Comments on: Who Gets More Coverage – The Red Sox or Cowboys?

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:15:58 +0000

Maybe you should go back in time and explain to the Royal Rooters they didn’t exist? Say hi to Fred McGreevey for me…

BTW: the Red Sox bandwagon began in 1967. Not 1975 and not 2004. 1967.

By: Classless

Classless — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 05:56:01 +0000

The Sox a phenomenon 105 years ago? Are you serious? Nobody cared until Carlton Fisk hit the foul pole.

By: Classless

Classless — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 05:52:47 +0000

While I share your disdain for the Cowboys, you sound a bit foolish ridiculing the coverage of the Cowboys because they haven’t won recently. As I remember, the Red Sox had 86 years of futility. The Cowboys only a decade.

By: W. Shedd

W. Shedd — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:24:44 +0000

I didn’t think that Albert Breer even made a strong case for the Cowboys having more press coverage than the Patriots … let alone the Red Sox. Has he so quickly forgotten how many newspapers and television stations there are in New England region that cover these teams? This market and region is much more media saturated than Dallas-Fort Worth. He makes a case that the Dallas Morning News has several reporters full-time in Cowboys training camp. But how many newspapers in New England are blogging and writing about the Patriots on a daily basis?

His argument seems to be that 1 newspaper doing a lot of coverage is bigger and better than 6 newspapers providing strong news coverage. This is a weak argument, in my opinion.

Further, when considering the media coverage of the Red Sox, there is now an international component that does not exist for the Dallas Cowboys.

Heck, in Boston we have blogs like BSMW, that discuss the reporters, newspapers, TV, and other blogs that are covering the sports in the region. Dallas sports fans are simply not that sort of critical thinkers.

For the record, I have family in Dallas-Fort Worth, have visited there many times, and they agree with this assessment. I think Breer just has stars in his eyes (pun) with his new job, which is fine.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:01:44 +0000

Besides habit, it has to do with the amount of fans that want to see coverage. The stadium was 50/50 cowboys/cardinals fans earlier this season in Arizona.

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:47:43 +0000

I didn’t know they had sports other than football in Texas. To be fair, you do have to factor in baseball’s much longer schedule. With 162 games, the Cowboys could get 5x as much attention during the season and still lose out to the Red Sox. But as a baseball fan, I’m a bit biased.

By: Rick Mc

Rick Mc — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:59:58 +0000

Comparing the current Red Sox sellouts to the 1970s and 1980s isn’t entirely appropriate either. Baseball attendance all over has gone up. The Red Sox won 3 division titles in five years and weren’t banging out Fenway on a regular basis. Interest in attending baseball games has increased both because of the Red Sox success and for some other underlying reasons.

By: Edward

Edward — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:14:31 +0000

As a Massachusetts native and life long Red Sox fan now living in Dallas, I think Breer has it right on all counts.

Two additional observations from my vantage point:

1) Much of the coverage of the Cowboys is not the X’s and O’s, game breakdown, intense gridiron analysis but is more of the tabloid/Page Six style coverage, i.e., “Where’s Jessica? What does Pacman’s mom think?”

This is especially true since Breer left the DMN. While he was at the DMN there was a pronounced shift in tone to more serious football coverage, but that has all but vanished in his absence.

2) Another big similarity between Dallas media coverage of the Cowboys and Boston media coverage of the Red Sox is just how bitter and negative it can be. Unfortunately, the DMN has its share of journalists cut from the same cloth as the CHB, Borges, and Tomase who thrive on nastiness and what reads like personal vendetta.

In particular, I’ve been amused at the striking similarity between the Boston media’s coverage of Manny while he was a Red Sox and Dallas’ coverage of T.O. You could pretty much take any too columns and swaps the names and football/baseball references and they’d be identical.

I joked with a buddy the other day that if T.O. were seen walking on water, the headline in the DMN would be “T.O. CANNOT SWIM!!!”

By: sam the butcher

sam the butcher — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:43:53 +0000

Stated perfectly!

By: Mark from Plano - i.e. Dallas

Mark from Plano - i.e. Dallas — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:58:40 +0000

I grew up in Fort Worth, and because the Rangers were in my county – Tarrant – and not name Dallas – instead “Texas” – I always was a bigger fan for them. Of course, now the Cowboys are moving to Tarrant county right by my Rangers. But for me, I prefer a Rangers championship more than a Cowboys championship, because to me, it is the underdog/non-achiever argument. I’m a Texas Tech Grad, and last Saturday night’s result didn’t surprise me – and if the Pokes come back and win the SB it’s great, but not ground-breaking – they’ve already won 5! The Rangers win – I’ll be dancing in the streets, to steal a line from a VH song!