Great News! We're Half Way There!

After just 24 hours, former Washington Times reporter Mark Zuckerman is already more than half way to the $5,000 bucks he needs to go to Viera and cover the Nationals during Spring Training.

After years of listening to people go on about how great the Cardinals fans are, and of course Red Sox Nation, and then there's the diehardcubsfans (all-one-word)... Well, forget that. We're putting our money where our mouths are.

But we can't rest on our laurels. We all learned in 2005 that being in first place at the half-way point can just be the first step to another last place finish. And if you don't give, and Mark falls short, that means you're like the Junior Spivey of this thing. Do your part. Don't be Junior Spivey. Click here to give:

http://www.chipin.com/contribute/id/3aad34cc7a988fdb

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. The Post is going to cover spring training. Why do I need this? Some readers may be fans of other teams, checking this out after hearing about it on Fangraphs or Keith Law's Twitter feed or the Stefan Fatsis Facebook page. What do you care about the latest in the epic J.D. Martin v. Shawn Estes battle for the 5th starter spot on the worst team in baseball?

Let's back up and explain what's really going on here. Local papers aren't going through some temporary lull in one team's coverage. Newspapers in America are dying, especially the ones not called The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, and it's only going to get worse.

The same reason that the Post has cut the Nationals beat to a thin dangling thread is the same reason that coverage of city halls has been basically phased out at daily papers across the nation. Remember season five of The Wire? The one about the Baltimore Sun? And then McNulty fakes all those homeless murders, but Carcetti covers it up, and then Omar gets it from the little kid, and Bubbles finally cleans up his act? Oh man, that shit was tight.

Anyway, the point is that if you think coverage of the Nationals is bad now, it's only getting worse. Wait till the Post starts running only AP copy for 162 gamers a year. Don't think that's coming? You're wrong. You'll miss even that much when Kaplan finally hires their Preston Moon and decides it's time to cut the entire paper to down to what you get in those Washington Post "Express" handouts all over the floor on the Metro.

So if you want quality coverage of the teams you care about, you better show it. Once the papers are gone, it's going to be a long road back. Click here to kick in your part:

http://www.chipin.com/contribute/id/3aad34cc7a988fdb

Again, thanks for everything.

P.S. If you're not compelled by my pitch, check out these:

• Fangraphs: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/independent-beat-writing/
• Baseball Musings: http://baseballmusings.com/?p=46411
• NFA: http://natsfarm.com/2010/02/08/help-send-mark-to-viera/
• NTP: http://nats3play.blogspot.com/2010/02/send-blogger-to-camp.html
• NNN: http://natsnewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2010/02/sending-zuckerman-to-florida.html
• NFL: http://natslooser.blogspot.com/2010/02/screw-mark-send-me-to-florida.html