Mike Vlahovich: Turns out blog, print make good mix

We’re winding down the 2006-07 sports season and with it my first year as columnist for this Prep Page and blogger for the Web site Prep Report.

The one amazing thing has been the response we’ve had to both. Having spent a career with the print media, I entered the on-line world with a little trepidation, not knowing quite how to approach things or what to expect.

This is high school after all, and you figure most of the interest in blogging lies with professional and collegiate sports.

Response on the high school site surpassed my expectations.

Feedback during football was to be expected. We’ve long held here at The Spokesman-Review that football is king. Comments came from throughout the state, comparing the GSL with other leagues.

Basketball brought out the most rabid comments, also statewide. The dialogue was informative and thoughtful, sometimes inane and at other times cruel.

Most of this passion was expended, it seemed, on Ferris and Gonzaga Prep by fans postulating back and forth about each other’s worth.

Indeed, one week, because of a tight news hole in the paper, I posted a game story I had written about the Mead vs. Shadle Park game on my blog. Not one post addressed the article or talked about the Panthers or Highlanders – it was all about Ferris Saxons and G-Prep Bullpups.

A great deal of time was spent either touting the worth of or trying to discredit the undefeated Saxons. At times, unfortunately, they included personal attacks on players and coach rather than sticking to the facts of the matter.

That tended to reinforce my opinion that newspaper blogs walk a fine line between fact and opinion, which, while entertaining, can further sully the image of a media already under attack by those who perceive lack of impartiality and fairness.

What did surprise me was this spring and the amount of interest there is for baseball in particular.

Half of all high school sports are played in the spring during an abbreviated season and baseball is supposedly lagging other sports as a suitor for the hearts and minds of young athletes.

Yet the vast majority of public commentary came on my baseball posts. The primary thread compared pitching among Greater Spokane League teams and opined about the Division I or draft potential of those hurlers and also position players.

An ongoing speculation was how well our baseball (the same question was asked during football) stacks up against with the Columbia Basin League and other schools throughout the state.

As for this Prep Page column my aim was for it to be a weekly bit of philosophy that causes people to think and respond. And they did. It has been fun.

Keep those comments coming, whether on line or by e-mail. Keep them civil, relevant and thought provoking.

We all have opinions, none of us has all the answers. But in a world of civil discourse, a melding of those opinions makes for a better product.

If we can provide a better product for young athletes, empower them, instill in them passion and keep them involved, what more can be asked of the high school sports experience?