The Ultimate Sacrifice

Greater love than this has no man, than that he lay down his life for his friends. --
John 15:13-14

A safe and blessed Memorial Day to all the friends of JSM, and especially to our military men and women.

NSSA Student Membership

Dave Goren of the National Association of Sportswriters and Sportscasters (NSSA) asked me to forward the group's student membership form. It's a pretty good deal and there are lots of benefits, including the tremendous networking opportunities. I hope JSM and NSSA can work together in the future in some capacity.

For more information and to access the student membership form, go here.

Call for Editor

There are several changes taking place at JSM that I wanted to pass along:

Although it's not finalized yet, it looks like JSM will become the official publication of the new Sports Interest Group within AEJMC. We'll know more about that at the AEJMC convention this August.

Starting in the spring of 2011, JSM will become an online-only publication. Given the economics of the journal publishing industry, and the fact that online traffic to the JSM site has increased 70% in the past year, it is a decision that makes a lot of sense. We're also increasing the size of each issue to better accommodate the backlog of good research. Currently, we include 3 research pieces and an essay; starting in 2011 we'll add an additional research paper.

Perhaps most important, JSM is officially extending a call for a new editor to take over responsibility for the journal on or about August 2011. Responsibilities of the editor include but are not limited to:

• Working with the editorial board to maintain the journal’s editorial vision
• Handling, organizing and scheduling research submissions
• Working with reviewers to evaluate submitted research
• Determining the content of each issue
• Determining the overall look, style and tone of the journal
• Meeting publishing deadlines
• Working with the publisher on all matters related to the journal
• Working with external constituencies to promote the success of the journal
  

The Journal of Sports Media is published twice yearly (in spring and fall) by the University of Nebraska Press.

The ideal candidate should be committed to maintaining the journal’s emphasis on practical research that offers solutions to real-world problems in the areas of sports media.

For more information, or to apply, please contact:

Brad Schultz
Editor
School of Journalism & New Media
University of Mississippi
662-915-5161
bschultz@olemiss.edu

They All Want to Mess with Texas

Got a few moment here between intersession class and working on the documentary ...

It's (supposedly) off-season for college football, but there's no shortage of news. Possible conference realignment has dominated the spring and looks like it will dominate the summer as well. Everyone seems to be waiting on the Big 10, which is in the process of discussing realignment and expansion.

Depending on who you listen to, the Big 1o:

1) wants Notre Dame
2) wants Missouri
3) wants Nebraska
4) wants world peace

While the Big 10 fiddles, other conferences burn ... because one school jumping ship would signal a massive shifting among the power conferences. But no matter what the Big 10 says it's in the same boat with the Pac-10 and the SEC--they all want Texas.

Texas is the 800-pound gorilla trying to hide in the corner. It has money, prestige, money, television markets, money and profile. Every conference would love to pry away the Longhorns from the Big XII. Part of the allure of the Big 10 is its profitable television network.

But Texas doesn't need realignment like the conferences need/want Texas. In fact, the Longhorns are serious about dusting off an idea they came up with a couple of years ago--their own television/media network (empire). Given that most of the expansion talk is fueled by schools trying to get the best television deal, the Longhorn idea seems like a no-brainer. The logical extension is that Texas might eventually become like Notre Dame--a school that can make more money out on its own rather than having to share it with conference teams.

Like the 800-pound gorilla, it seems like Texas can play anywhere it wants to.

Better Late than Never

Sorry there haven't been more posts lately, but we had a big weekend here, with graduation and all the related activities. Intersession starts today (8am!), and I'm also working on editing a 30-minute sports documentary, so I'll try to post if I can. If anyone has information worth passing along, just let me know.

Dan, Tom and Ron

It's been like an '80s news flashback here at Ole Miss the past couple of weeks. First, Dan Rather spoke at Journalism Week, then Tom Brokaw stopped by for a series of guest lectures. (If only the late, great Peter Jennings were still with us). If you are interested in watching the speeches, you can go to our MCast page, then click on the appropriate name on the right side of the screen.

As we noted earlier, Ron Franklin also gave a great speech during Journalism Week. It will soon be available in its entirety on MCast, but until then here's a snippet--a great story he told on ESPN legend Dick Vitale. Our thanks again to Ron for making the effort to return to campus.