By Staff
Dec. 10, 2001
Wow, what a wild six weeks.
That's how long it has been since I stepped back inside the doors of The Meridian Star and into the role as regional sports director of the East Mississippi Group.
After spending most of the first week of my return to The Star in the waiting room at Rush Foundation Hospital while my father was in intensive care, I jumped back into the grind of helping to put out a daily sports section.
We and I say we because it truly has been a team effort of all those involved with The Star sports department as well as the other departments of the paper who have worked with us have begun to make some strides toward giving this community the kind of sports section it truly deserves.
Are we there yet? No.
Will it ever be exactly where it needs to be? Nope, probably not.
But I can promise you this, we will keep on slugging and keep on striving to be the very best.
The type things we hope to provide the readers with are coverage of the local high schools and junior colleges, as well as information on the colleges and pro teams. Look for more coverage of local sports, such as golf, running, youth soccer, summer baseball and softball, swimming, dirt track racing and the like.
To me, covering sports is more than just going to games or writing about games that are about to be played. Sports are about people.
We have already made a couple of subtle changes in the sports section that perhaps you have noticed.
Five days a week there is a page devoted to high school sports that very rarely includes game coverage. It does today, but I did say very rarely.
What you see on this page are two prominent features. One is called scores and schedules and the other is the prep notebook. Our goal to fill that notebook with neat little stories and anecdotes about the area schools and also throw in some interesting tidbits from around the state and nation.
Those wishing to contribute tips for items for the Prep Notebook can contact any of the members of The Star sports staff or give me a call at 693-1551, ext. 3234.
On Tuesday we have a junior college page that features a junior college notebook and the scores and schedules for the four two-year schools in our area.
There are two areas that we are still working to improve. One is the youth and recreation coverage and another is college coverage. But, don't fret, plans are in the works to improve those areas as well.
Another thing we are working to give you is more photos of local athletes in the newspaper.
Not only will we be shooting more live game coverage, but each time one of the prep, junior college, or soon-to-come youth/rec notebooks run, we hope to have a photo to accompany it.
Also, we are beginning to run submitted photos on the Scoreboard page. So far we have run team photos, award photos and hunting photos.
I take my job seriously. We will make mistakes, but I ask each of you to take the sports section as your own and help us to serve you.
Readers are welcome to e-mail me at abishop@themeridianstar.com with their suggestions or I can be reached by phone at 693-1551, ext. 3234. I am in and out of the office, but the best time to reach me is between 5:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Fridays. I will promptly return all voice mails and e-mails.
I look forward to your input.