Keith Gave didn’t know what to expect from Red Wings players when he walked in their locker room for the first time. After all, he was the third writer assigned the hockey beat by the Detroit Free Press in only 18 months. Gave also knew that he was not a hockey expert.
The Red Wings players clearly were not excited about breaking in another writer. Veteran Ron Duguay immediately asked him: “How much do you know about hockey?” Continue reading Work hard (and realize when you screw up) →
Sports journalism students in Chicago and Indianapolis can apply for the inaugural Diversity Sports Media Institute offered by the National Sports Journalism Center at IUPUI.
During the free week-long workshop, students will produce video and/or web content with TV producers, participate in a mock press conference, and attend sessions offered by experienced sports journalists.
You can download a PDF application by clicking here. Deadline is April 1.
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By H. Darr Beiser/USA TODAY
Sports writers love hyperbole – a breathtaking, stupefying, mind-blowing way to attract fans to read stories, watch ‘big-time’ events, and read more stories.
Grantland Rice started much of it in the 1920s by calling Babe Ruth the ‘Sultan of Swat,’ Red Grange the ‘Galloping Ghost,’ and Jack Dempsey the ‘Manassas Mauler.’ In the 1980s, we depicted our Olympic hockey victory over the Soviets as a ‘miracle on ice,’ a moniker that was more a political statement than a religious one. Last night, that ecclesiastical nickname was resurrected before, during and after the USA’s hockey game vs. Canada, our dear friends to the north. The game was ‘epic,’ ‘astounding,’ ‘unbelievable.’ Continue reading Do you believe in hyperbole? →
Time magazine published a must-read story for any sports journalist, young athlete, or parent of a child playing contact sports like football, where the inherent head trauma can eventually cause CTE and other brain disorders that kick in years after a professional football player retires. Later in life, even high school and college players are susceptible to these ailments that can result in physical and mental disabilities, sometimes prompting suicidal acts. Check out this story and video.
Football has been a rough sport since the leather-helmet days, but today’s version raises the violence to an art form. No other contact sport gives rise to as many serious brain injuries as football does. High school football players alone suffer 43,000 to 67,000 concussions per year, though the true incidence is likely much higher, as more than 50% of concussed athletes are suspected of failing to report their symptoms. Continue reading Don’t challenge players’ toughness after big hits →
Even though college football recruiting is overhyped, fans love it.
Even though these players have not played a down, fans want to know which school snagged the best recruits.
So that’s what we do, offer information about signed players. And fans eat it up, reading even one-sentence updates from newspapers by the tens of thousands in Atlanta, Dallas and elsewhere. Continue reading College staffs quietly cover signing day →
The Duquesne Duke reveals how Duquesne's cuts adversely affected athletes on 4 teams.
The Duquesne Duke does a solid job illustrating the real cost of eliminating four men’s sports teams at the Pittsburgh university.
Duquesne is typically evasive, calling the reduction a difficult but ’strategically important’ decision, according to the school’s president. The athletic director offers an equally ambiguous reason: “Focusing on and strengthening a core group of sports will maximize our ability to compete at the highest level, enhance the student athlete experience, and better utilize existing funding,” said Greg Amodio.
Of course, all of this is offered in a press release and not in a press conference, where officials would have to answer the tough questions, like the following: Continue reading Duke staff seeks reason Duquesne cut 4 sports →
Taking notes is essential to finding trends, pointing out key plays and making assessments in games. To help with that, I’ve included several scorecards and forms that will assist in these tasks. You can find them on the right side of this page, under ‘Scorecards.’
In descending order, forms and scorecards are offered for baseball, basketball, bowling and football. In addition, these forms are annotated in the Field Guide To Covering Sports, which explains short-hand used in scoring and offers the best ways to take notes. You can pre-order a copy by clicking here.
Humboldt State University's student-run newspaper, 'The Lumberjack,' investigated health risks related to artificial turf.
Games still dominate sports journalism, serving as a sort of skeleton to all other coverage.
But features are the heart and soul of sports coverage, allowing readers to dig deeper into social, economic, psychological and historical connections.
Of course, we usually don’t think about sports in these elevated terms. Instead too many sports departments focus more on bat-and-ball coverage, preferring to write game precedes, live-blogs and game stories (and, heck, even tweets).
Game coverage is clearly essential. But game coverage should not essentially be all a sports staff produces.
How best to turn yourself from sports fan to professional sports journalist? Quickly moving beyond general guidance about sports writing, Joe Gisondi focuses on the nitty-gritty, with hands-on, practical advice on covering 20 specific sports. From auto racing to wrestling, you’ll find tips on the seemingly straightforward—where to stand on the sideline and how to identify a key player—along with the more specialized—figuring out shot selection in lacrosse and understanding a coxswain’s call for a harder stroke in rowing. Preparing you for just about any game, match, meet, race, regatta or tournament you’re likely to cover, Field Guide to Covering Sports is the ideal go-to resource to have on hand as you master the beat. You can click here to learn more about the book or to pre-order a copy.
CLICK HERE to read OnSports, a sports blog that offers tips for covering more than a dozen specific sports and ways to improve journalism skills. NewsU, CyberJournalist.net, and the American Press Institute are among the journalism organizations recognizing this blog over the past three years.
Writers shouldn’t vote for Hall, BCS champ
Sure, the BCS vote was obvious, right? It was easy for sports writers to deem an undefeated Boise State football team as less worthy than two one-loss Florida and Texas teams, therefore ranking the Broncos fourth in the nation. It was easy to keep Boise State and Texas Christian University out of a title game. By continuing to vote, writers tacitly approve a BCS system that denies FBS football teams access to a national championship, even though every single other NCAA sports – from NAIA to Division I, from lacrosse to field hockey to bowling – earns a championship through a playoff system. Continue reading Writers shouldn’t vote for Hall, BCS champ →