If the Birmingham News, you know, our
HOMETOWNnewspaper, would give us the same coverage and attention that Auburn and Alabama seem to get. I know this is beating a dead horse, and a topic we've discussed ad nauseum, but it's frustrating to pick up the B'ham News everyday, and see any and all articles about UAB as a mere afterthought. On a good day, we're relegated to a small column along the side of the page, more often than not, the Blazers only warrant inside coverage, at best.
We're not Auburn.....we're not Alabama.....but, by George, we are the hometown team of the state's largest city. A little respect and feature coverage would be nice, and greatly appreciated.
Coverage has improved under Irvine but he has an editor that thinks that there are only 500 UAB fans out there. That is where the problem lies.
The reality of it is that our coverage has improved tremendously since Steve Irvine has been our beatwriter. I think we have a lot more articles and definitely, a lot better quality articles. Personally, I don't care if they are on the front page or not - I just want lots of UAB stuff to read. The only two reasons I buy the Birmingham News are because of the UAB articles in the sports section and the Money section.
Irvine likes watching sports and he generally has a very good grasp of the situation going on. I think the coaches really like him too. All those years of Terrible Norris reporting were terrible. I don't even think Torraine even liked sports to be honest with you.
RBB Wrote:The reality of it is that our coverage has improved tremendously since Steve Irvine has been our beatwriter. I think we have a lot more articles and definitely, a lot better quality articles. Personally, I don't care if they are on the front page or not - I just want lots of UAB stuff to read. The only two reasons I buy the Birmingham News are because of the UAB articles in the sports section and the Money section.
Irvine likes watching sports and he generally has a very good grasp of the situation going on. I think the coaches really like him too. All those years of Terrible Norris reporting were terrible. I don't even think Torraine even liked sports to be honest with you.
Irvine at least goes to Blazer practices. Norris seemed like he just wrote from home or had a couple of people he would call and just write what they said. Irvine is a 100% improvement.
Irvine has been a great add to our coverage. At least he gives a damn and goes to practices, interviews the coaches, and writes articles. This is a great improvement from Torraine Norris sleeping in his car then dashing off some crap.
Tom Arenburg has an axe to grind with UAB and will screw us over whenever he gets the chance. "Hometown paper" does not enter into it. In fairness to him, overall interest in this community is highest in UA, then AU, then UAB. However, decent coverage of our program would help that interest grow.
If memory serves, Arenburg was passed over for a job at UAB... SID perhaps? I suspect that colors his decision making when it comes to coverage and space allocated. If we want more, we'll just have to keep the pressure on... and it will help if the teams win some games, preferably a lot of them.
We got the big color above the fold picture in the sNews yesterday. It is getting better.
Remember what Jesus said, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own land."
UAB gets so much more cred outside of Alabama than in it.
Smaug Wrote:We got the big color above the fold picture in the sNews yesterday. It is getting better.
Remember what Jesus said, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own land."
UAB gets so much more cred outside of Alabama than in it.
Only in Alabama can we associate football and the words of the Christ together. :)
It's just to balance how much coverage Satan has been getting lately...
braish Wrote:Smaug Wrote:We got the big color above the fold picture in the sNews yesterday. It is getting better.
Remember what Jesus said, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own land."
UAB gets so much more cred outside of Alabama than in it.
Only in Alabama can we associate football and the words of the Christ together. :)
Remember, we have religion in Alabama. Everywhere else, they call it football.
Smaug Wrote:braish Wrote:Smaug Wrote:We got the big color above the fold picture in the sNews yesterday. It is getting better.
Remember what Jesus said, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own land."
UAB gets so much more cred outside of Alabama than in it.
Only in Alabama can we associate football and the words of the Christ together. :)
Remember, we have religion in Alabama. Everywhere else, they call it football.
+1
:ncaabbs:
Smaug Wrote:braish Wrote:Smaug Wrote:We got the big color above the fold picture in the sNews yesterday. It is getting better.
Remember what Jesus said, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own land."
UAB gets so much more cred outside of Alabama than in it.
Only in Alabama can we associate football and the words of the Christ together. :)
Remember, we have religion in Alabama. Everywhere else, they call it football.
Can I nominate that for quote of the year?
One problem has been that much B'ham based media consider Bama to BE the HOME TEAM. I heard one TV sports guy refer to a story on Bama as a LOCAL SPORTS STORY. I suppose it comes from Bama playing a few of its less important home games at Legion Field until recently.
Writing newspaper articles for most Alabama fans is tantamount to making breath mints for pigs; your effort is wasted and the few that use it can't appreciate what you've done for them.
Maybe one day we will lay claim to what is rightfully ours ... the entirety of Birmingham and all that surrounds her! 
Smaug Wrote: Remember, we have religion in Alabama. Everywhere else, they call it football.
I have a student in one of my classes here in Virginia that is majoring social studies education and religion because he wants to coach football. When asked why he chose religion, he said that he wanted to study how certain religions command such loyalty and commitment so he could use similar tactics in his coaching. I just shook my head and asked him if he was from Alabama.
braish Wrote:Smaug Wrote:braish Wrote:Smaug Wrote:We got the big color above the fold picture in the sNews yesterday. It is getting better.
Remember what Jesus said, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own land."
UAB gets so much more cred outside of Alabama than in it.
Only in Alabama can we associate football and the words of the Christ together. :)
Remember, we have religion in Alabama. Everywhere else, they call it football.
Can I nominate that for quote of the year?
Only if you post it on the
NOMINATIONS board.
BTW, Homer Smith who coached at Bama as OC under two FBHCs, has a Masters degree in Theology---from Harvard no less.
Torraine truly did not care for sports, UAB or otherwise...his background was hard news and he was taking what he could get.
I think UAB gets decent coverage when they win, but in general Alabama and Auburn will get more coverage.
I am pleased with Irvine's coverage...he seems to actually find stories to tell vs just recaping press releases.