Local news from San Diego.

[rmndcat]

Holiday Bowl: Northwestern stuns Utah 31-20 with huge third-quarter comeback
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...day-bowl-utah-vs-northwestern-0101-story.html

 

[Catslash]

Thanks the West South Bend Tribune couldn't find time to cover the result in today's edition.

 

[DaCat]

Nice article but again mentions the missing Utah starters without mentioning our equally key missing starters, including our two top receivers who were injured in the first quarter. Whatever, the scoreboard is the best final statement.

 

[Deeringfish]

Nice article but again mentions the missing Utah starters without mentioning our equally key missing starters, including our two top receivers who were injured in the first quarter. Whatever, the scoreboard is the best final statement.

Weird , right? We were missing three multiyear starters but no mention was made by anyone. Well, we know the victory was even bigger than anyone knows.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Weird , right? We were missing three multiyear starters but no mention was made by anyone. Well, we know the victory was even bigger than anyone knows.

Five, actually — Thompson, Hall, Hartage, Nagel, and Skowronek were all out before the end of the first quarter. Toss Larkin in there and that’s a whole lot of the week one starting lineup not playing.

 

[Fitz51]

I'm Ron Burgundy?

 

[Alaskawildkat]

Holiday Bowl: Northwestern stuns Utah 31-20 with huge third-quarter comeback
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...day-bowl-utah-vs-northwestern-0101-story.html

Just curious - were you able to locate a print copy of today’s San Diego Union-Tribune?

When I tried to locate one this morning here in San Diego I was told the paper was down. (Yesterday’s paper referenced a computer virus that was limiting their being able to update.)

 

[rmndcat]

Just curious - were you able to locate a print copy of today’s San Diego Union-Tribune?

When I tried to locate one this morning here in San Diego I was told the paper was down. (Yesterday’s paper referenced a computer virus that was limiting their being able to update.)

I get the e-version weekdays and the paper version on Sundays. I'd be happy to share my PDF, if you'd like. You perhaps could print that. I know it's not quite the same as the street edition.

 

[NUCatVet]

Nice article but again mentions the missing Utah starters without mentioning our equally key missing starters, including our two top receivers who were injured in the first quarter. Whatever, the scoreboard is the best final statement.

I believe that, before the game, Utah made a big deal out of the fact that they were missing their three starters. In typical NU fashion, we don’t make excuses in advance. We just send in the backups and expect them to perform. They did!

 

[NJcatsfan]

I believe that, before the game, Utah made a big deal out of the fact that they were missing their three starters. In typical NU fashion, we don’t make excuses in advance. We just send in the backups and expect them to perform. They did!

I suspect this is true. But it's literally sports journalists' job to figure such things out. FIVE *key* starters were out for all or most of the game, yet our depleted squad came back and beat their depleted squad. Competitive depth!

 

[hdhntr1]

Nice article but again mentions the missing Utah starters without mentioning our equally key missing starters, including our two top receivers who were injured in the first quarter. Whatever, the scoreboard is the best final statement.

Being that the game is in PAC 12 territory, you have to figure they are going to mention the PAC 12 teams handicaps while perhaps slipping a bit on mentioning the opponents

 

[Katatonic]

The worst is that the AP story (carried nationally) mentions the Utah injuries w/o doing the same for NU.

 

[NU-Dog]

Just curious - were you able to locate a print copy of today’s San Diego Union-Tribune?

When I tried to locate one this morning here in San Diego I was told the paper was down. (Yesterday’s paper referenced a computer virus that was limiting their being able to update.)

Yes, I bought one this morning at a 7-11 near our hotel in the Gaslamp.

 

[Katatonic]

I suspect this is true. But it's literally sports journalists' job to figure such things out. FIVE *key* starters were out for all or most of the game, yet our depleted squad came back and beat their depleted squad. Competitive depth!

Make that 6 (Larkin).

 

[Alaskawildkat]

Thanks. Kept looking and found a convenience store that got theirs.

 

[Secho99]

The worst is that the AP story (carried nationally) mentions the Utah injuries w/o doing the same for NU.

As someone who's written a few hundred game stories on deadline for local papers and wire services, I totally understand how in-game context like that gets left out when you're not a writer who's intimately familiar with the teams. Utah's injuries were a pregame storyline, and that's the kind of stuff that makes it into these stories, especially when you're on a west coast game and trying to deliver copy east coast papers can use on their deadlines. And it's especially true when a game turns on a dime like that and you have to command-A-delete what you wrote at halftime and still turn in a full story as soon as the game ends. Ideally writers who do wire copy would have time to really delve into the nuance of a game and mention things like NU's in-game injuries, but time often just doesn't allow for that. I can look back at the majority of stories I've written and find something I wish I would've included, but just didn't have time to think through or research.

 

[Deeringfish]

Five, actually — Thompson, Hall, Hartage, Nagel, and Skowronek were all out before the end of the first quarter. Toss Larkin in there and that’s a whole lot of the week one starting lineup not playing.

Yes but my beef is that they had a whole segment pregame with graphics highlighting how depleted Utah was and no mention of NU's very significant defensive losses. We had multi year starters lost at every level. On top of that their healthy QB was 3-1 coming into the game so he wasn't that bad or inexperienced.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Yes but my beef is that they had a whole segment pregame with graphics highlighting how depleted Utah was and no mention of NU's very significant defensive losses. We had multi year starters lost at every level. On top of that their healthy QB was 3-1 coming into the game so he wasn't that bad or inexperienced.

My guess is that's because Utah's injuries were at more "high profile" positions on offense (QB, RB, and WR) while NU's were on defense (DT, LB, and CB, though Hartage being out was a gameday surprise to the best of my knowledge).

Much easier for the media to craft a story saying "they're missing their leading passer and leading rusher!" than "they're missing a stalwart in run defense and a rangy linebacker who's missed time already this year due to injury!"

 

[EvanstonCat]

As someone who's written a few hundred game stories on deadline for local papers and wire services, I totally understand how in-game context like that gets left out when you're not a writer who's intimately familiar with the teams. Utah's injuries were a pregame storyline, and that's the kind of stuff that makes it into these stories, especially when you're on a west coast game and trying to deliver copy east coast papers can use on their deadlines. And it's especially true when a game turns on a dime like that and you have to command-A-delete what you wrote at halftime and still turn in a full story as soon as the game ends. Ideally writers who do wire copy would have time to really delve into the nuance of a game and mention things like NU's in-game injuries, but time often just doesn't allow for that. I can look back at the majority of stories I've written and find something I wish I would've included, but just didn't have time to think through or research.

No offense, but journalists generally rank on my favorite list just after bankers and lawyers and just a tad ahead of politicians.

The problem with your explanation here is that Hartage was out before the game, as was Larkin, Thompson, and Hall. Actually, we had more starters missing before the game than Utah did and we finished with fewer as well with Skowronek and Nagel going down. Shoddy journalism, but really par for the course.

Never believe what you read in the papers. It's always biased and imperfect, sometimes and more often than not purposely so, but almost always naturally even under the best of intentions to be impossibly objective. Especially since as you've explained, writers are under pressure to get a story out with no chance to do quality research, with impossible deadlines and pervasive agendas to validate one's narrow and imperfect world view.

 

[KramerCat91]

As someone who's written a few hundred game stories on deadline for local papers and wire services, I totally understand how in-game context like that gets left out when you're not a writer who's intimately familiar with the teams. Utah's injuries were a pregame storyline, and that's the kind of stuff that makes it into these stories, especially when you're on a west coast game and trying to deliver copy east coast papers can use on their deadlines. And it's especially true when a game turns on a dime like that and you have to command-A-delete what you wrote at halftime and still turn in a full story as soon as the game ends. Ideally writers who do wire copy would have time to really delve into the nuance of a game and mention things like NU's in-game injuries, but time often just doesn't allow for that. I can look back at the majority of stories I've written and find something I wish I would've included, but just didn't have time to think through or research.

NU's practice of providing non-transparent injury reports probably contributed to the underreporting of NU's handicaps, I'm guessing.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

NU's practice of providing non-transparent injury reports probably contributed to the underreporting of NU's handicaps, I'm guessing.

I can buy that. Injury reports are guarded like the Holy Grail at NU.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

I can buy that. Injury reports are guarded like the Holy Grail at NU.

...but Larkin has been out since week three and there was plenty of notice that Thompson and Hall would be out. Hartage was the only surprise.

 

[harkesnu]

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.co...daybowl-northwestern-utah-20180101-story.html

Y’all may appreciate this one more from the SD paper...

 

[EvanstonCat]

I can buy that. Injury reports are guarded like the Holy Grail at NU.

Whether Huntley was going to play or not was a closely guarded secret or at least a game time decision as well, and all of the players we had out were publicly known to be out.

 

[EvanstonCat]

...but Larkin has been out since week three and there was plenty of notice that Thompson and Hall would be out. Hartage was the only surprise.

Even Teddy tweeted that Hartage was out earlier in the week.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Even Teddy tweeted that Hartage was out earlier in the week.

He did? I was moving and had a lot of family stuff going on around the holidays so could well have missed it, but don't see it on his timeline until just before the game:

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Even Teddy tweeted that Hartage was out earlier in the week.

Ok, but pretty sure if CT, Bowser, and Nagel were announced as out for the game, it would make it into the story.

 

[EvanstonCat]

He did? I was moving and had a lot of family stuff going on around the holidays so could well have missed it, but don't see it on his timeline until just before the game:

View embedded media

I guess earlier in the day not week.

 

[hdhntr1]

As someone who's written a few hundred game stories on deadline for local papers and wire services, I totally understand how in-game context like that gets left out when you're not a writer who's intimately familiar with the teams. Utah's injuries were a pregame storyline, and that's the kind of stuff that makes it into these stories, especially when you're on a west coast game and trying to deliver copy east coast papers can use on their deadlines. And it's especially true when a game turns on a dime like that and you have to command-A-delete what you wrote at halftime and still turn in a full story as soon as the game ends. Ideally writers who do wire copy would have time to really delve into the nuance of a game and mention things like NU's in-game injuries, but time often just doesn't allow for that. I can look back at the majority of stories I've written and find something I wish I would've included, but just didn't have time to think through or research.

But we had plenty of pregame injuries that were somehow overlooked

 

[hdhntr1]

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.co...daybowl-northwestern-utah-20180101-story.html

Y’all may appreciate this one more from the SD paper...

Except, I doubt Fitz was stunned

 

[Deeringfish]

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.co...daybowl-northwestern-utah-20180101-story.html

Y’all may appreciate this one more from the SD paper...

Thanks for that. The author obviously enjoyed watching the game. Fun read.

 

[KramerCat91]

...but Larkin has been out since week three and there was plenty of notice that Thompson and Hall would be out. Hartage was the only surprise.

True, but I think that Larkin was dropped from the injury report some time ago so it takes some investigative journalism for a journalist not on the NU beat to know this. Nonetheless, when the story is Utah has lots of injuries, I expect some investigation into NU's status especially at the end of the season when injuries might have piled up, which is what happened here.

 

[Deeringfish]

True, but I think that Larkin was dropped from the injury report some time ago so it takes some investigative journalism for a journalist not on the NU beat to know this. Nonetheless, when the story is Utah has lots of injuries, I expect some investigation into NU's status especially at the end of the season when injuries might have piled up, which is what happened here.

Larkin did get mentioned at one point, I think.

 

[NJCat]

Larkin did get mentioned at one point, I think.

Yes, they showed a shot of him on the sidelines and said he was a student assistant after retiring.

 

[Secho99]

But we had plenty of pregame injuries that were somehow overlooked

When you're tasked with writing a game story about teams you don't know a lot about, you usually pull tidbits from what the schools make available to you in game notes that are handed out to the media. Broadcasts do this too, they peruse these notes for things they want to mention on TV. Looking at Utah's notes, this is prominently featured:

Starting junior quarterback Tyler Huntley, who missed the last four games with a broken collarbone, has returned to practice and is listed as the co-starter for the bowl game with redshirt freshman Jason Shelley … Unavailable due to season-ending injuries are leading rusher Zack Moss and leading receiver Britain Covey.

Going through NU's notes, I do see a note buried a bit deeper (on page 6) that Nate Hall and Jordan Thompson would miss the game. But otherwise there's no mention of injuries at all. There's also no mention at all of Larkin's situation in the notes.

Basically, Utah chose to point this info out in a way that NU did not. And that contributes to how it's covered. Had NU featured that info it likely would have been discussed/written about more.

But even then, to the average person with no dog in the fight, pregame info about a team's leading QB, RB and WR being missing is going to carry more weight than an LB and DT, even though NH and JT being out was clearly a big story for us.

 

[JoeWildcat]

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.co...daybowl-northwestern-utah-20180101-story.html

Y’all may appreciate this one more from the SD paper...

Maybe it's just because he was saying such good things about NU, but I thought this was a great article. Well written, and just fun to read.

 

[klemman]

The good thing about being in the winning side, it really doesn’t matter whether you had players missing, and the only people who having players missing from the Holiday Bowl who consider it an important issue, is the Utah fans.