MEDIA RANT #2
I've had enough. I bought a paper today (I know, I know, I shouldn't have but I get Thursday's paper for the TV guide) and first up my eyes get drawn to the sports briefings where I learn that NZ have to travel to Kazakhstan to play their semi-final Asia/Oceania Group 2 Davis Cup tie in April.
Whoop-de-farkin-do. This comes after yesterday's effort where in the same briefings I'm hugely impressed to find out that Mark Nielsen LOST his first-round match at the Sydney Futures event. The last paper that I bought before yesterday was last Friday where, wading through the Super 14 previews I had to sidestep a quarter-page article on NZ's chances in its first-round tie against that tennis sporting powerhouse, Lebanon. I'm glad I skipped Monday's paper where I presume there was massive coverage of our tremedous victory (I assume we won because we're now going to Kazakhstan).
Does anyone out there actually give a toss at all this? New Zealand sucks at tennis. Badly. Winning a regional Group 2 tie (that's one level down from Group 1, which is one level down from the World Group, so it's the equivalent of English Division 2 soccer, which unfortunately also gets a bit of press because of the 3 NZ players playing it) is not news. Mark Nielsen, in case anybody has not heard of him, is NZ's highest-ranked player at number 300 in the world. Him losing a first-round futures event (which is one level down from Challenger events, which is one level down from the "real" events) is not news.
Now Maria Sharapove losing her virginity to A-Rod would be news. And some pictures would be nice too. And this is the problem. Tennis, being one of the few truly global sports, gets coverage here because of it, but for some reason, the media here thinks that translates to interest by our public into how our NZ tennis players are doing.
Well it doesn't. NZ is a proud sporting nation that generally puches above it's weight. But not in tennis. Definitely not in tennis. And, like any good family, we want to keep our skeletons in the closet and not be reminded of how shit we are at this global game. SO STOP FRIGGIN' PUTTING "NEWS" OF OUR TENNIS PLAYERS AND RESULTS IN THE PAPER.
Yes I am pissed off because there are many other sports out there, Orienteering included, where NZ doesn't do so bad and gets fuck-all coverage. And why don't we get coverage? Because the papers tell us there's not enough room to put all the sports news in. No friggin' surprise when it's full of crap about crap New Zealand tennis players.
Whoop-de-farkin-do. This comes after yesterday's effort where in the same briefings I'm hugely impressed to find out that Mark Nielsen LOST his first-round match at the Sydney Futures event. The last paper that I bought before yesterday was last Friday where, wading through the Super 14 previews I had to sidestep a quarter-page article on NZ's chances in its first-round tie against that tennis sporting powerhouse, Lebanon. I'm glad I skipped Monday's paper where I presume there was massive coverage of our tremedous victory (I assume we won because we're now going to Kazakhstan).
Does anyone out there actually give a toss at all this? New Zealand sucks at tennis. Badly. Winning a regional Group 2 tie (that's one level down from Group 1, which is one level down from the World Group, so it's the equivalent of English Division 2 soccer, which unfortunately also gets a bit of press because of the 3 NZ players playing it) is not news. Mark Nielsen, in case anybody has not heard of him, is NZ's highest-ranked player at number 300 in the world. Him losing a first-round futures event (which is one level down from Challenger events, which is one level down from the "real" events) is not news.
Now Maria Sharapove losing her virginity to A-Rod would be news. And some pictures would be nice too. And this is the problem. Tennis, being one of the few truly global sports, gets coverage here because of it, but for some reason, the media here thinks that translates to interest by our public into how our NZ tennis players are doing.
Well it doesn't. NZ is a proud sporting nation that generally puches above it's weight. But not in tennis. Definitely not in tennis. And, like any good family, we want to keep our skeletons in the closet and not be reminded of how shit we are at this global game. SO STOP FRIGGIN' PUTTING "NEWS" OF OUR TENNIS PLAYERS AND RESULTS IN THE PAPER.
Yes I am pissed off because there are many other sports out there, Orienteering included, where NZ doesn't do so bad and gets fuck-all coverage. And why don't we get coverage? Because the papers tell us there's not enough room to put all the sports news in. No friggin' surprise when it's full of crap about crap New Zealand tennis players.
Labels: media
posted by Rob Crawford at 12:19 PM
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