Dallas American Statesman

[MrMustang1965]

Man, some folks just don't recognize humor.

[Hoofbeat83]

Well, obviously Cavan was much worse than Rossley. Rossley should never have been fired. yawn.

but wait! if rossley had never been fired, then cavan would never been hired. if cavan had never been fired, then bennett would never have been hired and bobby collins would be our coach.

[Roach]

NEWS FLASH: mack brown and the longhorns DO walk on water. they are an amazing team competing for a national championship and they deserve to be on the front page of every newspaper in texas ....

No, they deserve to be on the front of the Austin American-Statesman, and if you want to splash that hideous color all over the USA Today or ESPN or some other national media outlet, dandy. When the Big 12 championship game rolls around, that would be OK. When they lace 'em up with USC for the national title .... fine, I guess. (But you know if they win, we'll have three-inch headlines across the top of the page, completely overshadowing any news about the Cowboys, Mavericks, Stars and of course SMU -- all teams that play in (or almost in) Dallas.

.... when we do something worth being on the front page, it will be on the front page. if you're so desperate for news about SMU, pick up the DC.

Ha! Have you read that thing in the last six years? It's full of Associated Press stories about Chicago having a parade to honor the White Sox. The entire campus could be in flames and they'd miss it.

.... this subject is about as tired as the re-tread about whether rossley or cavan was a better/worse coach. move on people.

That last statement is the only one about which you and I are in agreement.

And as for the comment about Sunset High's games being on the front page: no, they're not. Nor should a high school -- of which there seem to be thousands in the Dallas area -- be on the front page ahead of a Div. I-A university. And as a matter of full confession, I don't care about high school sports at all. But I understand they're a big deal to a lot of Texans. The only time you'll see me get worked up over it is if Sunset .... or Carter or Plano or Highland Park or Wylie or any other Dallas-area school .... is bumped back a few pages so we can get a literary lickfest about Austin Westlake or some school in Houston or San Antonio or El Paso or some other school that is not Dallas.

[Hoofbeat83]

roach wrote: "And as a matter of full confession, I don't care about high school sports at all. But I understand they're{ a big deal to a lot of Texans."

thanks to you, too, for helping me make my point. the front page should be about what people care about.

now, cavan or rossley?

[MrMustang1965]

the front page should be about what people care about.

I don't care about the University of Texas. Never have, never will. But then...I'm in the minority...

[Hoofbeat83]

the front page should be about what people care about.

I don't care about the University of Texas. Never have, never will. But then...I'm in the minority...

see? i knew you could get it!

[Roach]

I'm in your corner on that one, '65.

[MrMustang1965]

Here's a copy of the letter that my wife (an SMU grad) wrote to the DMN today. I have her permission to copy it here:

Dear Calvin,

I am emailing you because you cover SMU and I do not know how to email your editor, and/or the person that lays out the sports page for the Dallas Morning News. Will you please forward or copy her/him with this letter?

I had already read your article online, to see what the DMN coverage would be of an SMU victory, and I do appreciate your good, favorable article of the program and of Coach Bennett's efforts, but . . .

Then, I open the paper and on the front page of Sports Day, there are articles about Texas, Texas Tech, TCU (which is in Ft. Worth, in case ya'll didn't know that) and an article about recruiting Texas Women's Basketball players. SMU is mentioned in the heading, with reference to the win and the article is ON PAGE 6CC. SIX PAGES BACK, THE ONLY 1A TEAM IN DALLAS IS COVERED BY THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS on page 6!

I understand better than anyone that we don't have a winning program; I attend every home game and some away games. But I think that the city where your team is located should cover the team in that city, not the team that is 40 miles away. Let the Star-Telegram put TCU on their front page and SMU on page 6. Good grief man, the Dallas Morning News is all over the SMU scoreboard and mentioned as a sponsor all during the game, so as alumni and appreciative of your support, we all turn to our papers to read of the game we witnessed the day before, and after we read about Texas, Texas Tech and A&M (by default in that article), and TCU, and another article about Texas . . . oh yeh, we look to the top to find the reference to the article on page 6CC about the team that is IN DALLAS.

SMU has problems, it has big problems that are beyond its newspaper coverage, but there is no doubt that the publicity it gets has a lot to do with the entire program. If no one reads about SMU in the DMN, other than the diehards, no interest is created. With no interest, no one but the diehards buy tickets to the game. With few at the game, well, I don't have to tell you all of this, you are a newspaper man, you know the power and effect you have over the public.

I am so distressed and disappointed that the only newspaper I can read, since we only have one, cannot be loyal and true to a major university where it is located. I would bet that this would not be the case in any other major city, or minor city for that matter. What paper on earth does not cover their HOME TEAM before the other teams in the state ??? If you can show me one, I will quit complaining, but I challenge you to find another paper that puts their home 1A team on page 6.

(Calvin Watkins has replied to her letter and says that he will forward it to the DMN's College Editor Mark Konradi and Executive Sports Editor Bob Yates. We'll see what happens.)

[mr. pony]

Many thanks to you wife, Mr. Mustang.
I couldn't agree more.

It's simply wrong what they do, and they need to hear about it.

[mr. pony]

Dale Hansen told me recently, via email that SMU has to "get in line" for coverage.

What a turd.

[LawSchoolPony]

The DMN is just like everyone else around here, stuck on the Big XII like the conference is God's gift to football - please, lets face it, its a big deal b/c its almost all big schools w/ 80,000 students each, and a ton of money to blow on sports, its NOT a big deal b/c the Big XII is actually that good, b/c its NOT!

Saw a recent poll on ESPN about which football conferences were the best in the nation....Big XII was a big fat third or fourth (i don't remember), after the SEC at number one. But, the DMN has crap for coverage on the SEC.

MORAL OF THE STORY: the DMN has no vendetta against SMU, they just suck at national sports reporting in general! There, doesn't that make you feel better? Freakin' monopoly.....a little competition in the Dallas newspaper world would do a world of difference....

[MrMustang1965]

Here's a list of this year's winners of the Katie Awards, handed out by the Dallas Press Club. Note the paper that received Best Major Market Newspaper in a six-state area.

Katie Awards

A partial list of winners

Major-market newspapers

Spot news story: Star-Telegram, Missing Mom's Vehicle Found

Feature story: Jacquielynn Floyd, The Dallas Morning News, The Face of Courage

Investigative reporting: Joshua Benton and Holly K. Hacker, The Dallas Morning News, Cheating in Texas Schools

Government/political story: Pete Slover, The Dallas Morning News, The CBS Memo Mistake

Business news story: Trebor Banstetter, Star-Telegram, Delta Closing D/FW Hub

Sports story: Bill Nichols, The Dallas Morning News, Tiger Woods Misses the Cut

Sports column: Kevin Sherrington, The Dallas Morning News, Ray Johnston

Series: Tim Madigan and Liz Stevens, Star-Telegram, The 'A' List

Best major-market newspaper: Star-Telegram

Visual communications

Illustration portfolio: Steve Wilson, Star-Telegram

General news photo: Rodger Mallison, Star-Telegram, Boom Walk

Spot news photo: Khampha Bouaphanh, Star-Telegram, Casualties of War

Web site

Content: Mark Rogers, Khampha Bouaphanh, Sonny Bohanan and Ellen Schroeder, Star-Telegram, A Walking Miracle

[jtstang]

Bottom line: UT's national championship run IS news, SMU beating Rice is not.

SMU already gets much more coverage by a major metropolitan newspaper than it warrants.

[MustangFan]

I can't believe this topic is getting more chatter than an SMU win over a team that's sort of had our number, even in its down years. However, if you need to share your views, may I suggest:

Bob Yates
Executive Sports Editor
[email protected]

Garry Leavell
Assistant Sports Editor
[email protected]

Mark Konradi
College Sports Editor
[email protected]

Calvin Watkins
SMU Beat Writer
[email protected]

[SMU Football Blog]

Most people who say the DMN has a crappy sports section have never consistently read the newspaper anywhere else. The DMN is one of the better sports sections in the country. Your complaints have more to do with SMU and less to do with the DMN.