I've stayed quiet on the Cumberland Times-News 2016 All-Area Football Team that has yet to be announced. I've written for that paper the last 16 years. But I'm not a salaried employee there. These decisions I have nothing to do with. Sports Editor Mike Burke wrote an article today in the Sunday Times on this topic and it starts out with "there are many things that cannot be said here". And he is right. But I can spell some of it out and will do so typing really fast and trying to look at both sides.
From a readers standpoint or a parental/football fan standpoint I thought it was a bad deal for the Times-News to skip fall All-Area awards in football and volleyball but yet put out winter awards for basketball. I don't care if basketball is easier...either you have awards or you don't. But picking which sports to do an All-Area team or an All-Area poll for that matter isn't a fair shake and is sure to draw scrutiny. Yes, kids work hard and they look forward to this honor. And let's not kid ourselves, high school football is king in these parts. It trumps just about any news the paper can put out. It draws the most interest and the Times-News is actually only hurting themselves by dropping coverage of their top seller. I probably was more sympathetic to the Times-News plight of not being able to put out the fall all-area teams until they did the winter stuff.
With that sympathy noted...the reason there was not a 2016 All-Area football team is because there is no money or enough employees there to put it together. It's that simple. Sports writer Chris Appel no longer works there and there are probably like 10-15 people total in that building trying to spit out a newspaper in print and online every day ads and classifieds included. The Times-News is owned by a group of teachers from Alabama who invest in small town newspapers. They have not afforded the Times-News enough employees anymore to do the things they have covered for 100 years. Employees are only allowed to work 32 hours a week and must take a quarterly furlough without pay. They are extremely short-handed and I am amazed they can even spit out what they do. Cumberland doesn't support local business anymore. So now for the hard news - when I see people complaining about this topic that DO NOT have a subscription to the Times-News shame on you! These people don't want to support the newspaper but complain when that same newspaper doesn't up and provide something they need. It's like sneaking into the movies and then demanding your money back because the movie didn't meet your expectations. So in short, the reason there has not been an All-Area team is really because of the same people who are complaining there is no All-Area team that DO NOT subscribe and pay to read it. No money, no workers, no product - it's a simple business model.
I could have put the All-Area team together myself. It involves talking to every single coach multiple times, getting their nominations and input, watching video when possible, collecting stats (and that is very difficult especially defensive stats) etc. I would say you could have about 30+ hours in on this type of project with so many teams and so many players involved. I know because I've been helping with this process for a while now. Needless to say I have bills to pay like everyone and don't have 30 hours to donate. I don't expect the Times-News minimal sports staff to do the same.
Based on all this, I would highly recommend a local business step up and try to sponsor the Football All-Area team in the future. It is about lack of money and time and this would probably ensure one comes out in a reasonable time frame. And I would tell the Times-News to take this sponsorship money and instead of adding it to the general income book, set it aside specifically to pay someone (not me) to get this done.
From a readers standpoint or a parental/football fan standpoint I thought it was a bad deal for the Times-News to skip fall All-Area awards in football and volleyball but yet put out winter awards for basketball. I don't care if basketball is easier...either you have awards or you don't. But picking which sports to do an All-Area team or an All-Area poll for that matter isn't a fair shake and is sure to draw scrutiny. Yes, kids work hard and they look forward to this honor. And let's not kid ourselves, high school football is king in these parts. It trumps just about any news the paper can put out. It draws the most interest and the Times-News is actually only hurting themselves by dropping coverage of their top seller. I probably was more sympathetic to the Times-News plight of not being able to put out the fall all-area teams until they did the winter stuff.
With that sympathy noted...the reason there was not a 2016 All-Area football team is because there is no money or enough employees there to put it together. It's that simple. Sports writer Chris Appel no longer works there and there are probably like 10-15 people total in that building trying to spit out a newspaper in print and online every day ads and classifieds included. The Times-News is owned by a group of teachers from Alabama who invest in small town newspapers. They have not afforded the Times-News enough employees anymore to do the things they have covered for 100 years. Employees are only allowed to work 32 hours a week and must take a quarterly furlough without pay. They are extremely short-handed and I am amazed they can even spit out what they do. Cumberland doesn't support local business anymore. So now for the hard news - when I see people complaining about this topic that DO NOT have a subscription to the Times-News shame on you! These people don't want to support the newspaper but complain when that same newspaper doesn't up and provide something they need. It's like sneaking into the movies and then demanding your money back because the movie didn't meet your expectations. So in short, the reason there has not been an All-Area team is really because of the same people who are complaining there is no All-Area team that DO NOT subscribe and pay to read it. No money, no workers, no product - it's a simple business model.
I could have put the All-Area team together myself. It involves talking to every single coach multiple times, getting their nominations and input, watching video when possible, collecting stats (and that is very difficult especially defensive stats) etc. I would say you could have about 30+ hours in on this type of project with so many teams and so many players involved. I know because I've been helping with this process for a while now. Needless to say I have bills to pay like everyone and don't have 30 hours to donate. I don't expect the Times-News minimal sports staff to do the same.
Based on all this, I would highly recommend a local business step up and try to sponsor the Football All-Area team in the future. It is about lack of money and time and this would probably ensure one comes out in a reasonable time frame. And I would tell the Times-News to take this sponsorship money and instead of adding it to the general income book, set it aside specifically to pay someone (not me) to get this done.
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