The teams are warming up. The athletes are hot. Sports journalists are also hot.
I spent the second half of last week singing around the newsroom and in our meetings about the work our writers, reporters and sports columnists have accomplished so far this month. This is an incredible writing team, among the best, if not THE best in the nation.
My hype within the department about our hot streak led me to this idea: I want to tell you about our editorial team, numbering two dozen, and mix in some acknowledgments for their recent work. October is our busiest month, beating out March Madness for full-throttle sports journalism at the Star Tribune. Our sports journalists matched this month’s madness with excellence. Come take a tour of the Star Tribune Sports department with me…
The month couldn’t have started off in a busier way. A little after 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 1, Bob Timmons called me. I had my keys in hand, ready for a pre-dawn drive downtown to run the Twin Cities 10 Mile. “They just canceled it. The whole thing,” Timmons said, referring to the all-day 10 Mile, Twin Cities Marathon. Bob worked all day on that story, then guided, in his role as interim editor, our follow-up coverage that week. Bob also writes stories every week; this gem from a recent BWCA trip was also released this month.
Bob’s partner in Outdoors coverage is Tony Kennedy. “Keep your ear to the ground” is an old cliché (and funny visual) of news reporting, but that’s why Tony knew about it Trae Waynes becomes a player in the hunting and hunting games. I love how expansive and well reported this story is. This is our Sunday Sports coverage this morning.
Sarah McLellan and Chris Hine are in the early days of their new seasons covering the Wild and Wolves, respectively. These two are in their prime, and with a few years now on their beats, it shows so often. Our goal is to show more often this winter how good these two are at reporting, drafting and analyzing these teams. Sarah wrote with authority during the first week of the season about the team’s journeyand Chris returned this week with a clever story about big team expenses And took part in the banal fan debate over “Who owns this team?” »
You probably read Phil Miller and Bobby Nightengale every day for more than two weeks before, during and after the Twins’ playoff run earlier this month. La Velle columnist E. Neal III was also in postseason mode, sometimes writing two or three times a day. Team Strib, occupying several chairs in the Target Field press box for these games, hit their baseball stride at just the right time. Also keep an eye out for news from Phil and Bobby.
La Velle is one of five sports columnists. Others:
Jim Souhan spends most of his time in the fall writing about Vikings. There’s at least one must-read Vikings column from Jim every week. Check Today – a Vikings-Packers angle I hadn’t thought of.
Patrick Reusse likes to throw curveballs. Example: write about Jim Pete instead of planning for the loooong NBA season. Some of you don’t miss a Dennis Anderson column; definitely take the time if the topic is dogs Or ducks. And Chip Scoggins says some interesting things Football Chronicles across Minnesota every week while juggling other topics and preparing his next story in depth (pssst: his next one is coming in two weeks). You can’t get what our columnists write anywhere else. Exclusivity is important. Excellence is important. You get both with our team of columnists.
You may have missed, in the blur of early October, that Big Ten men’s and women’s basketball media days were in town. Kent Youngblood and Marcus Fuller invaded Target Center, providing all-day coverage, both days. Favorites: Kent on “Dawny P” and Marcus on the the future of Gophers men’s and women’s basketball in the expanding Big Ten.
Staying on college sports:
Randy Johnson continues to produce superb copies of the pace of Gophers football. His work in Iowa was excellent (as was Fleas): great game storyfollow-up stories like this one who painted a picture of what this victory looked like, team analysis and more. RJ’s reporting last week also saw him take a grassroots approach to his Insider on the national story of the Michigan sign-stealing controversy. I hadn’t been following this story very closely, and Randy’s clear and explanatory writing made it easy for me to catch up. And you’ll find RJ’s coverage of another University of Manitoba victory yesterday. here. The Gophers are on a winning streak and so is RJ.
We want to find ways to cover Gophers men’s and women’s hockey and Gophers volleyball more often – in part because readers are strong on this coverage (our analytics tell us so). One of the main reasons this cover is appealing is the two writers leading the way: Rachel Blount and Jeff Day. Two of the best wordsmiths we have (do people use that word outside of newsrooms?). Hockey games are interesting right now, and Rachel even did a report on the shrinking of a very interesting hockey rink earlier this month. Jeff commits to covering the volleyball team, and it pays off with stories like this. “What’s wrong?” analysis and that exclusive on star player/transfer Carter Booth. What’s working here with these two? Commitment, use of access, credibility, excellent interview and hustle skills.
Regular readers of this note know that I am proud of our high school sports coverage. David La Vaque and Jim Paulsen lead the way, while Ron Haggstrom and Joel Rippel report and grind dang almost every day during the school year. A very strong sense of duty with this crew, which means we are very lucky to have them.
“Where’s Rand? You know I love daily delivery.” I hear this every now and then from a friend when Michael Rand takes one of his rare days off. (You know you have a good thing when people miss it when it’s not there, right?) If you don’t listen every day, try our daily podcast several times in the coming weeks and let us know what you think. You can read Rand every day of the week online too.
How about this from Jerry Zgoda as Minnesota United’s season came to a close: analyzing the Loons’ playoff storylines, then preparing for the final game, covering the last game (loss), his “And now?” historyand finally a Loons roster analysis player by player. Challenging pace, moving parts and structures, unique structures in football – and Jerry hit the right notes at the end of another long season.
Finally, we thank our team of Vikings beat writers: Ben Goessling, Andrew Krammer and Mark Craig. Here’s what I’ll say about those three (and senior associate sports editor Naila-Jean Meyers): The Star Tribune’s coverage of the Vikings, one of the most important stories in the newsroom due to its popularity across the state, has been overwhelming for 21 months. It has always been strong. And it’s not just Ben, Andrew, Mark and Naila (Rand, Souhan, Chip and other writers who weigh in). I write with confidence, however, that this beat team has put distance between its work and that which comes from the big pack that covers this team in January 2022 and has not given up. I know I’m biased, but I see a big gap now. This is a gap I was hoping to see in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and we were close then, and then the humans, the plans, the ambition, and the collaboration all clicked 21 months ago, in this moment franchise change news. They impress me so often now with their ideas, their execution, their enthusiasm and their teamwork. A super competitive pace, surrounded by talented writers and journalists. I see what we do every day – look at the variety of stories right now on our Vikings page — and I often think this: I can’t imagine trying to follow this team, much less be a fan of this team, without a Star Tribune subscription.
You are still reading this and it means a lot to me. These two dozen pros are very good, very pleasant to work with and – I love that last part – they are very good to each other. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Last thing — to our subscribers: We wouldn’t have 24 sports journalists without your commitment to us and your support of the Star Tribune. THANKS.
