Davidson sportswriter does terrific job

Davidson had just pulled off two improbable victories. Stephen Curry scored 30 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer with a minute left to lead the Wildcats to a mild upset of Gonzaga, 82-76, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Curry then helped Davidson erase a 15-point second-half deficit to stun Georgetown, 74-70, to advance into the Sweet Sixteen.

The cheering in the RBC Center in Raleigh was deafening. Students on campus were screaming and yelling. And the school’s marketing director was probably popping champagne.

The college’s newspaper, unfortunately, did not post anything on its website, leaving readers of the Davidsonian with a column on racism and a feature assessing student involvement on campus. (By the way, the paper gave fans an A- for fan support at basketball games but only a D+ for support at other school athletic events.) That schools do not regularly post online is — I feel like Vizzini from the Princess Bride but I’ll say it anyway — almost inconceivable. Yet, there you have it.

The weekly paper did not have a word about a story that transcends sport. It is breaking news. In its defense, the school has only 1,700 students and does not have a journalism program. Thank goodness, Will Bryan stepped in to fill this void for Davidson basketball fans by covering games, notes and issues on his terrific blog. Will’s World offers TV clips from interviews on Pardon The Interruption, CBS highlights of games, as well as commentary, gamers – and a live blog, or glog.

Will introduces readers to Davidson in a recent post, explaining that the college (not university) has both an excellent academic and athletic history (Lefty Driesell twice coached the school to the Elite Eight in the 1960s.)

More impressively, Will has been blogging since 2005. Like many bloggers, he first wrote more about his personal life. Eventually, he explored other subjects and approaches like making NFL picks. By 2006, he had started to write more regularly on the Davidson basketball program. Will clearly has learned much about new media and writing from his regular postings. I will repeat: Every young journalist needs to start blogging on a regular basis. Will proves that you do not have to work at a daily paper to write daily. Start one today. You won’t regret it.

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