The sports staff of the Star-Tribune has ventured into new territory this fall, using our Web site to cover high school and University of Wyoming sports in ways we never have before.

The response from trib.com users so far has been encouraging. I have a feeling we've only scratched the surface of using the Internet to cover sports and other types of news.

For those of you who haven't yet checked out what we've been up to, here's a quick description:

* Live blogging -- On Friday nights and Saturdays throughout the fall, folks have been able to log on to trib.com to get updates on high school and UW football games.

Using their laptops, our reporters in the press boxes have posted updates during the games, while sports staffers here in the office have contributed scores and other information gleaned from other sources. The program we use also allows readers to post comments and updates. The result has been an impressive accumulation of up-to-the-minute reports and insight that nicely complement the work we do in print.

On the night of the first round of high school football playoffs, about 300 people logged on to follow the developments during the evening, many adding comments and helping update scores.

Reporters Jack Nowlin and Clint Robus also blogged live during the state high school volleyball tournament, and that was a popular service as well. Close to 200 people followed the action online during Saturday's championship matches.

Reporter Eric Schmoldt, who covers UW football and basketball for us, blogs live during Cowboy games. Because of restrictions from the Mountain West Conference, he's unable to do play by play, but he does provide updates that are valuable to people who can't get the games on TV or radio -- and insights that add to the experience for those who can. Plus, it's interactive: Eric responds to questions and comments posted by others during the game.

* Regular blogs -- Eric and Clint blog regularly about their beats -- UW and high school sports, respectively -- throughout the week. You'll find their blogs and others from our news staff, and from readers, at TribTown.trib.com.

* Videos -- Our photographers and online staffers produce videos featuring highlights from the games they cover. In addition, Clint and Jack have been doing a weekly TV-style video preview on high school sports -- called the Prep Blitz -- for the past few weeks. You'll find those videos at trib.com.

The coming weekend's high school football championships -- to be played at a single site, War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, for the first time -- give us an opportunity to experiment with a further expansion of our online sports coverage.

On Friday and Saturday, we'll have live, streaming audio coverage of all five championship games. By going to trib.com and clicking on Tribcast, you'll hear Wyoming broadcasting legend George Kay call the games in a radio-style format. Our managing editor and online news director, Ron Gullberg -- who happens to have led the Star-Tribune's award-winning sports staff for 12 years -- will provide color commentary.

By the way, we'll also have live blogging during those games.

As I noted before, these online efforts represent a new frontier for the Star-Tribune. I've been in the newspaper business for more than 20 years, and until the past few years I never imagined we'd have a platform to cover breaking news with the immediacy we can now. It's exciting, but also challenging, because our staff is having to develop new skills for online work -- all the while continuing to deliver the news in print in the quality manner to which our readers are accustomed.

Based upon these efforts in covering sports, I'm convinced there's a place for both our online and printed products to flourish.

Do you have a question or a comment for Editor Chad Baldwin? You can call him at 266-0545, or send e-mail to chad.baldwin@trib.com.