Bruin sports (and readers) deserve fair coverage
Everyone’s a critic. I know, because over the past few weeks, there were several of you out there who have been telling me via e-mail how to do my job as sports editor.
This is a good thing.
Please, continue to tell me how to do my job.
Or please, send me an e-mail about UCLA sports.
The Daily Bruin is nothing without its readers, and now you have the opportunity to be famous: We might print your letter.
Starting tomorrow, we will print letters every Tuesday that our faithful readers e-mail to us.
So why am I writing this column and wasting your time?
Well, as you may have noticed, the newspaper looks a little different today. It’s called Daily Bruin version 2.0, and the goal of this change is to make this newspaper more reader-friendly.
Many of you have told me how to do my job, and I have considered some of your suggestions.
“Do the world a favor and put the time you spend ‘writing’ to a more useful purpose – working out,” Eric Lamp from New York City writes.
“From the photo supplied with these idiot ramblings, it seems you’ve got a double chin in dire need of cardio, or liposuction, or both.”
Working out requires effort and athletic ability. I’m a sports journalist, which means I can’t be that good at sports.
It’s a rule.
I will, however, tell you all how I do my job and what the Daily Bruin sports section stands for, since there seems to be a big misconception among some of our readers.
In the Daily Bruin sports section, we are not homers. We make every effort to report on Bruin teams fairly, win, lose or – if you’re soccer– tie. Sorry, I had to get a soccer jab in there. Yes, I do really like soccer.
We are not homers.
This is done not only for good, ethical journalism, but also to give you the best possible newspaper out there. We try to give you, the reader, an unbiased look at all the sports news you need and want to know.
One e-mailer suggested to me a couple of weeks ago that we shouldn’t have covered the Stanford men’s basketball game.
“I can’t believe you dedicated almost the entire back page to the men’s basketball team,” Rachel Moody wrote. “NEWSFLASH: THEY LOST. I love John Wooden as much as the next Bruin, and likewise, I was bummed as much as anyone else that our team didn’t beat Stanford ... but they couldn’t pull it together, end of story.”
Like I said, we can’t cover teams only if they win.
Even after the Stanford game, there was tons of commotion about it on local sports talk radio.
And people not only care about men’s basketball, but about every sport at UCLA, including when the teams lose. More people do care about football and basketball – the attendance figures and ratings say it all – but I get plenty of e-mails asking for lacrosse, volleyball, sailing, swimming and crew coverage.
Personally, my favorite UCLA sport to attend in person isn’t basketball or football. It’s men’s volleyball, because it’s fast-paced, the crowd is lively and the way volleyball is set up in college, every point is exciting.
If we don’t cover your favorite sport, it’s not because I don’t like it. My staff is made up of students, just like most of you reading this. Stuff slips through the cracks while juggling school and the newspaper.
I’m sorry if this column sounds overly defensive.
And I swear, I’ll write a normal column about a real sports topic next week.
Until then, please keep reading us, e-mail us any thoughts or suggestions and remember – we’re neutral in order to report news fairly.
If we wrote articles saying the Bruin men’s basketball team is really good, would we have any credibility?
No.
I will, however, make this prediction (for entertainment purposes only):
If Ben Howland’s squad gets the No. 8 seed, it will miraculously beat Stanford in the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament.
Trust me. Remember, I have no bias.
Gilbert also predicts Washington State will win the Pac-10 Tournament. E-mail him at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.

