From the Detroit News
The Detroit News won four awards in the 2004 Associated Press Sports Editors contest, including being named one of the 10 best daily sports sections in the nation in its circulation category.

Girard’s project entry, Danger on the Sidelines, dealt with coaches with criminal backgrounds who are able to land youth sports jobs with little fear of being exposed because criminal background checks are incomplete or not run at all.

My view: This entire special report is a must-read for parents, athletes, potential coaches, anyone involved with youth sports.

His winning investigative story dealt with Tigers great Cecil Fielder falling into debt because of gambling. The investigative category includes all circulation sizes across the nation.

My view: It’s not a happy story, for one of Detroit’s beloved baseball stars. I used to love watching Cecil hit batting practice. It alone was worth the trip to the ballpark. I remember sitting in my favorite seat (first row of the upper deck in left) and watching the ball jump off his bat. His life is along way from that now. Gambling and poor money management claims another successful athlete.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 25th, 2005 at 3:19 pm and is filed under Leland Comets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.