Yes, I know. It's not really Saints related in this instance, but easily could be. A high profile sportsperson is charged with an offence - anything from drink-driving to murder - and it hits the news. Understood. It's newsworthy. But is it sports news? Why is the Pistorius case on the Sports page? Whatever the outcome of the trial, the result will surely not be influenced by the defendant's sporting prowess. So why does it merit sports coverage? Just a thought, and no I don't have anything better to do and yes it is a bloody slow news day. We need a match!
Can understand why it is on Sky and in the sports pages. The newsworthiness of a killing in South Africa is related to the identity of the accused. Would probably not be in our press if Pretorious was a plumber. If guilty, his absence will also have an affect on future athletic events. Just the same for other crimes, such as drink driving, the outcome of a trial may affect the team concerned. Also the side issue of needing to fill tv hours and sport pages.
It's not sports news, and you'll notice if you click through that the bbc site has the story in the news section, not sport. But it is linked from the sport pages because he is a high-profile sportsman.
Oscar Pistorius is obviously most famously known as a sporting athlete, certainly in the UK, although this story does hit the mainstream news more than the sports section. You'll notice, that in the BBC's Sports website, the link actually takes you to the mainstream BBC News website, so basically, the link is there because he's a sportsman. To be honest, I would begin to wonder if a link wasn't available on a Sports website. It could be seen as sport news trying to avoid some distasteful side of sportspeople's lives. After all, they want every other second of them, so why not the ugly inside..? [now we know why that website is so-called] Tragic story, if you ask me.
Oh no. Everyone is being reasonable. This was not the idea. Must start a "Sack Mauricio" thread. ****
I also thought this about the political side of the Olympics. Would rather know what Tony Pulis said in a press conference
Why is this sports news? Dunno. Here's another one. Why is there a philosophy thread on a football forum?
If the alleged murder did not invlove Pistorius, just your average person, few people would care, and the level of media coverage would not be nearly the same. This case is so high-profile because of Pistorius' fame. Pistorius' fame comes from his sporting prowess. Thus, effectively, the sporting achievements of Pistorius make this case much more news-worthy and therefore this can at least indirectly be seen as sporting news.
Philosophy? Hardly bloody Confucius! Any way, the answer lies in the long boring hours between matches with no real news, I guess. After Sunday we can discuss whether Lambert's hat trick against Newcastle is his most significant contribution to the Saints cause ....
