Is he/she the reason we have all those mediocre NBC puff pieces about athletes instead of time dedicated to athletic competition?
I agree that there's been an abuse of these fluff pieces by television networks for the years, but that's a reflection of the network not Mr. Arledge. I think there has been many really interesting sport feature pieces done over the years. In fact, I'd argue that ABC did some interesting ones when they had the television rights to figure skating coverage.
Back to the subject at hand, I do work at a local newspaper (something I point out for the relevancy of this thread, not because I particularly want to be noted as media; I don't cover figure skating and I come as yr average Jane on these boards). But I too commend Pyotte on this piece. As golden411 said, this is not a piece that came from a news release or a media call. Readers often like to read about connections to their town or community. In fact, one of my colleagues had a story about a man running for John Kerry's Senate seat who is from my city and graduated from one of the local high schools.
And Pyotte also exposes an interesting point -- there's been so much made about the fact that Worlds is in Tessa's hometown and that there's going to be a huge crowd for them, etc. Pyotte actually exposes an interesting angle -- that Charlie and Meryl will also have family and friends in London cheering for them too.
And in relation to my first point, human interest/feature pieces =/= fluff or PR spewl. I have read some amazing sports feature pieces over the years. They require a lot of enterprise (as you won't find them in news releases), reporting and writing skills.
I thought this piece by Pyette was quite well written actually. Let's look:
There wasn’t a hint of cellphones or social media in the summer of 1939 at Bright’s Grove.
But when there was a beautiful woman, this Ava Gardner look-a-like, on the nearby Lake Huron beach, word travelled like a lightning bolt.
Ken Davis, a vacationing teen from Detroit, heard about this vision — 21-year-old Cecile Dennis of London — and went to have a look. There, the 16-year-old spotted another girl, much closer to his 16 years, trying to ride a bicycle.
She crashed and Ken scrambled to her aid. They talked and he discovered she was Cecile Dennis’ younger sister Marian.
“That’s how my grandmother and grandfather met,” Meryl Davis said.
And that’s where the 2013 world figure skating championships, which begin in a week and a half at London’s Budweiser Gardens, takes a rather interesting twist.
London is Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir country. The Olympic ice dance champs are the face of these hometown worlds.
But the city and this area also holds a special place in the heart of Davis, who, along with fellow Michigan native and partner Charlie White, stand as the greatest threat to the Canadians reign.
A few things that stood out.
1.) Pyette obeys the ultimate rule of journalism "show don't tell" in his lead off here. In stead of pointing out that Cecile Dennis were just "beautiful" he specifically mention that she looked like Ava Gardner. (Of course many readers will know Ava Gardner as she was a popular Hollywood actress). That has a little bit of context---she wasn't only pretty -- she had the looks of a movie star. It also provides context -- in 1939, Ava Gardner was the height of her success, so a comparison to her made sense and made sense why Ken Davis wanted to meet her, which provided the venue to met his soon-to-be wife -- the younger sister. A moment of happenstance.
2.) Why should readers care? He captures it right here: "London is Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir country. The Olympic ice dance champs are the face of these hometown worlds.
But the city and this area also holds a special place in the heart of Davis, who, along with fellow Michigan native and partner Charlie White, stand as the greatest threat to the Canadians reign." Again context -- he explains (as I noted) that people know London as V/M territory, yet Davis has a tie to the area as well.
3.) I just love some of the details he captured in this piece. For example:
Paul Davis said his mother and daughter are bound, not just by similarity in looks, but by books. When Meryl went off to Sochi, Russia, for the Grand Prix final this season, she and Marian read, and discussed, Lord Tennyson’s famous Charge of the Light Brigade poem. The work revolves around the Battle of Balaclava fought in the vicinity of the 2014 Olympic site.
“That’s the kind of thing they talk about,” Paul said.
History and family are always hot topics.
In London, they will merge for Meryl Davis.
I mean seriously, you are not going to find this detail in a news release. So many details in such a short paragraph -- Meryl and Marian's strong relationship, that they look alike and they share a love for literature (plus they enjoy reading literature in context!). This is good reporting on Pyette's part. He had to take the time to interview these people and not only that he managed to capture the most important points and put it together in this story. Also I really like the ending -- he doesn't go to the typical-end-with-a-quote technique but rather ends with a simple declarative sentence that says it all.
Thanks for humoring my analysis -- this is probably way too boring for most of you, but I felt as a fellow journalist that he needed to be given more credit then he was being given.
Peggy Fleming became a household name in the United States because of being featured repeatedly on these network broadcasts. This marked the first time figure skating had been shown on television, and ushered the sport into the television age.
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