A New Series for a New Year

I've written a lot on this blog about the woeful state of most newspaper soccer coverage, particularly in North America, but I've generally treated it as a fact of life like the rising of the sun and the running of the deer. This practice is, ironically, a glaring example of bad football journalism. Mea culpa. Thankfully it's a new year, which is as good a time as any to test this widely-held assumption by critiquing the soccer coverage in Canadian and American newspapers, one-by-one.

While the timing isn't exactly auspicious—MLS doesn't kick off until March—there are enough off-season antics what with De Rosario's time of trial at Celtic and Beckham's bizarre move to Tottenham to get a good sense of how our major newspaper outlets are doing. For example, is there an over-reliance on the AP wire? Is there one "soccer" guy in the newsroom who just sort of does what he wants in the form of a blog? Are there interesting or unique angles not offered by competitors? Good coverage of women's football? Allowance for long-form stories? That sort of thing.

For a few reasons, this inquiry will be entirely based on online newspaper coverage. First, soccer journalism is now almost entirely web-based; while we are a passionate bunch, there aren't enough of us to justify the cost of ink and paper. Second, I don't have the means to go down and pick up a paper copy of the LA Times. I'm also going to be sticking to the big hitters, with only a hint of regional bias (I have to include the Toronto Star, not least because it is one of the most widely circulated papers in the country). And I'm going to keep things bloggy: no categories or ratings systems or obnoxious Fisking. These are going to read more like film reviews than madlibs. If you have any cracking suggestions outside the obvious, feel free to let me know.

The series will "kick off"(yup) with a review tomorrow of the soccer coverage within Canada's favourite "national" newspaper, the Globe and Mail. Prepare to have your feelings slightly hurt or your confidence infinitesimally bolstered, proper journos.