Charlotte Barnes starts every day at her Holmes Beach home with the Bradenton Herald. Her favorite part is the A section — “to catch up with the most important of the local, Florida and world news.”
That was the opening of her Letter to the Editor. Her next sentence: “Right smack in the middle of the first page was sports news.” Now I knew why she was writing. She loves her Herald, but what the heck is sports doing on the front page?!
Welcome to an age-old debate for newspapers. Shouldn’t sports stay in the sports section? What makes it front-page news?
With a great touch of sardonic humor, Mrs. Barnes packed a punch with her closer:
“I thought you had a whole sports section for that! Why do you clutter up the news sections with sports. Don’t you have any reporters who write news articles? Or are they all off seeing the ball games?”
Oh, don’t they wish! The Tampa Bay Rays are in the World Series — how cool is that. (Thank goodness I can’t jinx them with this column, with the guarantee of at least a couple more games for the best of seven.)
Their popularity has soared and the games have been sellouts, with plenty of fans from Manatee County in the stands.
In the sports world, the Rays have made history with their American League championship, going from worst to first in one year.
They’re young. Unassuming. Fresh. A team without a self-centered superstar. All the more reason to revel in the Rays’ success.
But does the coverage warrant the front page?
We obviously think so, and hope our readers are enjoying the coverage. Reporters Roger Mooney and John Lembo are churning out stories, columns, notes, blogs and stats every day as the Rays take on the Philadelphia Phillies. We’ve even scrimped and saved to get Roger to Philly for this weekend’s games. At least one of their stories — accompanied with images shot by photographer Brian Blanco — has been on 1A every day since the Rays clinched the pennant.
But it’s not just about baseball. It’s about feeling good; it’s about believing.
And it’s a welcome change from headlines on the economic morass that has its grip on everything else in the world. “HOO-RAYS!” was a lot more fun to write than “MARKET CRASHES.”
We’ve had some fun, too, with the Ray-hawk hair rage. The Herald’s coverage of Zachary Sharples, the youngster suspended from Lincoln Middle School for showing up with the now-famous blue Mohawk, went national as USAToday, Fox News and others picked up the story.
Reporter Sylvia Lim cringed when we assigned her yet another Mohawk story last week, when Sea Breeze Elementary actually asked students to show off their team spirit.
But she relented and ended up writing a story Thursday that made you smile.
When you grow up in a city like St. Louis — the best baseball town in the country, in my biased opinion — you know you’ll find stories about the Cardinals on Page 1A of the Post-Dispatch. It didn’t matter if they were in first or last place, they were our Cardinals.
So I thought I’d try giving Mrs. Barnes my best baseball pitch and win her over, at least for this World Series that’s in Bradenton’s backyard.
She chuckled when I called, warning me right away that she was 89 and set in her ways.
“I used to work for a newspaper, and sports belongs in the sports section,” she insisted.
“I read the news, editorial page and comics every day. Every section except sports.”
She turned the phone over to her husband, Jim.
“Ah, she loves to express her opinion,” he said. “Hey, I am so enthusiastic that the Rays are in the Series. And I’m crazy about the Bucs. And I realize the majority of people enjoy sports so much.
“And I tolerate my wife’s idiosyncrasies about all sports.”
Charlotte, I’m pretty sure you’re reading this because it’s on the opinion pages — so thank you for caring enough to listen. And thanks for agreeing to bear with us as we revel in the Rays.
Joan Krauter, is the Herald’s executive editor. She can be reached at 941-748-0411.
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