Coverage of USM sports

[Dib9@aol.com]

The University of Southern Maine (USM) Huskies are competing this weekend in 
the Division III College World Series.  USM went into the tournament ranked 
#`1 in the nation.  They have won the World Series twice in the last decade.  
USM has campuses in Portland and Gorham and is one of the two largest 
universities in the state system with over 10,000 students.  The team is made 
up primarily of students from Maine.

None of the TV stations in Portland saw fit to send a reporter to Wisconsin 
to cover the Huskies or made arrangements with to get video of the action.  
The local newspaper did send a reporter to Wisconsin to cover the games.  

The TV station's decision is particularly odd when you contrast their 
coverage of USM with their coverage of the University of Maine (UM) sports.  
All the TV stations cover playoff action by University of Maine teams, with 
WCSH often having live shots from the playoff venues.  

I guess the explanation would be that the University of Maine is a Division I 
school and is generally seen as the flagship campus of the University system. 
 However, the University of Maine is located in Orono, which is about 140 
miles from Portland, and the student athletes are generally hired guns from 
out of state.  My guess is that there are more USM graduates (like me) than 
UM graduates in the audience of the Portland TV stations and there are 
certainly more people who know the student athletes playing for the teams.

-- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine