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Priorities, people—priorities…..
Here in Austin, the local state university has a historic rivalry with the corresponding university of our northern bordering neighbor. It is a huge thing here, and has been for what seems like forever. Still, what with Austin’s reputation for having “the most liberal populace in Texas”, you might think that the earthquake in Asia might get more front page space than the local team’s win over the hated rival. Riiiiiiight……..
The earthquake got one column. The college football game? A half page.
Sports mania is something that managed to pass me by, as did rabid fandom of any sort. I know that it is not limited to Texas, or even the U.S. Football hooligans exist the world around. Whatever. Sports fans have existed as far back as imperial Rome—fact. There is something in communal athletic competition that appeals to a large percent of humanity. I get that. My beef is with the local paper. Front page news is usually reserved for national and international events of importance. A huge earthquake in Asia fits that description. A sporting victory—no matter how steeped in local tradition—is better suited to the second section—the “city and state” section. Really, had they devoted the entire first page of the appropriate section to the game, I wouldn’t have batted an eyelash. There is also the whole concept of “news”. The result of the game was widely known to the vast majority of those who give a fuck way before the paper went to press.
Oh, yeah—about that second section…. it was dominated by a really cute photo of a young boy in a tree. Go figure.
5 comments:
Over here in Portugal it's like every new newspaper that has come up in the last few years are sensationalist, inside out. On the front cover you always see, in giant bold letters, the latest pseudo-scandal about the latest so-called starlet, the bickering between politicians and, of course, football 24/7. It's a national mania. Even on TV, we get half an hour of real news, and then the other half-hour is JUST about football: the games, the players, their personal lives, wahthaveyou. :S
So who won the game?
uh, the football team, I think.....unless it was the slide rule club--the final score was pi
I bet they sold a lot of papers that day though. Like it or not it is a business...one that makes more money when they sell papers...and the more papers they sell...the more they can charge for ad space. I guess the mighty dollar influences everything?
True--more folks would buy a paper as a souvenier of the game. Exellent point.
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