Maxx Wolfson

The way sports are being covered is changing before our eyes.

Box scores and game recaps are simply not enough for the general public to open up a sports page or watch the evening sports show on TV.

It's not that the stories aren't well written or well researched ÷ it's that they aren't interesting to the general public.

Does Sally Sorority or Mathematician Joe care that the fourth-string backup fullback had two carries in a scrimmage? Probably not.

More than likely, Sally and Joe want to know what the Oakland A's pitching staff does on its days off and how a group of under-age Los Angeles Clippers live in high rise apartments in Marina Del Rey.

I bet the readership would double if there were a story with a picture about UA senior linebacker Lance Briggs taking a day off from football and laying out at the Student Recreation Center pool.

ESPN has been a pioneer in giving their viewers unprecedented access into sports personalities from high school to the pros.

The 24-hour sports network started scheduling shows such as "The Season" and "The Life," which follow athletes or teams around before and after games and during the off-season as well as illustrating how they live at home. These and similar shows like MTV's "Cribs" have given fans a view inside what used to be a hidden world that many without a media pass have never seen.

ESPN even brought their camera crews to Tucson last year to document the Arizona football team's season. Viewers were given a chance to see inside UA head coach John Mackovic's house and how he consoled his team hours after the Sept. 11 attacks.

When I was hired as the sports editor at the Arizona Daily Wildcat in May, my No. 1 priority was to bring a fresh way of delivering sports to readers.

It might be more of a challenge to take what has been done on television and write a compelling feature in less than a thousand words but I know it is possible.

Don't get me wrong. I think there is a time and place for box scores and stats and I will include things like that in the Wildcat this year. But the people who want to see those things will read the sports section no matter what.

I want to reach out to the people who don't read the sports section because sometimes it reads more like the Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times.

This is something that can't be done everyday because of size limitations of the paper and staff, but it will be done more than it has been in the past. If you don't believe me, just check Wednesday's issue.

I want our readers to see that the student athletes at Arizona are just like the other students on this campus.

They go to class and actually do homework.

They go out at night ÷ not during the season of course ÷ and they have family problems like everyone else.

Being a school newspaper gives us a closer bond to the student-athletes at this school than other newspapers have.

So buckle up and get ready to see something you have never seen before at the Wildcat.