Topeka, KS - Desperate for authenticity and page views, local Kansas sports reporter Graham Darrow covered the Ballon d'Or ceremony by live blogging the happenings on the Topeka Capital-Journal website as though the ceremony actually mattered.
It's basically one or the other for 8 years. Even if someone has a better season it is likely Ronaldo or Messi are going to win.
"I could be covering something local or even trying to cover the early season for Sporting Kansas City, but I've been told that this Ballon thing is a big deal internationally so I'm just going to write about it as though I'm shocked that the guy who wins isn't the guy who wins nearly every year," stated Darrow to friends on Sunday evening.
While this grasp at authenticity may seem shallow to some, Darrow desperately needs the clicks on his newspaper live blog to keep his job within the quickly vanishing industry. "Newspapers are dead and I'm just trying to ride this thing into the ground. The more clicks I can get the better, even if that means that I'm just repeating trite observations like how the players are dressed and whether it is totally awesome that Carli Lloyd just won player of the year. It literally doesn't have anything to do with Topeka, Kansas or Kansas City sports, but honestly... it was this or write a Golden Globes recap. If I can get a few hundred or thousand clicks out of this thing it will at least confirm to my boss that someone cares that I'm writing about soccer. It may be pandering but it has a point. I've got to eat and if writing about foregone conclusions with a global reach keeps me employed then I'm going to double down on it."
The Nutmeg News will have more on this as we try to figure out the logistics of writing a piece about someone writing a piece.