The story of the Tico Times appealing to the Constitutional Court after the Fedefut (Costa Rica’s soccer Gods) denied it passes to tonight’s (Friday) soccer game between the US and Costa Rica, reminds of an old joke with the punchline, “buy a ticket!”.
Every media outlet in the country wants passes. An why not? A freebie for the countless hours of grind to bring the news. But to file an appeal and then make a big deal of it seems, well, “unprofessional”.
Even a hard working organization like AmeliaRueda.com – and Ticos to boot – got denied passes. So what does it make it so special for the Tico Times, in their mind?
David Boddiger, editor of the Tico Times, wrote in his article that his appeal was based on the past of the Tico Times, a publication that was founded in 1956 and had been accredited to “important” games in the past.
I admit that for years I was an avid reader of the Tico Times. Every Friday I would buy my copy, cruised the pages, read every classified ad. Heck, on a number of occasions I eve put in my own classified ads for this, that and the other. And this even though I ran my own publication, not need to mention it here, you all know which.
Over time, the Tico Times newspaper got smaller and smaller. Fewer stories, fewer advertisers and even less classifieds. The online world was quickly overtaking the print, until last year in September when the Tico Times called it quits to their print edition.
This was nothing new. All around the world print newspapers were ending up same, moving to an online only for those who could make the change to survive.
The Tico Times of today is not the Tico Times of yesteryear. Get used to it!
Hey, where’s my pass?
I admit I didn’t get denied, just didn’t get an answer to my request from the soccer Gods.
And no, didn’t buy a ticket!