Track and Field News COverage was lame

[Bruce Caldwell]

Track and Field News COverage was lame

I got my trials issue today of Track and Field News and the coverage was very lame
The PV had no pictures and no story on Hartwig or anything.
It was lame on the coverage of the vault both men and women.

Any one agree?

[rainbowgirl28]

Not really much to say about Hartwig. He didn't make finals. Again. I haven't read the coverage yet (my subscription goes to my parents since I move around so much), but I would imagine they were focusing more on the people who did do well at the trials.

[zack]

The coverage was just the same as all the other events and there is a picture of Toby right next to the story. I don't know why you think it was lame unless you thought their overall coverage of the Trials was lame?

[Bruce Caldwell]

Well you made me go back and look at it and I had missed the mens PV article on page 18 hidden in the middle and but the whole issue has no vaulting action. other than a miss by Tim Mack in PAris?.
I think the story of the PV at the trials was much more dramatic than they protrayed for the mens and for the women.

You've got 8 men who are jumping at winning height you have one jumping 19' but not making the team these are highlights not expressed in the article. You have vertually no action shots just profile shots???
No back ground on how these vaulter got to the trials??

Women was much more dramtic also Suttle breaks a pole and moves to a stiffer pole to make a medal. no mention, Seveal other girls, CHelsea Johnson, April Stiener vaulted right up to the end no mention in the article??? PAge 47 and 50 does have an article on the 16 womens record but it looks like they have no on the spot action photo just stock pics of athetes.
What happened did Track and Field News skip the PV event?

[Decamouse]

"Hot competition among ten 5.80m performances resulted in a 19-foot vault failing to make the team for the first time" - this is how the T&F article starts in my copy - there is also a shot of Mack missing a shot at the American Record - want to borrow a pair of my glasses Miss by Tim Mack in Paris - are you referring to the one from Sacremento on page 23?

[Bruce Caldwell]

Thanks for letting me use your glasses they did seem a little big grin LOL
I did miss the opening line and you are correct I had skimmed that part.

But compared to previous issues of t&F News they have shown more action shots. They used mostly stock shots almost as if they were not there. The photo of Tim Mack missing on page 23 is a typical photo shot of person who does not know anything about the vault.
A vaulter falling into the pit is not what I would portray as an action shot demonstrating the action of a American Record effort. That is like a photo of a runner falling
Looks to me they showed up for the last jump to get the coverage.

I sent in a lot of photos many a lot better than these to help them.
Many with Toby and Stacy, as well as Miles in action.

It is not that they did not choose mine it is the way this event keeps getting poor coverage.
I am disappointed in the magazine for its lame effort to report the action and excitment I saw from the stands. This was a great competition that unfolded into the USA team. Maybe they did not want to over shadow the two articles of the Russian vaulters in the rear of the mag??? READERS want to see action not portraits of athletes

[Beam]

I've got to back up ESSX about the coverage of TFnews. It's always been lame. Trust that I'm being humble here, but the problem is that TFnews claims to be a knowledgable source of TandF, which causes little to large problems for athletes who get a bonus in their contracts based off the news' "Bible of the sport" predictions to world leaders. I'll admit that it must be a daunting task to rank individuals in an already crowded field of events in the sport. Who can actually follow all the events to rank them well enough. All of us that follow vaulting, I think, have a good idea who should be ranked where, or what kinds of things should be covered in a story for our event. But honestly, TnFnews writes "quickies" of coverage that leave no one in this world satisfied. Just to quote a small publication that rarely follows TnF. . . L.A. Times, "Track and Field News, the self-proclaimed "Bible of the sport since 1948, 'took virtually no notice of Clay's career at NAIA Azusa Pacific, where his decathelon scores would have made him the NCAA Div I champion for an unprecedented three consecutive years." They are speaking of Brian Clay who beat Pappas and Terek in the trials in the Decathelon. I think that the best thing for our sport would be to create a better media piece that represents our sport better than TnF news or the Pole Vault Standard. I'm taking donations to start a magazine if anyone wants one. It'll roughly cost 100k dollars paid to Jeff Beam. I'll hire real photographers, write articles that reflect a vaulters perspective of the event and rank the jumpers based soley on how I feel about them. I'll call it "Standards." Someone start a thread on good names for a pole vault magazine. Let's vote on it and get started. Beam

[PVJunkie]

Not to defend T&FN BUT...........if more true track fans would actually subscribe............it takes money to run a magazine and I know for a fact that even some diehard track fans would rather subscribe to "Ladies home Journal" not because of the coverage or the articles but they just dont have the dedication of the fans of other sports. Every person on this board who has any true love of Track & Field should subscribe. If you want better coverage...............it takes $$$$. The guys at T&FN do a pretty good job............but there sure is room for improvement. Heck, how long is it gonna take to get Carol Lewis off the air for our sport, she along in one broadcast hacks it up more than the past 1000 issues of T&FN.


Or of course you could just go to www.eurosport.com .................it dosent get much better than that AND none of that crappy football (american) baseball or basketball to get in the way of the track coverage. Just tons of football, racing, bicycle racing, etc etc etc but track at least gets a fair shake.

[Bruce Caldwell]

I think there is already a mag / newsletter called the PV Standard

and the elusive bar is my old 1972 book lol

BUT a new mag would be nice on the pV.
I agree with PV JUnkie more subscribers could be the answer.

Bruce

[Beam]

Perhaps more subscribers would be nice, but the money is in the advertising. They seem to do pretty well with getting good companies to advertise, like Nike, New Balance, and some of the other major shoe companies. I'm not sure what their prescription base is, but you definately can't sell advertiseing in a mag that doesn't have any readers. I think if they did a better job with their magazine, they'd have more subscribers, more subscribers will give them more advertisment money, more advertisement money means better quality magazine, a better magazine means happier fans.

[rainbowgirl28]

I think there is already a mag called the PV Standard

Calling it a magazine is a stretch. It's a newsletter.

[vaultmom]

They are distance running lovers... we stopped taking TF News years ago. I agree with Essex the mag needs to improve. But I cant stand the TV coverage and what is the deal with Carol Lewis !!! I think she is horrible but then I am not a fan of Dwight Stones either. The TV coverage needs to quit this insipid interviewing of athletes and their ridiculous made up commentary and just show the events ! I laugh when Dwight Stones comments on someones vault...