It's a pity, but also not surprising, to see the demise of the Tampa Tribune. The paper was slowly bleeding out for a long time. Every time I visited my parents, who kept their subscription until the very last edition, it seemed like it would get smaller and smaller (both in pages and its physical dimensions) and contain less and less unique and original reporting. It was a long way down from my childhood, when I learned about all the sports we didn't have in Tampa by studying the entire sports section from the front page to the agate type. That's where I found out that there was a sport called hockey, that fish bit more at different times of the day, that Tom McEwen was nearly as powerful as the mayor, that they played football in college, and that there was a school in north Tampa named the University of South Florida.
It's not like the Tampa Bay Times has always been a picture of sparkling financial health. It's had its share of problems in our grim media business environment. But because it was independently owned, it didn't have to pay for the sins of an overextended parent company who saw a public service like local journalism as just another bottom-line business where it could slash and burn and make more money for its stockholders. The Times was always going to win a war of attrition against the Tribune. First they won on news quality because the Tribune couldn't afford to keep up. Then they won on news quantity because the Tribune couldn't afford to keep up. (By the end, the Times was literally printing the Tribune for them.) Tuesday afternoon, they won for keeps.
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As to what the loss of the Tribune means for coverage of USF athletics... I don't know how much it will change things. The Tribune was winding down for so long that we'd already seen the effect. After Scott Carter left, I think the paper deemphasized their USF coverage. This is absolutely not a criticism of Joey Johnston, who has been an excellent reporter and columnist since I was that kid reading the Tribune sports section on the living room floor. He is also the current undisputed king of Tampa sports knowledge and trivia. Everything was stretched so thin at Mother Trib, and it was such an unfamiliar beat for Joey, it was really a tough spot for him to be in.
I hope the Times finds a way to supplement their USF coverage. Greg Auman's superhuman effort during his time on the USF beat set the bar so high that you need a small army to match it. The Times already have Joey Knight and Jeff Odom doing terrific work, and it would be great if they could bring over Johnston or Mike Manganello to help out in some way, even if they primarily do something else.
Finally, there's this site and places like Bulls 247, Running The Bulls, and others. Yes, our sites partly feed off the work that beat writers and columnists and TV reporters do -- this one in particular. But sites like these also keep people engaged with USF athletics and interested in news, wherever it comes from. They keep diverse opinions alive. Plus they give the school the extra media attention it needs and deserves.
By all means, keep reading the Tampa Bay Times for USF coverage. We certainly will. But it's more important than ever for you to also visit your favorite USF websites, and interact with the writers (intelligently), and maybe contribute to them if you have a particular talent. Help us help you.
