Here at MWCConnection, we strive to provide the best coverage of the Mountain West Conference that we possibly can.<\/p>\n
With that being said, I noticed some recurring misconceptions or misunderstandings between the writers and readers of the site. There are things even avid readers of the site may not be aware of, mainly because we do not specifically state them often, so they are easier to miss. This is an attempt to clear some things up and get on the same page. I will probably re-run this each year.<\/p>\n
We have a relatively large team of writers with diverse styles and interests. However, this is not a full-time job for any of us. As you can imagine, writers are being given little money for their contributions, so it\u2019s a passion project more than anything. Each of us has something outside of a site that is more pressing, whether that is a full-time job, school, or a family. Additionally, several of our writers are college students refining their craft and may not have been as familiar with the history of the Mountain West or its teams as some of you readers and long-time fans. While we are not perfect with our thoughts or coverage, I can assure you that everyone works extremely hard on their writing.<\/p>\n
Not covering a team as much as other teams does not mean we hate that team.<\/strong><\/p>\n Spoiler: We don\u2019t tell writers to write more about one team or less about another team.<\/p>\n It is important to know how our site is structured. The vast majority of our staff are assigned to write about a specific team. These team writers are usually fans of that team, some are credentialed media members, and some even attend the school. Our goal is always to have a writer for each of the 12 teams, but people come and go for various reasons, and it\u2019s hard to keep or replace writers at times. Not having a writer for a team isn\u2019t for lack of effort, and at the time of this writing, I\u2019m happy to say we are starting the season with one writer for every team.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t choose to intentionally not cover certain teams, and we don\u2019t purposely prioritize one team over another. Our writers flow in and out of content, especially in the off-season. Just because one writer can\u2019t post as much as another, we aren\u2019t going to limit the more frequent writer. It is understandable how that can be mistaken for prioritizing content for one team over another, but that is not the case. Every writer is given the same basic expectations (weekly game previews and recaps during football season), with the opportunity to do more when possible. They have more free rein during the off-season, and everyone\u2019s availability, time, and desire to write look a bit different.<\/p>\n The Elephant in the Room: Boise State<\/strong><\/p>\n Half of our readers think we cover Boise State entirely too much and do nothing but praise them. The other half thinks we hate the Broncos and snub the team and the players every chance we get. It is funny how people can read the same site and come to vastly different conclusions. I examine this phenomenon and say we must be doing something right if both sides of the debate are upset.<\/p>\n The truth is, we view Boise State as we do any other team, contrary to popular belief. However, whether people love them or hate them, they are a good program. They have their flaws, and receive some special treatment. That all being said, they are more newsworthy than the average team, and when the news is occurring, they will get covered. Overall, we have been fortunate to have always had a Boise State writer, and it is also a fact that one of our more frequent writers writes about Boise State, but so do our Hawaii, Nevada, and SJSU writers. I have yet to hear any complaints about the frequency of their posts.<\/p>\n People may not realize it, but we do our best to promote those doing well or the bigger storylines. We get more behind-the-scenes looks at San Jose State compared to other teams due to the relationships and connections our guy, Vic, has built within the program. Roger will do the same for New Mexico. Dom was all over Nevada football and basketball this past season. We had an interview with Hawaii\u2019s athletic director two offseasons ago.<\/p>\n While it is good that we have had consistent content for some teams, it is not meant to be at the expense of consistent content for other teams. We aren\u2019t going to tell our BSU writer not to write something just because we won\u2019t have a corresponding post for another team. For those who enjoy reading it, great. For those who don\u2019t, you can always wait for the next post. There is no need to let us know your displeasure in the comments or emails. Maybe this is a case where comments say more about the readers than the writers. Which leads to the next point…<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always believed that our role on the side is to provide coverage for our teams that promotes healthy discussions. We don\u2019t claim to have all the answers, but if we can start good discussions, we all learn and enjoy watching the teams.<\/p>\n Sometimes we are right, sometimes we are wrong, but we base our posts on educated thoughts and opinions. Sometimes we are going to praise a team you hate and critique your favorite team. Does that mean we hate your team, or we are idiots? It does not.<\/p>\n Spoiler: Not everyone\u2019s favorite team can go 12-0 with a conference championship. It\u2019s okay if you\u2019re team is critiqued and seen as imperfect. It\u2019s okay if you disagree with some of the points. Fan how you want to fan, but let\u2019s keep it in perspective. I have my opinions, and I\u2019ve been right and wrong about those opinions at different times.<\/p>\n Again, some fans know more about their team and history than I would claim to, and good for all of you. Unfortunately, some fans just don\u2019t like hearing anything negative about their team and then go on the attack. As stated above, I have the DMs and emails from people to prove it.<\/p>\n It\u2019s natural for fans of a team to think higher of the team than the average person, and just because someone has an opinion that fans don\u2019t like does not mean they are wrong. It also doesn\u2019t make them automatically correct.<\/p>\n It\u2019s much more fun to have a conversation about the disagreements than the attacking comments. I really enjoy the discussions I\u2019ve had with fans who ask questions about why we wrote something and offer up alternative points. Most of do this and it\u2019s great. It\u2019s much less fun to read \u201cdo more research\u201d, \u201cthese writers don\u2019t have a clue\u201d, and read emails accusing me of being racist because I didn\u2019t vote for players on a particular team.<\/p>\n If you want to own me on something, at least do it intelligently with facts.<\/p>\n Also, join the discussion by commenting on our articles. Interacting on Twitter and Facebook is great and we want to keep that going. But we also want to start interacting more directly on our website and in order to do that, we would like you to start commenting on our posts with some of your thoughts on our writing. The new Feed is perfect for this as well. It\u2019s a chance to start your own discussions and share your knowledge and opinions about your favorite teams.<\/p>\n To conclude, the goal of this is to give our content more context and perspective. We try as hard as we can to make our site the best it can be and will continue to do so. We are excited about the future of this site. Hopefully, all who read this post will have learned something, and I hope to gain insight from some of you through the comments you leave, explaining your perspective. It is gearing up to be a fun football season and we are excited to keep pumping out content.<\/p>\n