Who let the (watch)dogs out

I'm abandoning the NBA and turning my blogging attention to sports media. No one is safe.

I was inspired by this story written by Kyle Weidie for the Washington affiliate of NBC. Yes, it was written 10 days ago — an eternity on the web. Whatever.

 The question Weidie poses is as follows:

But as far as Wizards beat reporters from both the Washington Post (the soon to be departing Ivan Carter, who is leaving print for television...go figure) and the Washington Times (Mike Jones), the money just wasn't there to send them romping through Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Denver.

Both scribes cite budget issues for not being on the road trip. But what's the real reason? Is it "in this economy" or "this team is crappy"?

I'm inclined to believe it's a bit of both. 

Cop out? Sure. True? Probably.  

It'd be hard to believe WaPo wouldn't send someone if the Wiz were contenders this year. And, sure enough, Washington dropped all four games on the trip.

But it's even harder to imagine that in past years one of the country's premier papers wouldn't have sent someone, regardless of the situation. It just goes to show how the flailing economy and failing newspaper industry have converged to dilute coverage.

At least these dead-tree distributors can take solace in Gilbert Arenas' return to action Saturday. Now even if the on-court product continues to stink, there might be some antics worth paying people to report.