Today over at D.C. Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has done a very exhaustive job defending the way his newspaper has covered the Washington Nationals. Agent Steinz undertook this mission on his own in response to an anonymous commenter over at Nationals Journal who left this comment:
This blame is laid squarely at the feet of Emilio Garcia-Ruiz and the suits at 1150 15th Street, NW who think that anybody is qualified to cover what the paper does not consider to be a major sport. These are the same people who think three writers should cover a football team that plays a regular season one-tenth as long as the Nationals. These are the same decision makers who have two writers covering an NBA team that plays half the number of regular season games than do the Nationals....These are the people who don't get it.
Over the years here at Off Wing, I've come across complaints like this more times than I care to remember. And every time, I've had the same thing to say in response: If you don't like what you're getting from the Washington Post or any other newspaper, look elsewhere for your coverage or find a way to do it yourself. Heck, if a couple of people sprinkled around the country can do the WNBA and Women's College Basketball justice over at Women's Hoops, nobody else in the online sports game has much room to complain.
Oh, I almost forgot the punchline. Here's Steinberg's conclusion about the complaint:
Considering the 12-month story numbers cited above, our various travel budgets, the local TV ratings, our blog hits and announced attendance figures, and balancing those factors with the success our local teams have enjoyed over the past year and their national prominence (i.e Ovechkin's MVP), to me it's clear that Caps fans have the greatest argument for being under-covered by The Post. And, frankly, that Nats fans have the worst argument.
Funny how those things work out.
