Tag Archives: Sports and sports journalism

Should college athletes get paid?

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By ADRIENNE MOTLEY

This is one of the biggest discussions involving college athletes today. The average athletic scholarship over the course of four years is valued at more than $100,000.  But the scholarship doesn’t put money in athlete’s pockets for food and clothing.

Being a student-athlete is a full time job. You have workouts or practice before classes begin, and are expected to pay attention through three and sometimes four classes in a row. Then after we have to lift weights and go to mandatory study hall. Our day starts at the crack of dawn and usually ends when it’s dark. We give up going home for holidays and summer break for competition and practices.

A student athlete gets exploited to bring money to the school by playing games. Athletes can’t earn money by signing autographs, but NCAA executives make millions of dollars. The NCAA and CBS signed a $10.8 billion television agreement over 14 years.

I believe student athletes should profit off of being a member of a collegiate athletic team. The little money we would profit would be nowhere near what executives make, but it would help us with extra expenses not detailed in an athletic scholarship.

Care needed in covering NFL drug policy

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By JOHN RIOUX

The risks and benefits of marijuana use to treat injuries has become a major debate in National Football League circles. With the recent increase in awareness about concussions, marijuana is being looked at as an option to treat these often-occurring injuries.

While most NFL reporters are familiar covering statistics from games, this issue brings a political discussion that is taking place in our government right now.

Journalists must approach this topic with caution, as there is no concrete evidence to suggest that it is either helpful or harmful to remedy injuries. It is however time for not only doctors, but journalists to closely examine the effects it could potentially have as a useful substance.

Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks’ Coach Pete Carroll agrees with this notion saying, “the world of medicine is trying to do the exact same thing and figure it out and they’re coming to some conclusions.”

While marijuana might not be a useful medicine to utilize, the addiction to painkillers that many NFL players deal with proves there is a need for change. Former offensive lineman Kyle Turley recalls after games “ The trainers and the doctors used to go down the aisle [of the plane] and say, ‘Who needs what?” in regard to substances such as Vicodin.

While this is a touchy subject to report on, it is critical the news media communicate the findings medical researchers and doctors have about this substance. With the league currently continuing to look for ways to increase player safety, we have to know if they will go to extreme lengths that may be unpopular with fans of the game.

The political argument does not matter if the risks outweigh the benefits. Football is a lethal sport and if the new findings prove any advantages in helping with the injuries that occur, they must be taken advantage of.

There will be reporters scared of the repercussions the NFL might set down on them if they publish a story that negatively affects them, but that does not matter. The people have the right to know what this new-found research proves.

Becoming a sports journalist, part 1

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By VALERIA VIERA

Journalists have many different beats and specializations from which to choose from when it comes to choosing a career path — entertainment, sports, music, economy, politics, international and so forth.

Sports journalism is  an area that can take time to learn how to write it so it is fun, simple, and explicit to the audience.

The article “How to Become a Sports Journalist” edited by Donald Pillai and others teaches us the important steps to becoming a successful sports journalist in today’s society.

According to the article, first you have to be “passionate about sports.” This step is quite obvious, since there must be a sense of excitement coming from the journalist so he or she can transmit it to the people reading whatever the journalist writes about. The person has to like what they are writing about, that way they actually know what they are saying. Also, sports history is important to know and be informed of.

Next is also a step that everyone should know: reading about sports article. The only way you can really learn is by reading the work of others. That way the journalist can critique his own work and maybe add a different structure to it so it is easier, cleaner, and more entertaining to read.

“Familiarize yourself with the way a sports journalist writes. Study your favorite sports journalists to see why they might have become so successful,” Pillai wrote.

This last sentence is a good advice since if you want to be the best at what you do, do not  imitate that person you look up to, but unite those things about he or she you like with your own. Combine them and the best piece of work will come out.

Step three: Just write. Writing about sports is just one branch of writing you have to be a good writer, one that can write about anything not just sports.

Step four: “Get an education” This refers to completing high school, focusing on getting good results from your writing classes. According to the article:

“You will need a Bachelor’s degree to pursue a career in sports journalist. Go to a four-year college and major in English, with a concentration in Journalism. Consider getting graduate degree. This will make you more desirable to potential employers. Note that it may be easier to work on your graduate degree once you have gotten your first job.”

Step five is one that most students right now in college should most likely want to pay attention to: join your University’s newspaper. Not only for the curriculum and resumé, but also so you can prepare yourself for the real world. Doing internships, volunteering, and putting your work out there in websites and in your university’s newspaper are all necessary steps you have to take before having a real job. Why? Because just a degree or a title is not enough for the majority of the people who will hire you. They have to know you are not only well-experienced at the job you are applying for, but also good at it. Becoming your University’s sports journalist will help you in many ways.

If you are still in high school, joining it’s newspaper is also a perfect beginning for a successful career in the future.

Becoming a sports journalist, part 2

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By VALERIA VIERA

In this other half of this pair of posts, we continue with the steps to becoming a successful sports journalist!

Step six, according to the article “How to Become a Sports Journalist,” refers to becoming an intern, as I previously mentioned. Applying for internships and working at several different stations will give you good experience for your future. It will show you what it will be like in the real world, and it will give you the opportunity for you to decide what it is you are good for and what not. What you really like and what you don’t. Maybe by doing the internship you realize that sports writing is not what you want to do in life, or maybe you realize it is the perfect job for you.

Next you want to apply for an “entry-level job.If you interned at a specific newspaper, apply there first because they will be more likely to hire an intern they’ve worked with than someone outside the company.”

This is completely true, but it is not always this way so do not get too attached to the idea. The process to finding your ideal job can take time, so do not get frustrated.

Step eight, according to the article, would be to consider freelancing. “If you’re having difficulty finding a full-time, regular job, try your hand at freelance writing. Send queries to sports magazines and newspapers about which you know.

If they like your query, they will hire you to write the article, and if they like your article, they may hire you on a contract basis or even full time.” Freelancing is a start to make good connections and to let others read your work. It might get you a job you did not even dream of getting. Is a matter of right timing and good writing.

Also I believe that if you are having trouble or do not find exactly what you are looking for, consider teaching. Once you are good at sports writing, teaching can always be something you can do to help others, to gain some money, and for yourself as a way to keep gaining more experience.

Last but not least, earning a bachelor of arts degree in journalism or communication with courses in “mass media, advanced writing, news reporting, public speaking and political communications,” is the final step to becoming a sports journalist.

This article shows us the basic steps to becoming a sports journalists, but we should also keep in mind values that will help make it through these steps: honesty, respect, love for what you do, and humility.

Sportswriters in conflict of interest?

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By MATIAS WODNER

Sportwriter and NFL reporter for CBS Sports Jason La Canfora brought up a very interesting point with a tweet he sent out last night after the Thursday night’s game between Indianapolis and Tennessee.

I had never really even thought of the idea that reporters and players and coaches might share the same agents. In fact, I never even thought about the fact that reporters do have agents. It may not seem like a big deal to many, but it brings up a huge question in terms of conflict of interest.

Conflict of interest is one of the main points in any discussion of professional ethics in journalism. It’s essential for journalists to be out of the story (depending on the type of story, mostly that is the case). Journalists are taught to avoid conflicts, whether real or perceived. And when there is unavoidable conflict, they need to disclose it.

Reporters sharing agents with players and coaches nearly discredits any story that that reporter writes about the player or coach whom he shares that agent with. As unbiased as the story may be, it doesn’t matter.

This is a rather interesting topic of discussion to me because of my prior writing experience. I used to write for a community website about the Tennessee Titans. My job was to write articles about the team, whether objective or subjective, positive or negative, anything I could come up with. During the time that I worked, there was no real conflict because of the state of the website. It wasn’t exactly professional because we weren’t getting paid to do it. It was merely my thoughts written in type, with one editor making tweaks.

That “job” didn’t necessarily prepare for me for the conflicts that I may face if I pursue a career in journalism. I do now understand that there are situations where those conflicts are unavoidable. But when they are avoidable, it is important for me to eliminate myself from the equation in the fairest way possible.

Questions within a national story

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By MATIAS WODNER

We’ve essentially been beaten to death by the Miami Dolphins scandal involving Jonathan Martin and Richie Incognito. I’ll spare the details in order to get to the journalistic side of the story. This story raised several questions and kind of put a dent into the integrity of sports journalism, or at least some are saying that.

When the story broke, everyone went into a bit of an outrage, whether they were taking Martin’s side or Incognito’s. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. That’s where problems begin to brew. Yes, everyone has the right to their own personal opinion. But when that opinion is thoroughly thrown across everyone’s faces, the thin line of professionalism is crossed.

As journalists, we can’t allow that to happen.

This story wore that line even thinner. Sportswriters began to draw conclusions hours after the initial story was told. Most didn’t care that there were infinite amounts of questions to be answered by all different kinds of sources. As journalists, we are told to report the truth. And though these journalists may have just been tweeting out their thoughts, they needed to be aware that they are the guides for the masses. Everything they say is taken into account by the public that is reading their thoughts. Stating your opinion on a subject that is incredibly premature in nature defies all counts of logic that journalism entails.

In addition to that, journalists were beginning to take sides without even considering the personal aspect that the story consisted of. Bullying is a very serious topic, one that should not be taken lightly by anyone. Not everyone has been bullied, and I myself can’t speak on the subject, but writers were talking about the people in the story as if it was a joke. As if Martin was a big crybaby and Incognito was just a product of his employers.

No one really knew what had happened or what was going on. Still, many journalists found  themselves knowledgeable enough to speak their thoughts without thinking of the repercussions. This story easily raised more questions about journalism than it may have solved.

It’s our business, baby

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By MELANIE MARTINEZ

To write or not to write … for journalists, this is something that is never pondered. It’s not even a question: journalists write, and write, and write and — you guessed it — write. They write about everything and anything and a true and noble journalist always writes the truth.

Knowing this, I was a bit shocked to learn that a reporter in Massachusetts was fired for writing a quote in his story about a young soccer star who transferred schools.

The athlete explained that she left her old school, Mount Greylock, because socially, it was like “the movie ‘Mean Girls’.” Because of that school’s cliques and drama, she transferred to McCann Technical School despite its “somewhat inferior academics and athletics”, she added.

The reporter, Isaac Avilucea, posted on his blog that the sports editor at the North Adams Transcript not only approved the story but even praised it on Twitter.

It was after Editor-in-Chief Mike Foster received calls from angry school principals and parents that he decided to fire Avilucea.

The editors then addressed the story in an editorial in which they deeply apologized for it. They explained that it was “unjust” of them to publish a story with statements that were “simply wrong”.

What I find appalling is that what is truly “unjust” here is the fact that these editors are calling a quote from a source erroneous, and even went as far as firing the reporter who wrote it.

What’s a journalist if he or she does not write the facts, supported by evidence? A well-rounded story is one that includes quotes from sources. In this case, a story about a young athlete who transferred schools obviously needs a quote from that young athlete about why she transferred.

But then I tried to reflect on the other side of this. Journalism can be seen as a career with beauty and romance, dating back to World War I times when reporters would venture to the dangerous fighting fields in various exotic locales and come back with dramatic stories.

Though this is true, journalism has also always been a business, and still is. Newspapers make money through advertisements and from the people who buy and read them. In smaller towns, it is especially important to have strong public support and continuing circulation.

Because of this, I can see why the editors the North Adams Transcript did what they did. Firing Avilucea and publishing an apology most probably mended things with those who were offended by the story, I just wish they hadn’t called the statements wrong, because they were opinions.

What could’ve nobly solved the problem and saved the angst (as well as Avilucea’s job) is if Avilucea had included comments from the schools themselves. His editors should have urged him to so that both sides could be shown and they’d have the chance to defend themselves.

This story just reminds journalists that we must always write the truth, but remember we are running the risk of losing our jobs in a career that though filled with beauty and nobleness, is also a business.

Revisiting the Manti Te’o hoax

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By MATIAS WODNER

Remember when that star college football player had a long-standing internet relationship with a girl he never met?

Then that girl died and it was a huge deal that he had to deal with those circumstances, especially after his grandmother had died recently? How he used to talk with that girl on the phone when she was in the hospital? And that girl turned out to be a fake account ran by a friend of Te’o’s? Yeah, good times.

The details are long and take some time to read, but to say it’s worth it would be an understatement. It was one of the weirdest stories that I’ve ever came across and everyone else would say the same thing.

What was looked over throughout all the weirdness, though, was some of the best investigative journalism that had been seen in a while. Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey of Deadspin worked their butts off to get to the bottom of an intriguing, yet ridiculous, story about one of the nation’s most popular names.

They did the research. They made the calls. And after all was said and done, after a process that took months of investigation and years of backtracking, they did what they set out to do. They got to the bottom of it all, and they found the truth.

Though it may have resulted in Te’o looking bad and helpless, the story was needed to clear the air of mystery. Journalism doesn’t always spare everyone, nor should it. Journalism is supposed to report the truth. And that’s what Burke and Dickey did.

Now if only every other journalist could follow suit.

Realize the U has the swagger back

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By ADAM HENDEL

The Miami hurricanes won their sixth straight game this season against the Tar Heels, showing the NCAA and sports analysts we have our swagger back. Even with the collegiate infractions, skeptic news media reports, and a few injured players, the U has certainly opened analysts’ eyes this season.

This season, the boys in green and orange have reminded ESPN and other sports journalism organizations that the University of Miami is not to be reckoned with. However, last month, reports on “Sports Center” stated that the University of Miami was off to a good start due to an easy schedule and doubted that the team would remain dominant.

Steve Levy stated that the Hurricanes cannot be considered top dog before playing our biggest games such as Florida State, Pittsburgh, Virginia and Virginia Tech, which we have yet to do.

Several sources have doubted our No. 7-ranked team and the abilities of our star backfield. Running back Duke Johnson and quarterback Steven Morris have endured reoccurring injuries throughout the season but, according to Tim Keeney from Bleacher Report, Johnson is already cleared and set to play this upcoming week, as is Morris.

Aside from the injuries, the uncertainty about this team has comes from our past several years performance as well as the recent scandal.

The last two years slipped through the cracks when the Hurricanes were denied bowl game potential due to the recruitment scandal resulting in booster Nevin Shapiro’s arrest. Since that time, “Sports Center” reporters joked that we should turn our focus to the basketball team, assuming football would not bounce back.

The morning of Oct. 22, the punishment for the hurricanes was announced and they will no longer receive a bowl ban, but will lose nine scholarships. Associated Press football reporter Tim Reynolds said, “the NCAA has been told Miami accepts its sanctions. This saga, by and large, ends today.”

With the eligibility, the team can compete to show the analysts that they are the resilient team Miami has needed for years.

Reporters should finally be viewing the team as the powerhouse football team it used to be. This season is the Hurricanes are their most promising team since 2003 and all players, fans and analysts are anticipating the rivalry at Florida State University.

Even though most reports have predicted that Florida State will come out on top, a win for Miami is significant in proving to the reporters that the hurricanes have the swagger back.

Isn’t news media supposed to be united?

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By MATIAS WODNER

Isn’t news media supposed to be united? At least, that’s what I usually like to believe.

Following Sunday’s epic showdown between the Denver Broncos and the Dallas Cowboys, wherein the Broncos squeaked by the ‘Boys 51-48, there was a showdown in and of itself among local Cowboys news media members.

Though not much is really known about the nature of the incident, apparently there was a little bit of a turf war between different local news reporters inside the Cowboys’ locker room. They were just jostling for position to interview a certain player. It actually prematurely shut down the Cowboys locker room.

Do these reporters have any semblance of discretion or compassion?

Sometimes it seems like the news media just wants the attention on itself in order to increase ratings or readership. Sometimes I don’t really have any idea what they are doing. This seems like a case of both the former and the latter.

If media members covering the same team can’t even get along with each other in a completely controlled environment, then I am not surprised in any way by the status of our country at the moment. The government shutdown seems to make a little more sense.

False news reporting has to stop

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By MATIAS WODNER

I’m having trouble understanding how reporters and journalists can keep putting out false information without any repercussions.

The most recent example of this was in a story about NFL All-Pro Running Back Adrian Peterson. Apparently, his two-year-old son was the victim of a disgusting, inhumane beating at the hands of a 27-year-old man. As reports surfaced, the infant was in critical condition.

The story was initially reported by TMZ on Oct. 11, where it said that Adrian Peterson Jr., the child that Peterson Sr. is always seen with, was hospitalized in critical condition.

With a bit of patience and fact-checking, several other news outlets soon disputed the TMZ report in that the child was, in fact, Peterson’s son, but not the one that he holds so dearly. Apparently, he has no contact with this child or with his mother. The boy might not even be Peterson’s son, as no paternity test was ever conducted.

Despite the weirdness and the murky details, I find it very distasteful that news outlets just throw out information to be first in line. This kind of false information hurts people, both emotionally and mentally.

It happened during the Boston Marathon bombing, where an innocent person was wrongly identified in the news as the bomber. And now it’s happening again.

At some point it will have to stop, though I’m not sure it will soon given the fast-paced, technologically advanced society we live in.

No more bad news for Derrick Rose

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By ADAM HENDEL

Chicago’s all-star point guard, Derrick Rose, made his return in the Bulls’ preseason opener after 526 days. Rose tore his ACL on April 28, 2012, and suffered a rather slow recovery.

Sports reporters and many basketball fans complained that Rose was taking too much time off the court. His doctor had cleared Rose to play at the end of the season, but Rose decided not to rush his situation.

Brent Barry and numerous other reporters have called Rose the “ultimate competitor.” Many agree that Rose was not being selfish and that it must have been difficult for him to watch the team struggle in his absence.

Conversely, some critics believed Rose should have returned shortly after his clearance. However, he did not play. When the bulls needed support in the post season, many complained that Rose should have felt obliged to step in.

During the NBA playoffs, Charles Barkley explained on Bleacher Report, “Derrick Rose has been practicing with no limitations; he should have been playing two months ago.”

Despite previous gossip about Rose, On October 5th, Sports Center explained how the start of a new season felt like a new begging for Derrick Rose. He put an end to the negative reports when he scored eleven points in the first half.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Rose explained that he “had no nerves and didn’t want to get caught up in the hype of the situation.” The 2011 MVP felt the game was a step in the path towards being ready for the regular season. It’s exciting to hear more positive news about Derrick Rose.

When will NBA stay out of Its own way?

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By MATIAS WODNER

There are rumblings that the National Basketball Association is trying to have NBA players from the Miami Heat and the Brooklyn Nets wear jerseys with their preferred nicknames on the back of their jerseys.

I am not making this up.

Instead of the traditional way, in which every single player has his last name on the back of the jersey, players will be able to choose which nicknames they want on their jerseys. For instance, LeBron James will most likely use “King James” or “LeBron.” Ray Allen might use “Jesus Shuttlesworth,” a character he played in the hit movie “He Got Game.”

“”Fans will like it and so will a lot of the players,” Allen said. ”Guys will get a good kick out of it.”

Though Allen and a couple of other players might like the idea, I’m not jumping on the bandwagon. Neither is Heat forward Shane Battier, although he’ll obviously comply with the league should it happen.

The NBA just loves the attention, because with it comes, of course, the money. But this is as cheesy as anything any major sports league has done. And it isn’t the first time that the NBA is making headline news for something they shouldn’t be doing.

In 2011, all-star point guard Chris Paul was traded from the New Orleans Hornets to the Los Angeles Lakers. But Commissioner David Stern vetoed the trade, stating the trade was not in the best interest of the Hornets and of the league. He cited “basketball reasons” as his rationale. Paul was subsequently traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in a trade that the NBA didn’t deem too bad for them.

It’s always about them and this latest publicity stunt shows their selfishness and a lack of professionalism.

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