THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 2, 1994 TAG: 9409300014
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
You haven't seen the Hokies and Cavaliers together on the football field yet this year but they might as well be locked in serious combat. Several readers feel that, compared to the University of Virginia team, Virginia Tech's Hokies get underdog treatment in the newspaper.
``They're like Rodney Dangerfield,'' said Fred L. Bower II, Virginia Tech Class of '57. ``They don't get no respect.''
Christopher L. Hendrix, Class of '91, also feels his team deserves better. ``Just how good does Virginia Tech have to get,'' he asked, ``and how bad does U.Va. have to get, to earn equal billing?''
Time out. I want you to know that my son and his wife are both Tech grads. But I've never followed college football and have no gridiron loyalties. The one time I attended a Tech game, I couldn't even have told you whom they were playing.
What got me interested in the alleged shabby treatment of the Hokies was a heated call from Katherine Harrell, Class of '94, who's missed only three Tech home games in six years.
Harrell, a landscaper in Portsmouth, was particularly frustrated after the Hokies beat Southern Mississippi 24-14 and the Cavaliers won 47-10 over Navy. The lead story went to the Hokie victory but it was negative, says Harrell (``Stumbling Hokies edge So. Miss''). And the photo showed the U.Va.-Navy game.
``U.Va. always gets the most hype,'' fumed Harrell, ``even though it beat a school that my sorority football team could beat.''
But the complaints go back as far as Sept. 1, when a front-page teaser to the annual ``Pigskin Preview'' featured U.Va.'s Symmion Willis. ``Diehard Hokie'' Hendrix documented that and a list of other Tech snubs.
Bower, a Blacksburg native, is part of a virtual Tech dynasty - along with his father, father-in-law, brother and three children. He's watched the school grow from an enrollment of about 5,100 to more than 24,000, largest in the state. And this year he's seen the football team rank 10th in the nation (or 14th, depending on the poll). But, he said, ``not a newspaper in the state will acknowledge that it has a better team than Virginia.''
Sports editor Chic Riebel insists his staff considers Virginia Tech the ``top-interest'' team in the state this year.
``Unfortunately, our presentation has failed to convey that,'' Riebel said. ``We're glad someone pointed this out, and we'll work to address that perception.
``We take Tech football very seriously. It is difficult logistically to cover Tech, since it's about six hours each way. But two years ago, we made Tech football a full-time beat, which it hadn't been in years.''
But do we take Tech seriously enough for its diehard fans? I went through recent papers - the Pilot and Ledger as well as the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Daily Press in Newport News and the Roanoke Times and World-News. Some findings:
On Sept. 4, a story and photo of U.Va.'s game against defending national champ Florida State dominated the top half of our Sports section; Tech's 34-7 victory over Arkansas State went inside. The other three newspapers all carried the Tech story on their Sports fronts.
On Sept. 18, our Sports banner read: ``A big day for Va. Tech, U.Va.'' but the color photo went to Virginia. Roanoke and the Daily Press had Tech photos on their Sports fronts.
On Sept. 22, the day of the big Tech-W.Va. game, all four papers gave good play to the Hokies' national TV debut of the season. The Pilot and Ledger probably outdid the others, with a half page on ``Va. Tech's coming-out party.''
Content-wise, I don't think we have anything to be ashamed of in covering Tech. (Even Tech's coach agreed the Hokies played badly against Southern Miss.) The problem is the display and placement of our stories. We do tend to run more U.Va. photos. And I didn't find a single A1 promo to a Tech game. On the day Tech met West Virginia, the front-page masthead teased to a story about collecting dolls. The next day, after Tech won big, we touted a movie review.
That's what I think really irks fans. Hendrix, an an intern architect, agrees - visuals have a lot to do with our perception of a story, he says.
The problem may become moot if the Hokies' star keeps rising. But Harrell's not convinced. She's waiting to see what we do the next time Tech and U.Va. have big games on the same day.
REGIONAL STOCKS RETURN. Yes, the popular listing of Selected Regional Stocks is coming back.
The chart was dropped four weeks ago because of production-deadline problems. But when Business editor Joe Coccaro and Business Weekly editor Ted Evanoff kept hearing from unhappy readers, they looked for a way to run it and still keep their deadlines.
Regional Stocks will be back in Business Weekly, starting tomorrow. MEMO: Call the public editor at 446-2475, or send a computer message to
lynn(AT)infi.net. by CNB