. If I got this email, a bunch of you must have also, and I look forward to reading your reports. If I had taken them up on their offer, my byline would have been, "A Close Look at the Zips from Hundreds of Miles Away."

You got that email too? I told them if they would have asked a few months ago I would do it but now that I've been perma-banned from there without cause, I have to turn them down.

Well that is truly their loss.

[RootforRoo44]

ha thanks J-Rod...and The Buchtelite?!

I guess they are great at covering those Saturday football games with their timely articles released soon after on Tuesday.

[Buckzip]

ha thanks J-Rod...and The Buchtelite?!

I guess they are great at covering those Saturday football games with their timely articles released soon after on Tuesday.

Sounds like things haven't changed since I graduated.

[johnnyzip84]

Although the Beacon's coverage has definitely improved, I voted for other. In my case, "other" is Google.

[zip37]

I voted the print media ,BJ, I haven't watched the mainstream network stations or their local sports for 20 yrs or so, nor do I listen to sports talking heads on radio. The BJ is doing better, but from their coverage, you'd think they were 10 mi distant rather thwn A MATTER OF BLOCKS!

[Zip Watcher]

I voted for ABJ.

Gaffney's work has been pretty good .. and wider reaching the past few seasons. Smaller sports have gotten deserved attention, and there's always stories between games in hoops & FB.

The CPD has been better lately .. with Elton essentially on a Zips beat 2 seasons ago, and still in attendance quite frequently, as a subscriber, I'm pretty satisfied with their Zips coverage.

AkronSportsNow is money. Best new thing to come along in a while.

Go Zips!

[skip-zip]

Are we talking about quality or quantity of coverage? If it's quantity, how can anything rival GoZips.com or the Buchtelite?

I'm always amazed when I see "just win if you want more coverage" come up as an argument relating to our volume of Cleveland TV coverage. Our basketball team has been doing nothing but winning for 6 years. And still, I don't think some of the biggest of those wins earns us the TV coverage up north that an OSWho team gets for a practice session. The magnitude of the wins is the only thing that's going to change this for us.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I can't recall the last time I clicked on GoZips.com. Other than for a schedule or a peek at a roster.

I haven't clicked on the Bucthelite's web site in years.

The ABJ is miles ahead of the David Lee Morgan years. Gaffney does a very nice job.

I think Alexander gives the Zips a fair shake in Cleveland.

#1: Z.N.o - Best combination of local and national stories, plus fan insight. 100% objective.

#2: ABJ - Best access to local stories. Good amount of coverage.

#3: PD - Elton seems to get mad when the MAC sucks, because it makes his job less fun. I like that about him.

#4 - "Others." Irrelevant

[GP1]

I'm always amazed when I see "just win if you want more coverage" come up as an argument relating to our volume of Cleveland TV coverage. Our basketball team has been doing nothing but winning for 6 years. And still, I don't think some of the biggest of those wins earns us the TV coverage up north that an OSWho team gets for a practice session. The magnitude of the wins is the only thing that's going to change this for us.

You make a good point here. A major factor in making a story newsworthy is whether or not there is anything different about the current story than a past story. Specifically as related to Zips basketball, the story is largely the same over the past six years. In order to change that, you are right, they need some big wins against known teams and they can't fall in OOC teams against teams they shouldn't fall to. The bar has been rightly set high for Zips basketball by fans and the media. That's actually a good thing.

If the Zips football team started out a season 3-1 with a win against a BCS level team, it would be a story. If the Zips start the season 3-1 and then are 3-4 after their next three games, they are no longer a story and don't deserve to be a story. They need to get winning.... and after they get winning, they need to win some more. Going 6-6 and making the Motor City Bowl is not a story except in the world of Terry Pluto, because the little guy is getting awarded for doing something incredibly average. We all know we would be one and done in the the Terry Pluto column world. Going 8-4 or 9-3, winning against a BCS level team and winning the MAC is a story even if it ends in the Motor City Bowl. Then the Zips need to do the same thing again the following year....and then the following year...and then the following year.

As far as tOSU, it doesn't matter what they do if we don't do what we need to do to make ourselves a story. We get exactly the coverage in the local media we deserve for a team that went 1-11 last season.

[Captain Kangaroo]

We get exactly the coverage in the local media we deserve for a team that went 1-11 last season.

To be honest, I wish we'd have received more media coverage last season. Knowing the media would question UA decision-makers would put pressure on those people to do better. With no media coverage in bad times, there's no accountability.

Example: Coleman Crawford languished at UA WAY too long because the media has traditionally ignored the Zips program in dire times. Terry Pluto LOVED clamoring for terrible/marginal coaches to stay.

[Zip Watcher]

We get exactly the coverage in the local media we deserve for a team that went 1-11 last season.

To be honest, I wish we'd have received more media coverage last season. Knowing the media would question UA decision-makers would put pressure on those people to do better. With no media coverage in bad times, there's no accountability.

Example: Coleman Crawford languished at UA WAY too long because the media has traditionally ignored the Zips program in dire times. Terry Pluto LOVED clamoring for terrible/marginal coaches to stay.

+1

[Dr Z]

I voted "other". My "other" includes the media that reads ZN to spark their ideas for stories.

So my other, is a back door vote for ZN which is still the best, and most unique place for Zips information minus a few screwballs.

The BJ is better since DLM left. The dude was a YSU fan that didn't even like Akron. Tom & Mike do a good job.

Elton will give you a nugget now and then, but for the most part I don't enjoy him. I wish he was replaced with somebody passionate.

I rarely watch any tv news coverage, but it seems like channel 5 has the best. Is Sportstalk with Steve French still on? That would be my vote for best tv coverage.

[GP1]

We get exactly the coverage in the local media we deserve for a team that went 1-11 last season.

To be honest, I wish we'd have received more media coverage last season. Knowing the media would question UA decision-makers would put pressure on those people to do better. With no media coverage in bad times, there's no accountability.

I don't disagree. However, they get what they deserve. Between the Browns, Indians (last year) and the Cavs, how many more negative stories can they put in the paper? People and the writers who write the stories can only take so much.

I don't think negative articles in the paper drive coaches or ADs to do a better job. They are going to do what they do and it isn't a secret to them when the team is 0-8. Akron is a stepping stone to the next level. The coaches and administration know full well 0-8 doesn't get you to the next level. Want to put pressure on the team? It has to come from the high dollar donors. The people in the Athletic Department will care more when high dollar donors care more. The folks at Summa and InfoCision have to demand more.

[Lee Adams]

Actually if you listen to KNR in the afternoon,Reghi does a decent job given everything he has to cover. At least he does some play by paly,including MAC games and has seen some of the teams he talks about.