Cleveland's Sporting News

I got my Plain Dealer the other day to see what new spectacle I’d find.

Oh, my. A full-page, front page of LeBron. “Mr. Cavalier,” the headline said, noting that “LeBron is Cleveland’s all-time leading scorer.”

 

The real front page was located on page 3 and I’d have to say, not a bad news day for the PD. The page had actual news.

 

The LeBron “to the basket,” full-page photo noted in small print on the bottom of the page: “To purchase a glossy print of this page, go to plaindealer.com/pdstore.”  So I thought I’d try that.

I put the given address into the paper’s search spot and I got the usual bizarre question back.

“Do you mean plaindealer.com/bedstraw?” Bedstraw? How did they get that?

What the hell, can’t I get an answer to a simple request, based on the newspaper’s own directions?

 

I finally did find out how to get the LeBron front page. A glossy, we're told. And what it would cost me?

 

$54.95, that’s how much. No thanks.

A front-page revenue hopeful. And a full page less of news for readers.

The paper was also offering unsold front pages at $3.99 and advertising it in the sports page.

 

Soon we’ll be calling the Pee Dee the Cleveland Sporting News.

You probably saw (how could you miss) the two front pages Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Big spreads from Florida and Arizona.

What’s that got to do with troubled Cleveland? Not much.

It’s about a crucial Cleveland matter, however, to the Pee Dee.

On Tuesday we were saying goodbye to Winter Haven, Fla. Why we need the major part of the front page to tell us that I’ll leave to editor Susan Goldberg to tell. She thinks sports are very important (hell, you can sell newspapers that you otherwise throw away at $3.99 at least).

 

On Wednesday, we had much of the paper’s front page devoted to next year’s spring training spot – Goodyear, Arizona. (Did Positively Cleveland know the PD was in the business of boosting tourism in Arizona?) For four columns and 13.5 inches of the front page under the headline “Desert Boom, Desert Bloom” the paper told us about the “huge investment” made to lure the Indians west. You’ll have to read the rest yourself. One has limited time to read Arizona pr.

The paper seems to believe that Cleveland’s problem is lack of sports news. So it gives it to us by the truckload.

Now, I guess you haven’t seen anything yet because baseball will be opening very soon and basketball playoffs can’t be that far away.

God can’t wait for the Tribe to be in the playoffs.

But maybe that’s why, as the snows melt and I walk the neighborhood I see so many orange bags left in the snow as litter.

 

Unfortunately, and once in a while the Pee Dee proves it’s still a newspaper, there are informative stories, even on the front page.

I can’t believe morale must be very good among the real reporters at the paper when they check the front page each day.

Depressing.