Amy Stocklein
Crader at the State Journal, keeping an eye on multiple sports.
Try reading a newspaper.
That statement used to be an insult, an admonishment to someone who expressed ignorance of the wider world. The sentiment was that getting up to speed was not difficult and by performing the simple task of picking up the local paper, one could wise up.
But here I’m offering it as encouragement, particularly because Madison’s daily paper, the Wisconsin State Journal, is doing interesting things in its sports section. And if you’re anything like the people I talk with about sports — fans who rely on a combination of sports talk radio, Twitter, fan-focused websites and ESPN to get their information and conversation starters — it’s been a while since you sat down with a print sports section.
Madison-area Badgers fans should consider changing that.
“Our local sports content, specifically with collegiate athletics, is stronger than ever before,” says Jason Adrians, executive editor at the State Journal.
Adrians is an enthusiastic and biased cheerleader for his team, but he’s not wrong. I’ve been reading the State Journal’s sports section for more than 30 years and I don’t recall ever enjoying it like I do now.
Adrians is quick to credit sports editor Rachel Crader, who leads the paper’s sports department along with serving as the national sports editor for Lee Enterprises, the State Journal’s parent company: “I’ve never seen a more collaborative sports editor in my career. She makes everyone around her more excited.”
Jim Polzin, a 25-year sportswriting veteran who switched over to writing columns last summer, taking over for the retired Tom Oates, says his boss has improved his work: “It took a couple months of Rachel Crader offering encouragement and some much-needed constructive criticism before I finally started to feel more comfortable about my voice in columns.”
In a market where many editors were first beat reporters with familiar bylines and long records of establishing local credibility, Crader is a relative outsider. She graduated in 2009 from the University of Missouri and made stops in Kansas City, San Diego and Baltimore, writing sports columns, directing digital coverage and running social media accounts, before arriving at Lee, where she oversees from Madison the flow of national sports news into the company’s 77 newspapers around the country.
In her work for the State Journal, she accomplishes the paper’s goal of being more engaging, even conversational with readers. Crader brings a passion for sports but she is also driven to win the daily news cycle.
“I always liked sports. But more than that — and this wasn’t always a positive thing — I was born very, very competitive,” she says. “If you want to talk about book reports: competitive. Wanna talk about grades? Competitive. So for me that kind of led to sports, rather than the other way around. Some people are good at sports and they learned to be competitive.”
As a kid, her avenue for competition was volleyball, a sport in which her tiny high school in Leopold, Missouri, excelled.
“Girls volleyball was king. People cared about girls volleyball more than the boys basketball team, more than the baseball team, more than anything,” Crader says. “So I grew up thinking that was normal. … Without realizing it at the time, it’s something that really stuck with me that girls sports and me being really competitive was something the whole town could take pride in.”
That understanding for the community pride that goes along with teams fuels the changes on the sports page. As is the case with a lot of daily newspaper journalism, the tone has become less dictatorial and more conversational. And while the reporters are still covering the same games, talking to the same coaches and players after practice, they’re presenting it in new ways.
Crader looks at it this way: “How do we package our journalism?”
In addition to the standard narrative game stories, readers now find “instant analysis” and “3 things that stood out” items. These feel like the “Did you watch that game?” conversations you might have with friends — if those friends spent a lot of time watching game film and interviewing players and coaches.
After each Badgers game, Polzin tweets a request for fan reactions and compiles responses into an item. He constructs “Open Jim” in a similar way and the result can make for some provocative headlines, like: “Why isn’t Wisconsin football quarterback Graham Mertz as good as touted?”
“Everyone needs someone to bounce ideas off of, someone to help them figure out what they think sometimes,” Crader says. She encouraged Polzin to think about his material as a columnist would, instead of as a beat reporter. ”My goal wasn’t to tell him what to think or tell him what I think. My role is to ask him questions and prod him. What’s interesting about this, or, what makes you think that?”
Those covering sports for newspapers and television stations long ago shook off the “toy department” title bestowed on them by their colleagues who work on more serious journalism. Sports are important not just for fans, but the economic development of communities like Madison, Milwaukee and Green Bay. Journalists understand that.
“If I take 20 calls from readers a week — and it’s much more than that — I would say between 10 and 14 are about sports coverage,” Adrians says. “People who care about sports are passionate about it and in turn are passionate about the coverage.”
Big Games
WIAA State Boys Basketball Tournament, Thursday-Saturday, March 17-19, Kohl Center
For those who don’t just splash around in March Madness, but look to practically drown in the brackets, buzzer beaters and upsets that make tournament basketball so fun, the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments aren’t enough. While the state girls high school tournament moved to Green Bay years ago (just can’t beat the parking up there, fantastic parking), the boys have stayed at the Kohl Center, where games start Thursday afternoon.
Milwaukee Bucks at Memphis, Saturday, March 26, 7 p.m.; at Philadelphia, Tuesday, March 29, 6 p.m.; at Brooklyn, Thursday, March 31, 6:30 p.m.
The NBA playoffs don’t start until mid-April, but this three-game road trip against three of the league’s best teams will give fans a nice look at how prepared the Bucks are for the postseason. Memphis guard Ja Morant is the most exciting player in the game right now, Philadelphia is learning where James Harden fits in, and Brooklyn is trying to figure out how much it can rely on Kyrie Irving.
Wisconsin softball vs. Indiana, April 1-3, Goodman Diamond
The reality of college softball in the northern states is the home schedule doesn’t start until the season is two months old, and even then the grounds crew might have to remove snow from the outfield. The Badgers have played some tough teams in the non-conference schedule and are always fun to watch at Goodman.
