Star Tribune Snubs Star Minnesota Soccer Player Bunbury, Shows Prejudice Toward Soccer
An Open Letter to the editorial staff of the Star Tribune
On Tuesday, December 14, two days after the NCAA Division 1 soccer final, a game that Minnesotan Teal Bunbury featured in, IMS sent a letter to the editorial department of the Star Tribune. While I expected they would not publish my somewhat damning letter, I had hoped to get some sort of a response which never came.
First, here is that letter. Please continue to read after the letter to learn more about the paper’s lack of responsiveness to this very legitimate question.
Imagine if you would, a scenario where one of the finalist for the Hobey Baker award was from Minnesota and his team was on a NCAA record breaking season. Your paper knew about the player and the teams phenomenal season and yet you made a decision not to write about it.
This past weekend was the 2009 College Cup, the NCAA Division I soccer finals. Going into the event were the Akron of Ohio Zips who were sitting on a record tying 23-0-0 season. On that team was a player from Minnesota, Teal Bunbury, a fine young man who hails from Prior Lake.
Bunbury is only a sophomore and yet he lead the nation in Division I scoring with 17 goals. He was also named to the Division I All-America first team and has gathered many other awards along his way. On Friday he was picked as one of three finalist for the Hermann Trophy, soccer’s equivalent to the Hobey Baker and Heisman. Bunbury played his summer soccer in 09 with the Rochester (MN) Thunder PDL team and was also their leading scorer.
Bunbury’s team went into this weekend with a record tying 23 consecutive wins and ended the season with 58 goals for and 7 against which is astounding in this sport. While that record came to an end on Friday night with a draw, Bunbury and Akron moved onto the final through shootouts. They played and lost in the final on Sunday against the University of Virginia. Your paper did have a brief wire report of the game and NO mention of Bunbury.
In the weeks leading up to the College Cup Final, I made your paper aware of Teal Bunbury, his personal and team accomplishments. I also offered to give you contact information for this very bright, well spoken and polite young man. Yet your paper passed on the offer and chose to ignore this deserving athlete.
I understand that soccer doesn’t have the following of football or hockey and the Star Tribune is struggling financially and needs to write things that will sell papers. But this was Minnesota news and you snubbed a very worthy young man. Most likely out of your own sports departments prejudices against a sport that isn’t their favorite or their perceived notion that it doesn’t sell as many papers. That’s not only sad but also shameful, you couldn’t make the space to feature this fine young man who is doing all the things we ask of our children and only hope they can accomplish.
Brian Quarstad
Inside Minnesota Soccer.com
On Wednesday, I emailed both Star Tribune Editor and Senior Vice President Nancy Barnes and Opinion Editor Scott Gillespie. In that email I politely requested an answer to the question posed in the letter: Why did the Strib chose not to carry any story on this fine and deserving young man? Neither bothered to return my email and give me an explanation.
IMS wishes to request everyone who reads this to send a brief but polite email off to Barnes and Gillespie and propose the same question posed in the original letter: Why did the Star Tribune chose to not carry an article on Teal Bunbury, and if this had been a different sport would they have then covered the story?
Please Go Here.to send an email or if you use web mail or care to make a phone call, here are the two contacts:
Nancy Barnes
Editor and Senior Vice President
612.673.7937
nancyb@startribune.com
Scott Gillespie
Editor
612.673.4516
sgillespie@startribune.com
Comments are closed.
Its because of folks like this that the Thunder are having so much problems.
Perhaps a bit simplistic but I would say “one” of the reasons the Thunder had problems. That and the fact that there were things mismanaged and no marketing plan after Peter Johns left and they haven’t had a winning team since 2004 and really not successful since the late 90′s. It’s not just one thing, but it contributed I’m sure.
Not trying to rile things up, but I have to say that while it might have been nice if they covered the story a bit more, I have trouble getting too up in arms about it.
I mean, I likely follow soccer more than 98% of the people who read the Strib, and frankly, I don’t give a crap about college soccer. Which may be unfortunate for the sport of college soccer, but it’s true. I’d say a brief wire mention is a fair amount of coverage for college soccer, relative to the level of interest. If they had thrown in an additional sentence in their brief saying that one of the players on the losing team was Teal Bunbury from Prior Lake, that would pretty much cover it. Maybe another brief mentioning that a local guy was in the 3 finalists for the award. But beyond that, I just don’t see how it warrants further coverage.
And it might have helped your analogy in your letter if you had spelled Hobey Baker correctly.
The StarTribune is a rag. Nuff said.
I would agree that most media forget soccer. You never hear about it on channels 4,5,9 and 11. We need to put pressure on all media outlets to get the to cover the most popular sport in the world!
You think that fat piece of …… Ruesse is going to cover soccer? He’s probably never even seen a soccer ball up close. He can barely get out of his chair for god’s sakes. In all fairness, I don’t think TV covers it either.
I don’t care much about college soccer either, but I do care about a Minnesota player being near the top of college soccer. That is the big difference. It is also why it was silly even to run the wire story on the final. No one really cares about that, but they would actually care about the Minnesota player involved.
Thanks BQ for the heads up–even though I’m a subscriber, I ignore the Sports section because they never talk about soccer.
To me this is more than just about covering soccer, it’s about covering worthwhile people, members of our community who honor the place where they came from by full commitment to excellence. It’s about a young athlete, who attends a good university, and beyond that excelled beyond the typical in a sport. I don’t care if it’s backgammon (anyone hear of that) if Minnesota’s most noteworthy news publication does not offer honorable coverage to one of Minnesota’s most noteworthy offspring, then what exactly is their purpose. You can be certain that I will write the editors and express my dissatisfaction. This one really disturbed me.
Not having a D1 men’s program in MN may contribute something to the lack of coverage, as well as lack of interest in college soccer overall. I’ve watched Teal since his club days with Valley United, and it is great to see him progress to the top goal scorer in college soccer this year.
Where to start…First, When did IMS become the official Teal Bunbury Fansite. BQ’s audio interview when he gushed over Teal’s performances with Akron while reading stats and teammates names off a cheatsheat was less than cutting edge soccer journalism and to be honest quite boring. Teal was a threat and scored goals against sub-standard competition. Take a look at the final four and he was a non-factor. Played too slow and couldn’t handle the high level competition. The only good service he got he put in the parking lot off a header…really? Although his father feels compelled to send letters to the Strib it should not make frontpage. Why would the Strib cover the story…it’s college soccer and 99% of the readers have no idea what a college cup is let alone what a Hermann Trophy is. Great, Teal is from Prior Lake and his dad wants to recognize his son for a “great season” but hardly worthy of hounding the Strib Staff.
This is a great sight but stay in the game…this isn’t worth it and Teal is old news. His pro career will probably be shorter than the time it takes to read this…sorry Alex.
-Platini
IMS stands for “Inside MINNESOTA Soccer”, thus IMS covered a Minnesota soccer stand-out. Thank you IMS! See my earlier post, for clarification as to why I think the Strib was unfair.
Platini – stating that Bunbury scored goals against sub-standard teams is really quite silly. They got there and in large part due to this kid who contributed with goals. Also, don’t forget that the Akron coach was courted by DC United. So, I believe that a coach of that caliber probably knows what kind of players he keeps on his team. Don’t forget that LA Galaxy lost in the final to RSL on penatly kicks. One of the players who missed a pk was the great Landon Donovan, who was MVP and Everton just published their joy at having him even for a 10-week loan. Roberto Baggio missed a pk in the final of the World Cup. And the real “Platini” has missed few himself. So, being overly critical of a college sophomore for missing a header in the midst of final four pressure is a bit unfair. By the way, I’m a huge of fan of “Michel Platini” and I can’t wait to see another personality like him enter the world football stage.
I don’t know Teal Bunbury, I’ve never seen him play, it’s likely I never will. I don’t know Bunbury’s dad, but in all honesty I can understand how he would be disappointed. A first rate player in soccer receives no attention, while second & third rate players in hockey, football, even basketball get plenty of coverage. It’s just not fair to this kid, or any other high school soccer player.
keep kicking.
speaking of ’nuff said:
Teal Bunbury – Prior Lake, MN – 2009/D1 – lead the nation in scoring.
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/m-soccer/stats/ncaa-m-soccer-div1-ind-goals-per-game.html
Complaining about a lack of coverage of soccer is an exercise in futility. Accept the fact that to most Minnesotans/Midwesterners/Americans soccer does not interest them. Fine. It interests those of us who read IMS, espnsoccernet, BBC Soccer, etc. (My bookmarks for soccer number around fifty.) I do not care that “they” do not share the same passion I have for the beautiful game. I do not care that “they” do not “get it”. I do not need their validation through coverage. I am perfectly happy to have it be a so-called fringe sport here that gets a spike in interest every four years for the World Cup. As much as I like soccer, I have never watched an entire men’s college soccer game. I confess that a few years ago I went to some Gopher womens’ game. Perhaps, I a true-believer, am missing something.
My point being that I think it is some kind of inferiority complex some soccer fans have in seeking approval for being soccer fans. I do not try to persuade people they should be soccer fans by argument and analysis. It is kind of like trying to make people appreciate art.
Anyway, soccer players in the US have a pretty thick skin. They play for the love of the game and do not expect our society to fawn over them like football, baseball, or basketball players. That is actually a good thing. Soccer is more pure given its obscurity.
What we do not need is people lashing out at the “mainstream” media for our perceived slights. You can not convince someone with no background in soccer to become a rapid fan or advocate for your cause. Do not vilify their lack of interest as some ulterior motive beyond their thinking that soccer is not that interesting.
ESPN is an example of incremental progress in the mainstream media. Notice how in their Top Ten on SportsCenter that they are frequently using soccer plays. They are incorporating soccer into their mainstream coverage. They have made a calculated decision that it does matter to enough of their audience, or SHOULD matter given the amount of money they have sunk in the EPL and upcoming World Cup.
I read the Strib online everyday and get the actual paper on the weekends. I do not expect soccer coverage from them and therefore they can not disappoint me.
We do not need to justify our passion to anyone. Nor does it need validation.
Chin up.
I agree with Brian/Futbolist- the strib should have given coverage to a fine young man from MN.
I also agree with some of Chris A’s statement- how much other people love soccer has no bearing on how much I love soccer.
I do however wish the mainstream media provided more coverage to soccer becasue I think it would help drive the interest and passion of young people in the game. Certainly I know where to find the soccer coverage I crave but there was a time when I didn’t, and were it not for my college soccer experience in which I was emersed in a soccer culture I may not have ever learned to appreciate the game beyond something I enjoyed from a players perspective.
hey i think the title should read “Prejudice Against”, not “Prejudice Toward”, would make it easier to follow ha ha
Soccer does get the shaft on coverage from the Strib. They give much more coverage to volleyball than they do soccer. I think it’s just ignorance of the game from the dinosaurs like Sid and Ruesse.
Just to clarify, I do think that soccer in general gets slighted from the Strib, but that wasn’t my point in this post or the letter to the newspaper.
When I wrote to the editors I was polite and told them I understand the financial issues of the paper and the need to publish stories that sell. When La Vaque broke the original story about the Thunders financial situation last summer and was criticized by the Thunder for never printing anything positive about the team, I sided with the paper in that #1) What La Vaque was writing about was news #2) They did cover issues like the moving of the team to back to Blaine. But the reality was, the team had been subpar for years and really wasn’t drawing at the gate or creating a ton of interest from the sports fans. If you want stories written about your team and you are considered a minor league sport in an over saturated major league market with good division 1 sports as well, you better be interesting. That may mean having interesting players or a winning record. But as things were going with the Thunder, they just weren’t doing a lot to draw media interest.
However, in the case of young Mr. Bunbury, he has done something outstanding and substantial and quite frankly he did get snubbed.
To my friend Lep, it’s the difficult thing about IMS and one of the exact reasons I created this site. I know that you and a number of my friends could give a squat about high school or college soccer, and you particularly could care about club soccer. Yet I have a lot of other readers who couldn’t care less about the USMNT or the Thunder. All of their spare time is spent around the youth soccer scene and they are helping to raise the level of the game here in MN. I even have my own personal preferences and there are some things I’d prefer not to be writing about, but I feel the need to because I’m trying to give folks MN soccer news.
I have sense received several emails from Mr. Gillispe letting me know that the Stribs news staff is aware of the issue. I also was following Mike Rands Twitter’s yesterday and while he didn’t agree with the way I went about this, he does agree that Bunbury should have been mentioned. He stated in one of his tweets that he expects that he may run an article on Bunbury before the Hermann is handed out.
To Platini, of course I was reading the names off a cheat sheet. Am I supposed to have all the names of players on rosters for MIAC, USL, U of M Women’s etc… all memorized. How do you think people run interviews? I just had to laugh at how silly that was. Thanks for making me smile this morning.
Also, you must not have been too bored or you would not have listened to the whole interview. I don’t totally disagree with you concerning Teals record and his goal scoring. I have talked to numerous people that have worked with Teal here in MN and they all feel he has all the potential to be a star goal scorer at the pro level. Size, speed, athleticism, and a nose for goal with a good shot and decent touch. But every one of them also thinks he still has some work to do. I would agree after watching him in the last two games of the season being marked by good players. But come on man, he’s practically a kid yet at 19 or 20 years old. I think even Teal would tell you that he has lots to work on yet. But as a soccer agent told me recently, if the offer is given to Teal to go pro, financially it would be foolish for him not to take it.
Up until a little over a year ago, MN had no soccer news website. No interviews, no updates on status of the teams, no breaking news stories as I have done on the Thunder and the USL v TOA. My main goal for the site was to create a clearinghouse where soccer people in MN can go to get news and to promote and celebrate soccer in MN. I refuse to apologize for that and I will “gush over” Bunbury or any other young male or female soccer talent in the State if I wish to.
Lets celebrate these kids, not cut them down and talk about all their faults. You can do that on some discussion board somewhere as there are plenty of them out there.
I see I’m also getting a fair amount of potshots taken at me from another MN soccer blog. I guess if you put yourself out there promoting MN soccer at no charge to your readers and spend countless hours a year of your own personal time working on original content, you have to be ready to take the bad with the good. Alright then, bring it on baby and oh, thanks for noticing!
Who cares about the potshots when they are hidden by internet nom de plummes. If anyone has an issue with anything I say they know where to find me and talk to me in person. On the Northend!
…but, Chris A makes some real good points about his view on this.
Plantini- Where has Teal’s dad spoken, written? I don’t see it and would love for you to point out where this has happened. I surely hope this isn’t an unvalidated attempt to take a potshot at IMS.
The Star Tribune is not now and never has been a very good newspaper. Mary Abbe is great, but she is writing about art so I do not expect much from the rest of the paper.
SI.com announces that Teal is leaving Akron for the MLS. After talking with his dad several weeks ago, this is not surprise.
as for whether college soccer is worth following, this comment from the Colin Clarke article that Brian tweeted answers the question:
“My choice [for Fire coach] is Caleb Porter of U of Akron — he created a skilled and entertaining college team which is usually an oxymoron, obviously a miracle man plus he has MLS experience. ”
kudos to heelfans43 – and make sure you pay some attention to those zips next year. CP has the potential to bring college soccer to the next level with or without Bunbury. All glory to the roo…
BQ – not sure if I was clear, but I do think it’s great that you cover college soccer here, and high school and youth club soccer as well. While it may not be something I care much about personally, I know others do, and this site is a great resource for, as you say, all things Minnesota Soccer related.
I was simply saying that it made sense (to me) that the Strib wouldn’t cover college soccer very much, just because it’s not something a lot of people are interested in.
My first post. Enjoy the read. Montreal native and Impact fan.
Just thought I’d add the following from the Globe & Mail up here in Canada about Burnbury. The headline reads “Canada’s Bunbury earns top honours” @ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/canadas-bunbury-earns-top-honours/article1406364/ .
In article, I learnt the kid was born in Canada to one of Canada’s top soccer players of the past. It reads: “Bunbury was born in Hamilton, Ont., and is the son of former Canadian World Cup striker Alex Bunbury who was enshrined into Canada’s Soccer Hall of Fame in Vaughan, Ont., in 2005.”
So pride crosses borders. Good for soccer in NA.
Georges
Georges, thanks for making us aware of the coverage that Bunbury has been getting north of the border. Excellent…