Almost nine months later, a new landscape for local sports

A national sports columnist this week lamented the growing popularity of local sports web sites, bashing their tendency to glamorize high school athletes and elevate them to superstar status.

Gone are the days when high school athletes enjoyed the thrill of competition, he says, instead replaced by the thrill of touting an athlete's sports accomplishment in front of a worldwide web audience.

Of course they're the opinions of a newspaper columnist, whose industry faces a startling crisis in both circulation, ad revenue and overall public perception, and whose industry helped begin the perceived crisis that has him grumbling now.

Truth is, when SemoSportsWeb.com debuted Sept. 1, the intent was to serve as a sort of archive of local sports information. The plan to feature historical information on local sports teams, racetracks and other venues that was already available through a variety of sources and a little research. Our goal was never to be an updated news site.

And yet over the past nine months, as our region's other media sources dropped the ball again and again, we found ourselves pursuing and scooping one story after another, then watched as other media tried to catch up days later.

Will Bogan's move from the University of Memphis to SEMO was news here days before it reached other outlets. The same goes for more than a dozen local coaching hirings and firings. SEMO basketball player injuries, defections and other scoops. Even brackets and live championship results from a half-dozen local Christmas basketball tournaments, including one sponsored by the Southeast Missourian.

Thanks to determination from the almost 50,000 visitors to our site, and thanks to bloggers David Unterreiner, Jay Bartolone and Mark Unterreiner, we've had a tremendous nine months, and we've done it with exclusive news and original opinions, largely avoiding the recycled headlines that you already saw in local newspapers.

As we head into the summer, I'd love to hear your ideas for making our site better and to continue our evolution. E-mail me at jhall@semosportsweb.com, or head back to our home page and share your opinions on our feedback form.

And thanks for a great run so far.