Howdy. Things are pretty busy around the office these days, as we plan and execute our big summer issues. It turns out that, as an astute comment poster noted, the New York Times ran an important story on college tennis a few days ago. It details the controversy surrounding the burgeoning number - and profile - of foreign players flooding the NCAA game. Many of these "amateurs" and "student athletes" have played professionally, and they are often three and four years older than their American counterparts.
So, when you get the June issue of tennis magazine in a few days or weeks, and see Jon Wertheim's My Point column on this very same subject, it will look either like we got beat to the story or that we're rehashing it. Neither is true. Jon wrote (and I edited) the piece, Taken for a (Full) Ride weeks ago.
This kind of thing happens quite often in the magazine business, where you’re often working two, three months ahead. All you can do is cross your fingers and hope a newspaper doesn’t find and publish your story, or a similar one, in the interim. BTW, this should also explain to you Tennis readers why we periodically come out with a story, or even a cover, that doesn’t reflect the most obvious recent news.
Real life example: Last June, we decided to put Maria Sharapova on our August cover. Then Venus Williams goes and wins Wimbledon - putting her high on our reader’s radar just days before our August issue turns up in their mailboxes. Understandably, X-number of readers are incensed, and consider this proof of all kinds of evil intent on our parts, and ridicule us as Sharapova Kool-Aid Drinkers. Don’t believe me? The proof is still in the comments section following some of my recent posts on either Sharapova or the Williamses.
You know what? I don’t blame the readers; it’s not your job to know these things. In fact, most magazines go to great lengths to hide these realities from their readers, and just cowboy up and take the criticism when their timing backfires.
Well, I don’t want to steal the magazine’s thunder, so I won’t quote from Jon's column - BTW, hat tip to Tennis Managing Editor Steve Tignor for that great headline! But Jon covers all of the important territory, names many of the same names as the linked story above, and brings his customary, light touch to the editorial. He also does something the Times does not: he takes a stand on the issue.
Some days you eat the bear, some days the bear. . .