Hey everyone,
I think this post is very appropriate for me to chime in, as I am a sports writer for a fairly large newspaper in Illinois. I am a full-time staff writer for the Daily Journal in Kanakee, Illinois. We have a circulation of around 30,000. Anyhow, I'm an avid bowler, so I always like to get as much coverage for bowling as is possible. However, time restraints and other assignments make it impossible for me to cover bowling full time. What our paper has done is to hire a stringer, an outside person familliar with the bowling scene who submits articles on a weekly basis. The articles run in round up form, recapping the best performances of the week or any major bowling news. It usually takes a 300 game or an 800 series to get a roundup story. In addition to the round ups, we also run an "Honor Roll" on our scoreboard page. This list features games of 260+ games and 650+ series for the men, and something like 225+ games and 600+ series for women. Now, when a big tournament comes along, such as the two PBA Regional events, one senior and one regular, that come to town, I go to the center to attend the event, focusing particular attention to any local bowlers that may be participating. The factor that needs to be understood is that bowling, while popular and one of my loves, is still not considered very important by the public at large. Therefore, it is one of the first things to get bumped aside when space is limited. Everyone wants to have what they're interested in receive recognition, but newspapers are a business. Like any other business, editors need to make decisions about what is appealing to the largest audience. Unfortunately, in most cases bowling does not rate very high on the list, except to bowlers. My advice to any of you who feel like you're not getting the coverage that you deserve is to contact the sports editor of your local paper to see if they will allow you or someone else to string for them. If you are permitted to do this then you can set up contact with all of the centers in your area so that you will be contacted whenever a score or occasion warrants an article. However, you have to be willing to put in the time and effort to gather information for such articles, and that can be difficult. But if you're really passionate about increasing coverage of the sport, that is one way to get what you want.
Gene J. Kanak