Yesterday couldn't have been much worse for hockey coverage in the Bay Area, with both San Jose Sharks beat writers leaving the press box. Victor Chi, who had spent the last 11 seasons covering the Sharks for the San Jose Mercury News, was laid off Monday in another round of cuts by parent company MediaNews Group. On Thursday, word came down that Ross McKeon had accepted a buyout from the San Francisco Chronicle. McKeon had covered the Sharks for the Chronicle since the team entered the league in 1991.
I had the opportunity to work alongside both men last season, and I learned a lot watching them lead interviews and work stories. Covering the Sharks for a combined 27 seasons between them, their knowledge and insight helped Shark fans stay connected, at home and on the road. It's obviously a huge blow to the team and its fans.
Their departures mean Sharks coverage will be scaled back this season. Having covered the team part-time for the Merc last year, David Pollak will take over as the team's full-time beat writer. He came up with some amazing articles last season, and his Nabokov feature during the playoffs might have been the best piece I read all year. The Chronicle could bring someone else in, they could rely on wire stories, or they could cease covering the Sharks altogether. Either way, it's a rough time for hockey media in the Bay Area.
Some kids idolized Batman or Spiderman, hoping to someday leap tall buildings in a single bound. I paid closer attention to names like Matheson, Jones, Tychkowski, and yes ... even Brownlee, hoping to someday lead aggressively and transition with ease. Growing up in Canada, I connected with hockey teams through their beat writers, scanning newspapers to get each man's thoughts on the previous night's events. News, speculation, opinion, and even a little damnation at times, I expected it all from the beat writers, who both informed and represented the fans at the same time.
In an age of declining profits and shrinking inch counts, newspapers are struggling and hockey is starting to feel the squeeze. As someone who's trying to build a career in both newspapers and hockey, this recent news only results in more doubt concerning the future. Some papers have stopped following teams on the road, while others have shuffled hockey inside, where the only NHL news you can find is contained in shortened briefs and incomplete box scores. At my shop it's become a daily struggle just to get regular hockey coverage in the paper, competing against the A's, Giants, 49ers, Raiders, and Warriors, each of whom have much larger fanbases.
But this is a great forum, with unlimited space and opportunity. If I had the time (and a patient enough wife) to write 3000 words a day I would, but I'm hoping to make the most of it, so what would you like to see here? What are your expectations for this space? What kind of coverage would you like to see? Most of the time in the media we're telling you what you want rather than asking, so if you have any suggestions please feel free to share them.
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Also, thanks for your great e-mails on the free agency situation, lots of passionate and knowledgeable fans out there. Plus, complete breakdown of the Marleau situation coming tomorrow.
Here are some e-mail addresses if you want to respond to the latest news:
Merc Sports editor Rachel Wettergreen Wilner -
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Merc Deputy Sports Editor Bud Geracie -
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Sporting Green editor Glenn Schwartz -
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Chronicle letters to editor -
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Chronicle's reader representative -
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Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein -
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