Dig this earnest–if overly self-depricating, at times–piece by Tim Kurkijan on the death of the newspaper box score:

Now I read the box scores most days on ESPN.com on my computer. I’m not comfortable doing it but I have no other choice. I have saved time, as well as money on scotch tape and scissors. Since 9/11, I estimate having lost at least six pair of scissors because I forgot to remove them from my bag and the security men and women at airports thought I might hijack the plane using scissors as dull as NFL preseason games.

But I still read box scores with the same vigor and interest every day for there is so much to learn in box scores, almost everything you need is in box scores, especially with the expanded ones that tell you, in some cases, more than you wanted to know. Twice a year, I have lunch and talk baseball with George Will and Dr. Charles Krauthammer, who write and speak about important issues in the world, such as war and gay marriage. At one lunch, Krauthammer said, “I read the front page for 30 seconds every day, then I go straight to the box scores.” To which Will said, “Why do you waste the 30 seconds?”

If I didn’t pick up the News and the Post for my subway commute most every morning, I don’t know how often I’d see the box scores anymore, either. Oh, I see them, and so much more, online, of course. I prefer the box scores in the News to the Post, though, and still find that it’s my favorite part of reading the paper each day.

[Photo Credit: The Baseball Analysts]