Dig this earnest–if overly self-depricating, at times–piece by Tim Kurkijan on the death of the newspaper box score:
Now I read the box scores most days on ESPN.com on my computer. I’m not comfortable doing it but I have no other choice. I have saved time, as well as money on scotch tape and scissors. Since 9/11, I estimate having lost at least six pair of scissors because I forgot to remove them from my bag and the security men and women at airports thought I might hijack the plane using scissors as dull as NFL preseason games.
But I still read box scores with the same vigor and interest every day for there is so much to learn in box scores, almost everything you need is in box scores, especially with the expanded ones that tell you, in some cases, more than you wanted to know. Twice a year, I have lunch and talk baseball with George Will and Dr. Charles Krauthammer, who write and speak about important issues in the world, such as war and gay marriage. At one lunch, Krauthammer said, “I read the front page for 30 seconds every day, then I go straight to the box scores.” To which Will said, “Why do you waste the 30 seconds?”
If I didn’t pick up the News and the Post for my subway commute most every morning, I don’t know how often I’d see the box scores anymore, either. Oh, I see them, and so much more, online, of course. I prefer the box scores in the News to the Post, though, and still find that it’s my favorite part of reading the paper each day.
[Photo Credit: The Baseball Analysts]
I read this, too. I sincerely doubt he missed any days for that many years, but god bless his ocd anyway. : )
I can't' say I was ever into pouring over box scores.
That is more time than I give Krauthammer's column.
I get into baseball box scores, but mostly from my Blackberry's MLB app, which I also use to listen to the games. So with one device, I've killed my need for a newspaper and a radio.
I don't quite understanding the longing for things that as technology advances become extinct. I think newspapers are great, but if I can get the same information via a digital medium then it makes my life easier. I know this may not fly for some people in the media, but it's a matter of convenience for me. For some, they like the feel of a book and a newspaper. I'm on the go a lot so I'd rather be light. I think my kindle is easier for everyone because it takes up 1/8 the space of a newspaper, I hated being on the train as far back as 5 years ago and seeing people rudely flipping the pages of the newspaper on a crowded train.
The only constant in life is change, that doesn't mean it is death for the box score, the newspaper, the radio, it means that things come in a "nicer" gift wrapped box so we must adapt to these changes. The medium is different, and evolution is a part of our everyday life.
I'm on the computer all day at work -- and then usually in the evening at home as well. Last thing I want first thing in the morning is to be yet again on an electronic device. I do take ten seconds to read the headlines -- if the world has ended then I'll just go back to bed. Otherwise, it's sports & box scores, then the comics.