Speaking of Sports Column Archive

Inside the Frattohouse

by
Bernie
Fratto

The Business of Covering Sport, may be even bigger than sport itself

September 15, 2008

A lot has happened in the last generation… Particularly in the world of High School Athletics. In 1974, the advent of Title IX provided gender equity opportunities for female athletes, and the results have been phenomenal.

Mia Hamm, Misti May Treanor, and Jennie Finch became household names as a result. Athletes have gotten bigger, stronger and faster as well. The scope of athletic programs has grown exponentially.

No longer are football, basketball and baseball the most visible and recognizable. Indoor and outdoor, fall, winter, and spring, individual and team sports, you name it, and there's just about something for everybody.

But perhaps the biggest change has been the way high school sports are covered vis a vis the media. It used to be getting your name in the paper after a great performance or a nice victory was a big deal. It still is, but it's just a part of the mix now.

Around the nation there are over 1,000 student run high school radio stations, that cover play by play, sports features, and sports talk. ESPN, and many local TV network affiliates offer programming dedicated to highlighting the achievements of high school athletes and their teams.

Multiple publications now exist on a national level that feature powerhouse teams, recruiting updates, and state championship results. The USA Today newspaper routinely publishes national rankings for almost all major sports on a weekly basis.

The advent of the Internet, however has been the most amazing development. Studentsports.com and varsityonline.com are just two examples. They are informational, entertaining, easily accessible and they provide immediacy.

Here in Novi we are fortunate to have the services of two terrific website creators: Scott Olson has created comprehensive websites for Novi Hockey and Cross-Country, and Willa Mena has done the same for Wildcat Football.

In addition results of local contests are updated on the web, including this website, daily, duly crediting athletes and their teams for the sacrifices they make and the successes they produce.

Parental and administrative support, coupled with coaching designed to bring out the best in student/athletes provide a vehicle for amateur athletes to flourish.

Covering the wide world of high school sports has grown proportionally in print, on TV/Radio, and on the Internet. The world of High School sports has changed, hopefully for the better.

But the one thing we hope never changes -- the love of the game.

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Bernie Fratto is a freelance writer, radio personality, and motivational speaker. His passion for sports comes in part from his experience as a former Cincinnati Red farm- hand. "Behind every sports story lies the hearts and minds of real human beings" said Fratto. "These athletic endeavors often serve as a metaphor for the game we call life."

Bernie is also on the broadcast team at Live 97.1FM talk-radio, and is a frequent co-host on the popular "Parker & The Man Show," a nightly sportstalk show which airs Monday-Friday from 7-11pm.