We’re showcasing SEC football
Digital offerings on display during free preview
The Internet is vast. Whatever you want — latest news, the complete works of Shakespeare, videos of cats playing banjos — you can get it.
If Southeastern Conference football is your thing, you’re especially well served, by dozens of newspapers in and around league cities, by the league itself, by national outfits like ESPN and CBS Sports. Then there are scads of blogs, some of them quite good, such as Every Day Should be Saturday, where you might find a ranking of the 25 “most interesting” teams, or an essay headlined “Steve Spurrier, Shirtless Dawnbringer.”
So I don’t come before you this Sunday, on the eve of college football season, to say The Commercial Appeal’s is the only SEC coverage you’ll need this fall. I come to you instead with a simple promise, and a humble request.
The promise: Our 2013 SEC football coverage will be lively, creative, insightful, useful — everything sports coverage better be, in the digital age — and there will be a lot of it.
ON DIGITAL SPORTS
The request: Give us a chance, and if you like what you see, put us in the daily rotation of your must-see sites.
FREE PREVIEW
On Monday, we’re officially launching our SEC page at commercialappeal. com/sec. If you already subscribe to the newspaper but haven’t activated your digital account, now’s a great time to do so. The SEC page will be filled with digital exclusives we’ve spent the summer planning (more on those in a bit).
If you don’t subscribe, how about a free week — and a day — to help you decide? We’re making all of our SEC football content free from Monday through Sept. 2.
ABOUT THAT CONTENT
Our coverage will encompass the entire SEC, with the focus on the Mid-South teams — Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Arkansas. We’ll cover games and write feature stories and commentaries, like always. But we’re planning much more, from videos and live chats to debates on hot-button issues.
We’ll have multiple digital features each day, from our team that includes SEC reporter Ron Higgins, enterprise reporter/ columnist Kyle Veazey and columnist Geoff Calkins, plus contributors Peter Edmiston, with his “Numbers Game” analytics feature, and John Martin, with recruiting news. Some highlights: “Fighting Words” — Higgins and Veazey debate an issue every Tuesday. First up: For the betterment of college football, should someone other than an SEC school win the national title this year?
Live chat with Higgins — Talk with our SEC reporter while he’s interviewing SEC coaches on the league’s Wednesday teleconference. Suggest a question, and Ron may ask it of a coach.
Road Trippin’ — Planning to travel to an SEC game? Each Thursday, Higgins — part GPS, part gourmand — will profile an SEC destination, with everything from parking tips to can’t-miss restaurant recommendations.
Veazey’s “False Starts” and “Late Hits” — The former will appear each Friday, giving you a literal jump on Saturday’s games. The latter will post each Monday, starting Sept. 2, and will look back on the weekend, with original reporting, plus links to the best of elsewhere, including videos and Storify.
“The Big Story” Lists and quick-hit features play well on the web, but we also believe SEC fans want deep and compelling stories, too — from deftly told narratives to old-school investigations — and we’ll feature one each Friday. In the printed paper, it will be our showcase Sports story. In the digital realm, it expands with interactive charts, videos and more. First up: Veazey examines the intersection between fans attending college football games vs. the growing ease of use and inventory of games on TV — and how schools are responding.
There’s much, much more. So, please, visit us at commercialappeal.com/ sec starting Monday. If you subscribe but haven’t activated, what better time than football season? If you don’t subscribe, what better deal than an eightday free preview?
It’s not cats playing banjos (which I made up, by the way) but we think you’ll enjoy it.
(Note: To activate your account or start a new subscription, go to commercialappeal.com/subscribe.)
Sports Editor David Williams
commercialappeal.com.