Why newspapers are still valuable

The Poughkeepsie Journal's own Sean T. McMann was nice enough to let me sit next to him on press row at the Marist women's basketball game last night at the James J. McCann Center.

Though it was in no way a close game, there were countless implications and important notes about the game. Some I knew, and others that he brought to my (and many fans') attention. They not only involved the team, but also some individual players.

First and most obvious, it was the first time the women were playing with a national ranking (#25).

Second, with the win, the women clinched a share of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title (their fifth straight), and the number one seed in the MAAC Tournament next month.

Third, Sean pointed out to me that senior co-captain Nikki Flores leads THE COUNTRY in free throw shooting. That is an impressive stat, and you certainly have to do some research to figure that out. ESPN.com doesn't have stats for the women. Sean told me NCAA.com is the hot ticket.

Finally, sophomore Rachele Fitz scored her 1,000th career point in the first half. Significance? She is by far the quickest in Marist history to that plateau. If her next two years are anything like her first two, she will take the current scoring record, ball it up, eat it, spit it back out, magically turn it into gold, and distribute it to third world countries in need.

She's that good.

Where I'm going with this is that small market newspapers such as the Poughkeepsie Journal are imperative to sports that don't get much attention, such as women's basketball at a small Division One school.

With all these achievements, they deserve some recognition.

Sean's article on the game can be found here.