Week 10 - Black Press East-West Classic by Carroll and Fantasy Football & TV Ratings by Fortunato

Casey Yoos

Sports Journalism Blog

Week 10 - Black Press East-West Classic by Carroll and Fantasy Football & TV Ratings by Fortunato

            The press often ignored the Negro Leagues therefore black newspapers were key to integration of professional baseball and great writers are part of the success of integration in baseball. In the 1940’s the Courier was the largest black newspaper. Wendell Smith of the Courier was key to Jackie Robinson’s career in professional baseball. Journalist Chris Lamb found that the white press only reported on Jackie Robinson signing with the Dodgers rather then the significance and historical aspect of a black baseball player playing in the professional league. However on the newspapers of the black press, they portrayed Jackie Robinson’s story on the front pages and in the sports sections for weeks.

            Larry Lester did a study on the East-West Classic game and the role the press had in making the all-star game possible. After the demise of the Negro League in 1931, in January of 1933 black newspapers took a firm position supporting black baseball. The East-West Classic was a huge event supporting black pride and many people from around the countries planned their vacations off of this game. Roy Sparrow of the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph and William Nunn of the Courier worked to make the event possible. They sent out press releases to 55 black weeklies, which gave the event national coverage.

The East-West Classic attracted a large part of the black community, white press and even major league baseball. The black newspapers financial investment in the game made it easier for them to be objective reporters. The game attracted positive attention to black baseball. The 1937 game was a major success and mainstream media encouraged what the black newspapers were doing and used their arguments to support social integration. The success of the East-West Classic was due to the support from the black newspapers.

Nearly 30 million people participate in Fantasy Football. Those who participate in fantasy football create teams and use the statistics of actual players in real games to compete against others and their teams. Fantasy Football has increased the views of NFL games on television. There are two media-use orientations; they are ritualized media use and instrumental media use. Fantasy football has contributed to the increase in ratings for the NFL.