To The Writers

TigerBlog spent some time yesterday in uploading the 2025 field hockey schedule to goprincetontigers.com.

You can see it HERE.

Even though it's a little less than three months until opening day, TigerBlog is already looking forward to the season. As he entered each game, he thought about what that gameday would be like, what the weather might be, what kind of season it would be. 

When he was done, he started down the road of creating a graphic to go along with the release of the schedule. TB has gotten to the point where he's not bad at taking templates and updating them with whatever info is necessary at that time. 

He's certainly no expert at it though. He'd say "passable" or maybe "solid."

If you reach out to anyone who works in college athletic communications in 2025 ad ask what that person happens to be doing at the moment, there's a reasonable chance the response will be "making a graphic." They're used for everything and anything, from Player of the Week to "Ticket Punched" to someone who set a record to the coming week's schedule and everything and anything in between.

Social media, right? That's what's it's mostly about these days. Content creation. That's how most people consume information in 2025. 

To someone like TB, though, he's certain that there is still and always will be a market for a well-written, long-form feature story. When done right, such a story can paint a picture of the subject in a way that nothing else can. 

Say, for instance, the greatest home run hitter in the history of your baseball program only had one hand. The easiest way — and yes, an effective way — to tell that story would be through video, right? 

On the other hand, a much more challenging way is to write about him. Then it's up to you, the writer, to get the reader to "see" it all with the words you choose.

For instance, there is this: 

DeRocher was born with a congenital defect on his left hand and a fierce determination to prove he belongs. That determination sometimes morphs into defiance, shaped less by what's missing from his hand than the extra chip on his shoulder. It's as though DeRocher innately chose baseball not in spite of it being among the most difficult sports to play with one hand but because of it. One could envision DeRocher being told he couldn't play catch with other toddlers and responding with a steely glare: "Hold my orange juice."

That says a lot, no? You can picture this young man in your mind as you read on.

So what's the background? The player in question is Colton DeRocher, who set the Central College program record for career home runs with 24, despite, as it says, the fact that he has only one hand. It was written by Larry Happel, the retired head of the school's athletic communications office.

Earlier this week, Happel's story was chosen as the College Division National Story of the Year in the Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest. The annual awards for the best writing in college athletic communications is organized through the College Sports Communicators. 

You can read the entire piece HERE. You'll come away with a complete picture of DeRocher without watching a single video. 

The contest is divided into the University and College Divisions. The winner for the University Division this year is someone you probably have heard of: TigerBlog himself. It was for his story on the three women's soccer players who have had someone extremely close to them who has had cancer. 

You can read it HERE.

TigerBlog isn't here to brag about this (well, maybe a little; everyone likes to win awards, right?). What he's really doing is standing up for everyone who takes the time and the effort to tell stories through the written word. 

It's a challenge. It's time-consuming. 

It's a very public thing to do, which means you open yourself up for criticism. And yet it's so worth it, largely because when it's done well it is something in that the writer can take immense pride. 

HERE is the story on the CSC website with all of the national winners. TB's story on fencer Maia Weintraub after her fencing gold medal last summer was honored as the top athlete feature in the University Division as well. 

Pick any of the stories that won the awards. Read through them. Get to know the subjects through the written word. You'll be glad you did. 

So here is to all the writers, those who won and those who had the courage to put themselves out there for their work. 

There is a world beyond graphics. It's on all of them to keep it that way.