On SportsOn SportsThis blog focuses on all areas of sports, from kids playing pick-up basketball to the NFL. This blog will also include tips for anyone who wants to cover sports for fun or a career. Articles
Sports fans are pigs
2007-03-05 21:10:00 Sports fans are pigs. Or so it seems.Cheerleaders prance along the sidelines with skimpier and skimpier outfits, especially in the NFL.Sports Illustrated’s Winter 2007 issue features models with painted on swimsuits that can be viewed through 3-D glasses.ESPN.com promotes its championship week coverage by plastering some cheerleaders on its promo (shown above).And Hometown Hotties are posted at the bottom of CBSsportsline.com. Today, fans can leer at Tatyana, a blonde-haired St. Louis model splashing through some waves and wearing only a pink bikini and a smoldering look. We’re supposed to vote for our favorite “hottie” each day. (“If this gorgeous gal next door makes you Hottie under the collar, return the favor by voting for her.”) Now that’s what we call sports, huh?The 15-year-old in me says, “Not bad. How ya doin?” The 43-year-old father wonders why we need sex to sell sports. Sports fans watch the Brewers in August and the Lions in December. Plus, fans watch... More About: Sports , Fans , Sport , Port , Pigs
This book should 'flash' before every sportswriter's eyes
2007-03-05 01:39:00 Here's the second of a series of reviews on sports books that focus on issues related to the craft of sports reporting and writing. This review is of Dick Schaap’s FLASHING BEFORE MY EYES.Students today don’t need to write well, especially if they are going to be hosting Sport s Center or anchoring sports on a local TV affiliate. And students don’t need to keep up with news events so long as they know sports.Or so we’re told.So goes the fantasy of many students who are pursuing a career in sports journalism, a field too often filled with judgmental, superficial and, ostensibly, witty commentary.A field, sadly, that no longer has Dick Schaap, who died in December at age 68 from complications related to hip surgery.Schaap, who left a legacy that included 33 books, six Emmys and countless articles for magazines and newspapers, reveals how sports reporting ought to be done. He covered the tough issues without being in the center of them and he befriended athletes without losing h... More About: Flash , Eyes , Write
Things I love & hate about sports
2007-03-04 07:16:00 Here’s the start to a list that will certainly grow with time: Things I love & hate about sports. Must be in a bad mood. I’m more a hater tonight. That’s not something to love.■ Youth parents without a clue. These jerky parents are the exception, but they do stand out, especially when they open their mouths. Like the parent who started calling me and my coaches losers for walking the best player in the league in the top of the final inning of a championship softball game with runners on second and third and two outs. Yes, this game was not the World Series, but you have to start teaching strategy at some point. You can call me anything you want, but don’t yell it through the fence when I’m coaching my players. The girls started yelling back until I told them to focus on the game. That parent was classless.■ One-source profile stories that offer few insights and comments beyond the person profiled. These story are about as illuminating as a bug light (but not nearly as ... More About: Sports , Love , Sport , Hate , Port
Reporting without leering: What's a middle-aged writer to do?
2007-03-03 08:07:00 Here's the first of a series of sports book reviews that deal with specific issues related to the craft of sports reporting and writing. I plan to use several chapters of this book for my sports reporting course in the fall.A few years ago, I used the word “gam” to describe the attractive legs of a female athlete, not so much that I was leering but to reveal that this young woman turned more than a few heads on campus. The people in my workshop loved the use of the word even though it seemed as though the old-fashioned reference seemed more likely to come out of the mouth of a film-noire detective than from a 1990s journalist. I had been uncomfortable using this description. In fact, I am often uneasy describing women in my writing, especially if they are young and attractive like some of the players on Eastern Illinois’s rugby team. I’m forty-three and they are half that age, at best. I do not want to appear like perverted old Humbert Humbert in Nabkhov’s novel, lusting ... More About: Write , Report , Port , With , What
Here are some sports syllabi to review
2007-03-03 00:24:00 I am posting two syllabi here -- one for a sports reporting class and another for a survey class called Sport s and the Media. I am going to revise the reporting course to include several readings from books and award-winning articles. I am going to revamp the media course even more significantly, but will not have either of these updates until around late April. I will keep you updated.You can download the sports reporting class syllabus as a PDF by clicking here.And you can download the sports media course syllabus as a PDF by clicking here.Please, send me copies of your syllabi and/or post comments below. I'm always looking for new readings, approaches and assignments. I hope these syllabi prove helpful.You'll also want to check out a terrific syllabus from Steve Klein, who teaches at George Mason. Steve has many years experience both as a journalist and as a teacher, which is clear when you see his syllabus.-30- More About: Review , Port , View
Push for more than 'bats & balls' coverage
2007-03-02 16:19:00 An adviser in Connecticut brings up a legitimate concern about sports reporting. More to the point, he wants to know how to teach sports reporting more critically. James Simon, who directs the journalism sequence at Fairfield University, writes: “I run the journalism program and I dropped the sports reporting course because it was too bats and balls. No critical thinking, just a bunch of game stories and player profiles. Do you worry about this? It seems to be a bigger problem in this course than others, perhaps due to the more casual kind of student this course attracts (at least at my school).”Simon is correct. Sports is perceived as soft and casual. At far too many college newspapers, sports reporting does sink into a routine of game precede, game story, (one-source) profile, feature folo.We need to push our students to do a regular in-depth story, to dig for newsworthy notebook items, and to analyze the university’s athletic budget. Some sports reporters are digging in, co... More About: Bats , Balls , Rage , Cover , Over
Go long in sports feature leads
2007-03-01 20:15:00 Writing a sports feature is like writing a short story ? except we do not make up any of the facts. Story, not news, drives these features. That means you need to grab readers quickly in a lead that tells a compelling story or introduces an interesting character. Too often, reporters go short in leads.Yes, lengthy, rambling leads can be a problem, but not if reported and written properly. From time to time, consider going long.The writer of the following story focused on an interesting topic ? how hairstyles affect athletes? performances on the field and in pools. This writer lead with a single person?s story. Again, a solid job.Yet.This writer could have developed the lead in more detail, allowing the reader to see and feel the worries this athlete had. Do not be afraid to go deeper in leads -- if the story or scene is compelling. Leads can certainly get out of control, wandering and wandering while the reader also wanders and wonders: What the heck is this story about? But you?ll ... More About: Sports , Tips , Feature , Long
Where have you gone, Steve Kilkenny?
More articles from this author:2007-02-28 20:26:00 I'm always sad when I read headlines like this: "Honus Wagner card sold for record-setting $2.35 million." I can only think about all the cards I sold to pay the rent in college, all those cardboard Aarons, Mays, Clementes, Mantles and Roses sold off for another couple of months in a dingy apartment or for a few more credits at the community college. (As if education is as important as pictures of childhood heroes.)Collecting those cards were some of the best times of my life. I learned to negotiate by trading with the neighborhood kids, gladly handing over the Mets' Rusty Staub and Cleon Jones for the likes of Steve Carlton, Harmon Killebrew or Bobby Murcer. I learned to organize by putting cards in order both by team and by numbers, depending on my mood. And I also learned to finish what I started by trading for even the most obscure players (like Cleveland Indians pitcher Steve Kilkenny ) because I needed a complete set in 1972.I also pored over statistics on the back of these c... More About: Gone , Have , Here 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
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