Getting to First Base

In this crazy world of millions of whippersnappers blogging from their homes instead of press boxes, the importance of access is always a big issue. I have had Drew Magary’s column on the topic bookmarked since the day he wrote it.

[Rick] Reilly assumes that, if you haven’t been in a locker room, if you’ve never had access, then you can’t possibly have any sort of valuable insight to offer on sports. This is wrong, of course. I’m pretty sure Bill James didn’t set foot into a locker room before changing the fundamental nature of baseball scouting forever.

The quote goes on, but I try to keep the language here family-friendly. This week, since I had the ear of a writer who has access (but who also blogs), I thought I’d ask. I figured it was very possible that Magary (and Will Leitch, and I, and everyone else who reads/writes sports blogs) is biased against press access. Below, Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star addresses the issue of press access, and the “blogs vs. traditional media” issue.

If you missed it, here’s Part I. Read on for Part II: (more…)

I get the feeling I’m walking into a deathtrap by writing a term paper about sports blogs, because this professor of mine seems to despise blogs and the people who write them. So I thought I’d bolster my paper with thoughts from someone whose excellent work appears in print as well as online. Sam Mellinger is one of the many talented sports writers for the Kansas City Star and writes Ball Star, an insightful Royals blog. He is officially awesome, because he gave me some thorough, thoughtful answers that were too good to not share.

Here is Part I:
Minda: When did the Star start supplementing its regular sports section with blogs? What, to your knowledge, prompted the paper to start publishing blogs?

Sam: Not sure I can give you a date. More than five years, for sure, though there’s been an increased focus the last year or two. I’m sure what prompted it is the same as everywhere else — a belated realization that our online product is not only the future, but the present. (more…)