Media Coverage - or lack thereof

While the Revs finished out the regular season on a molten-hot unbeaten streak, the Providence Journal, the finest newspaper this side of South County, has devoted the equivalent of approximately one-half of a page to their recent winning ways.

I understand some of the reasoning - former Revs beat writer, Shalise Manza Young, who did a stellar job keeping up with Steve Nicol's boys, was assigned to cover Foxboro's other football team, the Patriots, in lieu of Tom Curran's (former Pats beat writer) recent departure from the paper. All of this movement leaves the Projo without any local coverage of the Revs, save for the obligatory two paragraph summation and accompanying scoreline, courtesy of the Associated Press. In the words of the late Rodney Dangerfield "I tell ya, I can't any respect!"


Add that to the fact that even the local news stations have been hard pressed to provide video highlights of recent matches and it's enough to make this soccer newbie, so eager to absorb as much soccer info as possible, raise his fist in the air, cursing the producers of these so-called newscasts.

Of course, the spotlight will shine back brighter should our beloved Revolutionaries reach the Conference Final, or dare I say it, the MLS Cup Final. I vaguely remember this was the case last year, although I'm not certain, since I wasn't paying attention at this point last year.

In any event, this lack of coverage often makes me wonder whether this team isn't respected enough by the media. I know soccer isn't the sports conglomerate it is overseas and abroad, but something has to be done to address this. The outstanding coverage provided by revsnet.com, Espnsoccernet, and the Boston Globe website, in my opinion, make up for the lack of coverage from Projo, local news, and other media outlets.

I suppose with success, comes attention. If there were anything else at stake come November 12th MLS Cup date (should the Revs reach this peak), it would be the added fanfare that would come along with being a champion of a national professional sports league. As a newcomer to the sport myself, I can only hope that the interest level warrants more extensive local media coverage for our Sierra Mist-sponsored soccer lads in the future.