Argus Leader

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Argus Leader

I've enjoyed his positional breakdown pieces previewing the football season. Haven't seen them posted here at all.

[OldHare]

Re: Argus Leader

Zimmer did have a tweet yesterday on the 2017 recruit for WBB out of North Dakota. That is a positive step.

[MrAugustana]

Re: Argus Leader

I'm not just talking about his coverage lacking in quantity, but quality as well. It could be that I just don't like his style, it's just so matter of fact, no personality.

For the most part, that's how news reporting is actually supposed to be. Is that your opinion of his actual news stories as well as his blog posts, or just his news stories? I feel like his blog posts show more of his personality. Then again, Zimmer's personality overall isn't exactly as sunny and cheery as Vandrovec's was, so that in and of itself might make it feel drier.

I'm also guessing part of that lack of "personality" comes from the fact that, on his old beat, Zimmer really didn't have the luxury of cheering on a certain team or even acting overly positive about one. He spent 6-7 years with people regularly accusing him of favoring/supporting Augie over USF or USF over Augie (as his pre-SDSU live chats can attest to). I can see how, over time, that turned into an effort to be as objective as possible, or face [pretty stupid] accusations of favoritism. And, not surprisingly, the resulting objectivity tended to be drier than subjectivity probably would've been.

If Terry had been covering both the SDSU and USD beats for the past several years, I'd imagine he probably would've been more matter of fact than he really had to be when he was covering SDSU only.

Personally, I'll be disappointed if Zimmer is officially named the SDSU beat writer. I'd really love to see him back solely covering Augie and USF.

As far as the recruiting coverage goes, the dude is covering three schools in multiple sports--football, men's and women's basketball, wrestling, baseball, softball, volleyball...just those alone make up 21 (TWENTY ONE) teams' worth of recruiting news. That is an incredible number of rumors and offers--we're not talking just commitments here--to try to keep up with, retweet, write about, etc.

I appreciate that so many of you SDSU fans have high expectations of your beat writer. I just think your standards are a little out of touch with the current reality of the situation. Like several people (such as Jacked4Days) have suggested so far, give the dude a chance to cover just one beat before bemoaning his "lack of coverage" or the style of said lack of coverage. Or don't. But, from the sound of things on this thread, he's going to be the SDSU beat writer. So you can give him a chance, or just complain about him on some anonymous message board. Either way, as an Augie fan, I'd take him back in about half a second if the fans had any vote in the matter. Alas, we do not.

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: Argus Leader

For the most part, that's how news reporting is actually supposed to be. Is that your opinion of his actual news stories as well as his blog posts, or just his news stories? I feel like his blog posts show more of his personality. Then again, Zimmer's personality overall isn't exactly as sunny and cheery as Vandrovec's was, so that in and of itself might make it feel drier.

I'm also guessing part of that lack of "personality" comes from the fact that, on his old beat, Zimmer really didn't have the luxury of cheering on a certain team or even acting overly positive about one. He spent 6-7 years with people regularly accusing him of favoring/supporting Augie over USF or USF over Augie (as his pre-SDSU live chats can attest to). I can see how, over time, that turned into an effort to be as objective as possible, or face [pretty stupid] accusations of favoritism. And, not surprisingly, the resulting objectivity tended to be drier than subjectivity probably would've been.

If Terry had been covering both the SDSU and USD beats for the past several years, I'd imagine he probably would've been more matter of fact than he really had to be when he was covering SDSU only.

Personally, I'll be disappointed if Zimmer is officially named the SDSU beat writer. I'd really love to see him back solely covering Augie and USF.

As far as the recruiting coverage goes, the dude is covering three schools in multiple sports--football, men's and women's basketball, wrestling, baseball, softball, volleyball...just those alone make up 21 (TWENTY ONE) teams' worth of recruiting news. That is an incredible number of rumors and offers--we're not even talking commitments here--to try to keep up with, retweet, write about, etc.

I appreciate that so many of you SDSU fans have high expectations of your beat writer. I just think your standards are a little out of touch with the current reality of the situation. Like several people (such as Jacked4Days) have suggested so far, give the dude a chance to cover just one beat before bemoaning his "lack of coverage" or the style of said lack of coverage. Or don't. But, from the sound of things on this thread, he's going to be the SDSU beat writer. So you can give him a chance, or just complain about him on some anonymous message board. Either way, as an Augie fan, I'd take him back in about half a second if the fans had any vote in the matter. Alas, we do not.

Great post. I'm excited to have Matt covering the Jacks if that is indeed the case moving forward. I like his writing style and think he'll do great when he can focus on one beat. I told him as much, and thanked him for what he'd been doing this spring/summer, when I ran into him a few weeks ago at an event in Sioux Falls.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Argus Leader

For the most part, that's how news reporting is actually supposed to be. Is that your opinion of his actual news stories as well as his blog posts, or just his news stories? I feel like his blog posts show more of his personality. Then again, Zimmer's personality overall isn't exactly as sunny and cheery as Vandrovec's was, so that in and of itself might make it feel drier.

I'm also guessing part of that lack of "personality" comes from the fact that, on his old beat, Zimmer really didn't have the luxury of cheering on a certain team or even acting overly positive about one. He spent 6-7 years with people regularly accusing him of favoring/supporting Augie over USF or USF over Augie (as his pre-SDSU live chats can attest to). I can see how, over time, that turned into an effort to be as objective as possible, or face [pretty stupid] accusations of favoritism. And, not surprisingly, the resulting objectivity tended to be drier than subjectivity probably would've been.

If Terry had been covering both the SDSU and USD beats for the past several years, I'd imagine he probably would've been more matter of fact than he really had to be when he was covering SDSU only.

Personally, I'll be disappointed if Zimmer is officially named the SDSU beat writer. I'd really love to see him back solely covering Augie and USF.

As far as the recruiting coverage goes, the dude is covering three schools in multiple sports--football, men's and women's basketball, wrestling, baseball, softball, volleyball...just those alone make up 21 (TWENTY ONE) teams' worth of recruiting news. That is an incredible number of rumors and offers--we're not talking just commitments here--to try to keep up with, retweet, write about, etc.

I appreciate that so many of you SDSU fans have high expectations of your beat writer. I just think your standards are a little out of touch with the current reality of the situation. Like several people (such as Jacked4Days) have suggested so far, give the dude a chance to cover just one beat before bemoaning his "lack of coverage" or the style of said lack of coverage. Or don't. But, from the sound of things on this thread, he's going to be the SDSU beat writer. So you can give him a chance, or just complain about him on some anonymous message board. Either way, as an Augie fan, I'd take him back in about half a second if the fans had any vote in the matter. Alas, we do not.

Agreed. +rep

He put out another article today on the defensive line situation for Augie, USF, and SDSU going into the season. I also like the objectivity he brings to the beat, with a little humor thrown in as well.

[Nidaros]

Re: Argus Leader

We can't expect any reporter to wear yellow and blue glasses. SDSU does not own the Argus. TV reminded us of that during live chat several times as I recall.

[GopherHole]

Re: Argus Leader

While I've been cautiously optimistic that Zimmer would step up his game to provide newsworthy information on the Jacks, I feel I was rewarded with his camp update story posted last night. It really appears he dug deep to get depth chart developments by going to multiple coaches. He asked hard, probing questions and was rewarded with good information. He reported both the positive developments and the coaches disappointments at different positions. That is news to me that a sports information director can't post.

I even got a chuckle out of his questions regarding the merits of using more 3-4 defensive formations versus the 4-3 alignment. Sounds like he found differing opinions from Stig and Brown, but kept it in a positive note.

I'd post the comments here, but the Argus appears to be protecting their content better by not allowing me to copy and paste segments. I can't blame them, they have to get paid for their work.

[Southeast]

Re: Argus Leader

Good in-depth article by Zimmer. Much better than most of the things he's produced since camp opened. Hopefully we could expect a lot of that if he is given the full-time job.

[SlapJack]

Re: Argus Leader

For those who missed Zimmer's live chat yesterday (8/18/15), a few people lamented the drop/lack of SDSU coverage since he's been cover 3 schools. It was apparent that Zim is well aware of this criticism and immediately pushed back. From the chat:

Comment: "Argus needs to step up its coverage of SDSU football. Lacking so far."

Zim: "Really? They've been practicing less than two weeks and i've been there five times. The update I'm working on today will be my 7th since practice started. I'm pretty certain you didn't get 7 updates in the first two weeks of camp last year."

Another Comment Later in the Chat: "Argus needs to step up the SDSU coverage period, it's declined since TV left and having an interim situation for so long isn't fair to the public or the writer.:

Zim: "How has it declined? Our Summit Lg. basketball coverage was identical to the year before. I asked Terry how often he covered spring football and he said once a week. So I went twice a week. I gave baseball three times the coverage Terry ever did. Reader response was disappointing. And like I said, you've had more football camp stories this year than you did last year. I fully expected to get the 'You're not as good as Terry' treatment, but to say you're getting less content is not factual."

Zim also commented about the Argus accommodating a fair amount of overtime pay for him while he's been covering so much.

I don't have a strong opinion on this topic, but I thought the comments above were good food for thought.

[JackJD]

Re: Argus Leader

Thanks for the post, SlapJack. I did not follow the live chat and I appreciated you selecting those particular comments.

Personally, I think Zim has done some good work. Jacks fans will never think the coverage is enough. Zim is not a promoter of a particular school: he is trying to be a reporter. As fans interested in everything we can read about SDSU sports, are we doing enough by buying the Argus Leader?

[propar80]

Re: Argus Leader

I read through it this morning. Those of you complaining...STFU...it's bad-form and you're making all of us look bad. If you going to be a dick, at least put you're full name to the question on his form. If you don't you just look like a pu$$y.

Go Jacks!

[JackJD]

Re: Argus Leader

And there you have it, two approaches to a similar message: SlapJack's suggestion of "good food for thought" and propar80's more direct approach "STFU".

Journalists are accustomed to criticism. They learn real quickly that somebody gets upset almost every time they write a news story. But, seems to me, some who are being tough on Zim may want to reconsider or tone it down. Again, journalists understand well the cliché comparing opinions to bellybuttons (or some other body part): everybody's got one. I think a better approach is for a lot of Jacks fans purchasing the Argus Leader and giving positive feedback.






P.S. Don't talk to me about Stu.

[joeboo22]

Re: Argus Leader

I think Zim is making a good point, the amount of articles that are coming out are similar, the difference is most of them also have USF and Augie stuff on them (which is part of his job).

The thing that made Terry better is he had a ton of connections and sources inside the program, he was on top of recruiting because he knew who to contact to get that information, Zim doesn't have that yet, and probably never will unless he becomes the full-time beat writer.

Zim loves baseball and loves the Twins, and he will continue to tweet, write and talk about it.

I thought when it came to on the field reports, Zim did a really good job with the baseball team, Terry wrote a bunch about the team, but it was more minor league prospects, coaches, recruits and stories rather than a ton of game reports.

I don't think complaining to Zim is going to help the cause anymore, rather ask is the argus going to hire a full-time beat? That is the question, now if Zim was the full-time SDSU beat and they hired an USF and Augie guy who also did baseball, and Zim continued to do USF and Augie and Baseball stuff then I'd complain, but until then, its not the end of the world.

[RowdyRabbit]

Re: Argus Leader

For those who missed Zimmer's live chat yesterday (8/18/15), a few people lamented the drop/lack of SDSU coverage since he's been cover 3 schools. It was apparent that Zim is well aware of this criticism and immediately pushed back. From the chat:

Comment: "Argus needs to step up its coverage of SDSU football. Lacking so far."

Zim: "Really? They've been practicing less than two weeks and i've been there five times. The update I'm working on today will be my 7th since practice started. I'm pretty certain you didn't get 7 updates in the first two weeks of camp last year."

Another Comment Later in the Chat: "Argus needs to step up the SDSU coverage period, it's declined since TV left and having an interim situation for so long isn't fair to the public or the writer.:

Zim: "How has it declined? Our Summit Lg. basketball coverage was identical to the year before. I asked Terry how often he covered spring football and he said once a week. So I went twice a week. I gave baseball three times the coverage Terry ever did. Reader response was disappointing. And like I said, you've had more football camp stories this year than you did last year. I fully expected to get the 'You're not as good as Terry' treatment, but to say you're getting less content is not factual."

Zim also commented about the Argus accommodating a fair amount of overtime pay for him while he's been covering so much.

I don't have a strong opinion on this topic, but I thought the comments above were good food for thought.

Good, I'm glad Zimmer had some factual rebuttals ready. People have been idiots about the whole thing.

[jack power]

Re: Argus Leader

And there you have it, two approaches to a similar message: SlapJack's suggestion of "good food for thought" and propar80's more direct approach "STFU".

Journalists are accustomed to criticism. They learn real quickly that somebody gets upset almost every time they write a news story. But, seems to me, some who are being tough on Zim may want to reconsider or tone it down. Again, journalists understand well the cliché comparing opinions to bellybuttons (or some other body part): everybody's got one. I think a better approach is for a lot of Jacks fans purchasing the Argus Leader and giving positive feedback.






P.S. Don't talk to me about Stu.

Here's a third: There was about 70 or 80 questions and comments. Saying 2 general complaints about the the SDSU coverage "makes us all look bad" is hyperbole.

With that said, if people have complaints i would think the live chat would be the perfect forum to tell him what content they would like to see. If reasonable, i'm guessing Zim. would do his best to put something out.

I hope he gets the SDSU beat. I like the stuff he's already put out and think he would be great at it full time.