Hmmm, seems like I might be a bit late to come to my own defense on this one, but here goes.
Consider this:
When covering a Big Game you can either
A: cover the whole event from the front line and report back on what happened in about a 50 yard radius thus missing the overall picture.
or
B: Go back and forth between the two bases and talk to the generals who are being a informed all the time of the big picture and making the over all decisions, but miss out on parts of the action first hand.
I did spend quite some time on the 'front line', which was a real phenomenon in itself, but it would have been pointless to have spent the whole article writing, "and then Billy shot Jimmy and Jimmy got shot by Bob and then they all ran forward two yards and came back one". There was a whole event to cover and it was more than just flinging paint.
It was a shame about the pictures, I was really dissapointed. But then this games all about deadlines and you go with what you can get within the time.
Hope that helps clear things up a bit