Posted by cheese (anonymous) on January 31, 2008 at 3:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Last time I checked it's called the Emporia Gazette, not the Lyon County Gazette. If these teams play in Emporia then the Gazette does a wonderful job of covering it. If they don't play in EMPORIA then they should feel lucky about getting their scores posted in the paper. You can probably look at the other papers in this state that do the same thing. Sorry that these little towns don't have their own newspaper to cover their teams!

Posted by momoftwo (anonymous) on January 31, 2008 at 4:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Maybe you'd like to ask Mr. Walker how many subscribers he has in the smaller towns surrounding Emporia. I'm sure those of us living outside the city of Emporia who subscribe to the paper, produce a stream of much needed revenue for a paper the size of the Gazette! I still agree w/Mr. Fritz that the smaller schools in the surrounding area definitely get the shaft when it comes to sports reporting.

Posted by 77flint (anonymous) on January 31, 2008 at 4:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)

cheese, quit trying seperate all of us. We all live in LYON COUNTY. They deserve the same respect as everyone does. I am an Emporian who lives in LYON County!!

Posted by gold66801 (anonymous) on January 31, 2008 at 4:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

You have nothing else to print why can,t you print the scores from other schools in the area. How about printing racing results also will help fill in the vacant spots.....

Posted by create (anonymous) on January 31, 2008 at 5:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Cheese, knock it off. Many, many subscribers to The Gazette live in surrounding communities. Since they help produce revenue, they should expect to see themselves in the paper too.

Posted by dj2879 (anonymous) on January 31, 2008 at 5:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I feel that the Gazette does an adequate job covering surrounding community events; however they could provide better coverage due at a minimum to the readership of their paper by the smaller communities. I know that the paper in Burlington has always covered Hartford events. Over the years it has been known as the Coffey County Today and the Coffey County Republican. Last time I checked, Hartford was in Lyon County, so I don't think the Gazette needs to be called the Lyon County Gazette just to cover events.

Posted by Paccifier (anonymous) on January 31, 2008 at 6:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Has anyone thought about arranging to submit photos from the smaller community games by e-mail? Easy enough to take a digital camera with you, take pictures, load them to your computer, then send the best to The Gazette. You might need to call The Gazette first, or make some kind of prior arrangements, but how many photographers do you all think The Gazette has? Maybe a little positive action on all our parts would get more local pictures of all kinds in (not just sports), How 'bout it Gwen, is that a possibility? I know I'd like to see more of the kids from outlying schools get in the paper. Maybe the school papers have photographers that could do this- sort of a Gazette outreach to the schools.

Posted by hottopics (anonymous) on January 31, 2008 at 7:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I agree that there are a few Gazette photographers and many activities in all areas not just sports. But my opinion is that you can't possibly make everyone happy and run a newspaper or a business for that matter. But if people are willing to send it in to the paper I bet they would happily print it in the sports section somewhere.

Posted by cheese (anonymous) on January 31, 2008 at 8:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I am sure that teams like Silver Lake or Jeff West would like to be featured in the Topeka Capital but back to my original point that it's the TOPEKA Capital. They feature city teams just like the Gazette features Emporia teams.

Posted by batbatly (anonymous) on January 31, 2008 at 8:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)

And just how the heck do you people expect the Gazette sports staff and photographers to get to all these sports events that you all think DESERVE to get covered? Do you know that there are only TWO sports reporters and only ONE photographer? Their first responsibility has to be to Emporia High and Emporia State. Surely you all understand that. They are, after all, the Emporia paper. Those two schools alone probably produce enough sports to make the job a hectic one.

Secondly, I for one think they bust their butts to give the schools the coverage they get, and the parents, fans and people of those communities should be thankful for what they get. You people are all so unbelievably nearsighted when it comes to exactly what the reporters and photographer go through. They do their best, and you people thinking you deserve anything more should stop and think about the job you do in your own profession. You should be thankful the surrounding schools get the coverage they do.

I'm sure the sports staff would love to hear all your wonderful ideas on how they could make it to the EHS and ESU events AND the area schools, ALL ON THE SAME NIGHT.

momoftwo, If you are so smart, start posting those ideas. I'm sure you can come up with ways to get TWO people in 8 places at once. What about you, dj2879? Just how do you propose the sports staff makes it to all these events that you think deserve better coverage?

Good grief. WAKE UP PEOPLE! These guys do the best they can. Keep up the good work guys.

Posted by glarson (Gwen Larson) on February 1, 2008 at 7:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)

To paccifier: The Gazette would be delighted to have photos submitted. We already have a number of people who send us photos of events they've attended.

Digital photos can be e-mailed to newsroom@emporiagazette.com and photodesk@emporiagazette.com. They need to be saved as jpg files with resolution of at least 150. Our photographer, Carly Pearson, can answer technical questions. She can be reached at the photodesk e-mail or by calling 342-4841 Ext. 208.

Those of you who have tried to shoot in gyms and football fields after dark already know the limitations of point-and-shoot cameras. Unfortunately, not everything that is submitted has the quality we need for printing in the paper.

For those of you who don't know, my family and I live in north Lyon County. My boys attend Americus and Northern Heights. Would I love to see Heights' games featured each week? You bet. Will it happen? Nope.

Every week, our sports team, Michael Ashford and Jesse Newell, look at the game schedule. They commit to covering EHS wherever the team is (although workload prevented Michael from traveling to Chanute for the Ralph Miller classic). Then, they have to pick the area game with the most potential for a good matchup. BTW, the radio stations do the same... between KVOE and KANS, listeners will get the EHS game and two area games.

There have been times I've made my pitch for the Heights matchup to be the area game. I don't always win.

When I can, I've helped out. But my sons will be the first to tell you they'd never trust Mom to write intelligently about a basketball game. I have, however, taken photos of NHHS homecoming royalty and the homecoming parade. After all, I'm going to be there anyway.

What the Gazette does do, and has done for the entire 14 1/2 years I've been here, is rely heavily on team coaches for information. Both Michael and Jesse head back to the office after games end and join a stringer in answering phones. Some coaches prefer to fax pages from the score book along with quotes. Others call and wait their turn to dictate stats and answer questions about the games. Those are what you see in the area roundup -- the section that comes after the story on the area game.

As for working with student journalists... we have pursued that in the past. Some EHS journalism students have taken photos for us. Of the other Lyon County high schools, only Olpe and Hartford have student papers. Heights doesn't.

And, a fact of life in smaller schools is that students are involved in many if not all activities. That means that often the student journalists with the most knowledge and ability to cover a game are on the court playing it.

I appreciate the ideas all of you have and would be happy to hear more. Not everything is feasible, but I'm sure some of you have ideas we haven't thought of.

If you'd rather not use this forum, feel free to e-mail me at larson@emporiagazette.com or call 342-4841 Ext. 219.

Gwen Larson
Managing Editor

Posted by DJrocksthemic (anonymous) on February 1, 2008 at 8:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I agree with the bat, this paper does have two people writing for sports, one who has the Emporia State beat (a nationally recognized DII University) and still finds time to cover high school games. If you look at the Lyon county tournament they brought in a stringer, at their own expense so they could get someone to every game, and stringers don't come cheap.

I've said it before on the forums and I'll say it again, the Gazette does an amazing job. I went to HS outside Wichita and we never even got a score in the Eagle. I went to college outside Hutchinson (oh yea they have a paper) and our College didn't even get good photo coverage, even with a thriving award winning college newspaper on campus that they could ask to take photos.

Jesse and Michael work hard, being a writer is a seven day a week job and you don't hear them complaining. Their is also alot of leg work involved because when they don't go to the game they have to call the coaches to get game books. And from that game book they have to take the scribbles (sometimes written by students) and turn them into a box score. It's HARD WORK!! And they don't seem to complain alot when they work 17 hour days to cover the high schools.

GREAT JOB GUYS, I'LL ALWAYS BE READING.