arrgh the other thread was locked as I was writing this so here are my thoughts
back to my thoughts on the Ledger...i loved it as a kid in the 70s. The pure breadth of sports information for me as a kid was incredible. On Sundays I was also fortunate enough to read the Daily News at my grandparents house for family dinner but make no mistake the Ledger was wear it was at. From pro to college to local to horse racing it had it all in the 70s and 80s and throughout the 90s then at the turn of the century it sank precipitously into an abyss becoming almost unreadable not because of what they covered but because of what they were no longer covering whether it was the far reduced high school information or the complete removal of coverage of horse racing in the state
My routine everyday was to read the sports before going off to school. I did this as a precocious 7 year old. I was a sports information junkie. Their coverage of local sports in New Jersey whether it was college or high school or events happening in NJ like tennis tourneys or golf tourneys was incredible. The Dunkel Index, the Bill Born Power Index, the predictions for all the high school games every week. The Sunday coverage of all the Saturday high school and college games, the rankings of all the high school sports not only by top 25 but within each county. I mean we were getting virtually every result in sports even like field hockey by the next morning in a day where there was no internet and immediate communication. Those people who worked there in the 70s and 80s must have really been busting their asses. My favorite day was Thankgsiving morning...the anticipation of reading all those previews for the games that day, a tradition we sadly have lost.
But all that was gone in the 2000s and Julie was right all along. The paper became trash much like most journalism. The model changed and they were slow to keep up. Sure I would love the printed paper again but the reality is its not coming back...ever and its not coming back in the way we would want it to plus the cost became laughable...why would someone pay that much money for that. A similar scenerio with the Courier News and I dont even know if its still going
I also remember the Messenger Gazette from back and in the day and their football contests they ran in the 70s and 80s plus WCTC gone too. Local coverage is gone and its not coming back. Sad price of progress
