Journal of Sports Media

Goodbye for Now

2011-08-15T11:16:00.006-05:00

I wanted to inform any readers of this blog that I am putting it on the shelf for awhile. I've enjoyed contributing to it over the years, but several circumstances have changed. In particular:

1) Howard Schlossberg has taken over as editor of the Journal of Sports Media. Since he has his own blog it seems to be working at cross purposes to keep this one going. (A reminder also that if you want to submit to JSM, please send your inquiries to Howard at Hbssports@aol.com ).

2) Most importantly, other things are occupying my time and interest. If you want to talk to me about something like this, I'll talk all day.

Before I go, I do want to mention that you need to continue to support the Sports Communication Interest group within AEJMC. At the recent AEJMC convention in St. Louis, Pam Laucella of Indiana (plaucell@iu.edu) was named Chair and I was named Vice Chair. The Vice Chair is in charge of programming for next year's convention, so if you have any ideas for panels, presentations, etc., let me know.

I'll check in from time to time, but don't know for sure when (or if) I'll be back. But as always, you know where to find me if you need to (bschultz@olemiss.edu)

Sports Interest Group in St.L.

2011-08-05T11:57:00.004-05:00

Less than a week now to the AEJMC in St. Louis, and don't forget about the sports interest group. It's the first full year for the SIG, and there are a lot of panels, poster sessions and research presentations. For a more complete listing click here. The most important time/date to remember is the SIG members/business meeting. That's at 8:30-10pm, Thursday, August 11.

After a great year on the job, SIG Chair Scott Reinardy will officially hand over the reins to Pam Laucella of Indiana. Scott was instrumental in helping get the SIG off the ground, and if you missed his newsletter you can view it here.

On a side note, Scott also organized a trip to the Cardinals-Brewers game at Busch Stadium on Wednesday the 10th. There may be some single tickets still available for that ($35 dollars apiece). If you're interested, contact Scott at reinardy@ku.edu

See you in St.L.!

Can You Believe It?

2011-07-31T22:47:00.002-05:00

If you're watching WPRI-TV sports, the answer is ... maybe not.

According to Deadspin, the station recreated the ending of an amateur golf tournament in Rhode Island, having the participants fake their final putts for the television cameras. It's hard to determine what the worst part of all this is: the recreation, the reporter's reaction, or the news director's lame excuse--

"The video that Sara Hogan was taking of the players was for a story that she is working on about the players that has not yet aired. It is not our policy to recreate or reenact 'highlights.' It is, however, our policy to specifically and accurately describe and identify the video that we present. It appears in this case that although the video was not described as highlights, it should not have aired in this context."

Saying nothing at all would have been better than contrived double talk, which essentially admitted the crime.

In this age of the Internet, citizen journalism and YouTube, one of the few things that separates real journalism from the other 99% of sports content is credibility. Lose that, and you're just content taking up bandwidth. WPRI didn't lose it so much as the station set it on fire and threw it out the window.

Back from Dallas

2011-07-26T15:57:00.002-05:00

Wow, did the last days of my Texas trip get away from me. Lots going on in Dallas, including a minor league baseball game at the Frisco Roughriders (won a free t-shirt), which is one of the best kept secrets in that area).

My overall experience at WFAA was fantastic and the people there simply could not have been nicer or more accommodating. Among the many things I brought back with me, three stand out:

1) No one really knows how multimedia figures in the future of journalism. I get tired of all this talk about "the future of journalism," like people know exactly how it's going to play out. No one does, including the very smart people at WFAA. The station doesn't have a strong commitment yet to multimedia, including its web news, because it can't figure out how to monetize it. WFAA still gets 96% of its revenue from TV advertising and only 4% from the web. The social media (Facebook, et. al.) are encouraged, but not required. Until someone figures out how to make money from all this, multimedia is still somewhat stuck in limbo.

2) I don't think I would want to get back into TV. Seeing the fast-paced life is nice for a visit, but television news is a young man's (person's) game.

3) Even so, television is television. WFAA has more toys and more money, but it's doing news the same way they do it from Abilene (TX) to Zanesville (OH), and it looks a lot like the way we did TV back in the day. The process of television news has changed very little from the days of magnetic weather symbols and greaseboards (which WFAA still uses, by the way).

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose--The more things change, the more they stay the same.

A Break from WFAA

2011-07-18T08:46:00.002-05:00

A slight break from WFAA this morning to pass along some CFPs that have been lingering in my inbox:

The North American Society for the Sociology of Sport is accepting abstracts for its 32nd annual conference. The submission deadline is August 1 and there's more information at the NASSS website. The conference is November 2-5 in Minneapolis. (Don't forget to pack your mittens!)

The International Journal on Sports Management and Marketing will publish a special issue, "Sport Participation Management and Marketing." Deadline for submission is December 31, and more information can be found at the IJSMM site.

And finally, plans are underway for the Fifth Summit on Communication and Sport to be held at Bradley University, March 29-31, 2012. You can submit either an abstract (200-500 words) or a full length manuscript (5,000-10,000 words, APA style). Deadline for submssion is October 7, and you can contact Paul Guillifor for more information, pfg@bradley.edu. You can find more information about the summit here.

WFAA-Days 3 and 4

2011-07-14T17:31:00.004-05:00

Sorry I missed yesterday, but it's going so well here I hardly have time to slow down. I've talked to a lot of people the past few days and some consistent themes have emerged:

*WFAA puts a premium on original and unique stories, more than fancy toys and technology. The station doesn't even have a social media policy yet; it's trying to figure out how to implement social media without losing its emphasis on solid reporting. "Technology has to be a critical part of what we do," says Michael Valentine, Vice President of News, "but at the end of the day if we let technology drive the vision and content, then we have not done right by the viewer."

*The station is moving toward multitasking journalism, but there are still segmented roles of photographer, reporter and editor. "What makes unique reporting is giving our reporters tie and resources to find those stories," says Valentine. "If you're out shooting, writing, editing, and tweeting, you're probably not uncovering information that one one else can uncover; you're just covering what's going on."

Such philosophy is somewhat unique in a television environment ruled by multitasking reporters and expensive toys, but you can't argue with success. WFAA regularly dominates the ratings and towers over its competition in terms of Emmy, Murrow and Peabody Awards.

WFAA-Day 2

2011-07-12T08:29:00.004-05:00

One thing I'm finding out by getting back in the newsroom is that despite all the new gadgets, television news really hasn't changed that much. WFAA has a morning news meeting to go over stories and assignments (on a greaseboard, no less); then reporters go out and report while photographers shoot. Reporters will do a VO/SOT for one newscast and a package for another.

And like almost everywhere else, WFAA has some reporters as a one-man band. This morning, I'm with Wyatt Goolsby, who not only one-man bands, but also sets up and performs his own live shots. (We're at city hall in Fort Worth for the swearing in of the new mayor).

Wyatt did the live shot with TVU mobile technology, more commonly called backpack journalism. No live trucks, no satellites ... it transmits using cell phones, and is no bigger than what you see in the picture. Wyatt doesn't simply set the camera on a tripod; he picks it up and gets right in the middle of stories. He does almost all his stories this way, hopping from place to place around the Metroplex.

A fascinating thing about Wyatt: he's only 26 years old. He jumped from the Midland-Odessa TV market (#155) right to Dallas (#5), which is almost unheard of. He credits his ability and willingness to use new technologies like TVU for getting his position.

WFAA-Day One

2011-07-11T11:24:00.002-05:00

Have only been here a few hours, but what an opportunity! A great station with a long history of great television journalism (several Peabodys, Murrows and Emmys every year).

A few things learned already:

*Even large market stations are still trying to figure out the web and how to monetize it. They simply repurpose material here--put the same stuff on the web they have on TV--for several reasons, including economic.

*Heavy emphasis on reporting skills and unique television content. Not so much on technology. "The speed changes, but not the process," is how they put it. "Reporters still need to go out and ask questions."

*For all you hear about generalists, there is still a division between reporters and videographers here. That may be more of a large market situation, and small market stations are probably more in need of one-man bands.

Going out on a story now ... should have more after that.

Summer in Dallas

2011-07-06T07:53:00.003-05:00

I found out today that I'll be spending three weeks of my summer at WFAA-TV in Dallas as part of the NATPE Faculty Fellowship program. NATPE places faculty in newsrooms across the country to help us get a handle on what's going on these days in professional newsrooms. My goal is to find out what makes WFAA so successful in terms of its multimedia approach to journalism ... and bring that back to our students and faculty.

Belo Corp. is an incredible place to learn and has been honored as one of the best media groups in the country. I'm excited to have the opportunity and will try to pass along what I'm learning through this blog. It may not all be sports related, but I hope interesting nonetheless.

First day is this Monday!

Image Rehab

2011-07-02T21:32:00.002-05:00

In a rare change of mind, Nike has decided to resign quarterback Michael Vick as an athletic endorser. Nike dropped Vick after his conviction and incarceration on dogfighting charges. But Vick has stayed clean since his release and done a lot of community work to rehabilitate his image.

Think about this for a minute. Nike has now rehired a convicted felon to be one of its public faces; an amazing marketing coup for someone who was in prison just a couple of years ago. Today, Vick's jersey sales are climbing and he is in the top 10 of the league's most popular players.

Some have suggested that Vick's rehabilitation is due to his outstanding ability and the fact that he plays for a winning team. But ability really hasn't worked for Tiger Woods, who just this week signed his first post-crisis endorsement deal ... for a sports cream in Japan.

I really think Vick's turnaround is due greatly to the 24/7 media world we live in. The news cycle is so short today that the public simply moves on to the next big story. Michael Vick is big news for awhile, but only until Tiger Woods comes along. Vick has also successfully used the social media and his own website, which allows fan interaction, but interestingly has a huge disclaimer against any negative posting or "non Vick comments."

Another former NFLer, receiver Plaxico Burress, is just out of jail (for gun charges) and also looking to rehabilitate his public image. He should follow the Vick PR blueprint--take ownership of his mistakes and engage in positive media rehabilitation (which he already seems to be doing).

He should also take heart in that someone will soon come along and bump him out of the sports media headlines.

Lies, Libel and Lazy Reporting

2011-06-28T09:11:00.005-05:00

It has received little attention in the media, but in an interesting move ESPN NBA reporter Chris Sheridan (on the left in the photo) has filed a libel lawsuit against Peter Vecsey and the New York Post. Sheridan was upset about a column Vecsey wrote in which he criticized Sheridan's reporting abilities and called his reporting of the Carmelo Anthony trade situation a "fairy tale."

Legally, Sheridan's lawsuit has almost a zero chance of success. As a public figure, Sheridan would have to demonstrate malice, proving that Vecsey published false information, knew it was false and published it specifically to hurt Sheridan. Vecsey's article is critical, but hardly rises to the level of libel.

More interesting to me is the disturbing habit these days of media quoting media. In other words, too many stories get covered simply by reporting what other people in the media are writing. Some of it is totally innocuous, such as Sports Illustrated reporting on Charles Barkley's comments to a radio station about a possible NBA lockout. But the point is, no matter how innocent this is NOT sports reporting; it's simply republishing someone else's reporting.

It used to be if you wanted to report on a story you went out and talked to the people involved in it. Today, we simply run around and ask other journalists what they think. I understand there is a tremendous need for content to fill Internet pages, blogs and newspaper space. But this seems to me to be a lazy way to write a story.

Just ask Chris Sheridan.

CFP: JSSI

2011-06-24T08:20:00.005-05:00

David Leonard at Washington State passes along this call for a special issue of the Journal of Sport and Social Issues:

Call for Papers
New Media Literacy and Sporting Cultures
Special Issue of Journal of Sport and Social Issues

This special issue works to highlight the dynamic nature of sporting cultures and the transformative possibilities resulting from new media technologies. It attempts to build upon the existing literature all while engaging ongoing debates and discussions. It seeks to foster critical new media literacy in a sporting context, all while elucidating the social, cultural and political significance resulting from the changing sports landscape.

We look for pieces that are theoretically rich, those focused on asking questions and expanding the discussion, and those dedicated to critical analysis.

Essays should be roughly 4,000-5,000 words. Send questions to C.L. Cole at clcole@illinois.edu, and/or David J. Leonard at djl@wsu.edu. Deadline for submissions is February 1, 2012.

Authors should follow the manuscript submission guidelines from JSSI. All papers must be submitted through Manuscript Central.

NBC Takes the Pledge

2011-06-20T13:12:00.003-05:00

I'm sorry, but I don't accept NBC's lame apology for its editing of the Pledge of Allegiance during Sunday's final round coverage of the U.S. Open golf tournament. The network produced a short feature on patriotism to coincide with the tournament being held near Washington, DC, but in the feature the pledge omitted the words "under God."

NBC's excuse? It really never offered one, other than to say the editing was "not meant to offend anyone." Of course, it did offend quite a few people, including those conservatives who for years have complained about perceived NBC liberal bias.

I do believe NBC slants left (and its cable outlets MSNBC and CNBC go way left), but the main problem here seems to be one of cowardice. Maybe NBC didn't want to deal with calls of complaints from anti-religious groups yelling to "get God out of the U.S. Open" (and on a Sunday, no less!), but there's just no excuse for changing the pledge.

Bad, dumb and unnecessary.

Lose a Game, Trash the City

2011-06-16T16:05:00.005-05:00

By now, you've no doubt seen and heard the images from the riots that took place in Vancouver in the wake of the Canucks' loss to Boston in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. All across North America today most sane people are asking the same question--why did it happen (and why does it continue to happen in other places)?

The short answers are alcohol and ... the media. Media? Well, to a degree. Alcohol certainly is the biggest culprit, but there's also a segment of the population that does it because they know they'll get in the newspaper, on TV, or even better yet they may go viral on YouTube.

Consider the picture above, which has created quite a sensation since it first appeared on Esquire. The people involved, whom still haven't been identified, have become a cause celeb in the Internet world. Who are they? Why did they stop in the midst of chaos to kiss? In a perverse way, they've become as (in)famous as the couple caught kissing in Times Square on VJ Day.

This isn't one of those rants about the evils of the media in our society; rather, just a sad recognition that the world we live in today is overrun with people who want nothing more than their 15 minutes of fame.

Call me old fashioned, but I liked it much better when such attention-seekers were handled by men like former Colts linebacker Mike Curtis.

How to Use the Media ... and Vice Versa

2011-06-14T18:51:00.002-05:00

Two incredibly talented athletes; two lightning rods for controversy; two huge egos. Two ways of using the sports media.

Terrelle Pryor and LeBron James are both in need of some serious reputation repair. James may be the most hated athlete on the planet since leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers, and his poor play in the NBA Finals was considered a major reason the Miami Heat lost in six games to the Dallas Mavericks. Terrelle Pryor has been forced out of the Ohio State football program, which is still under investigation for some of his questionable activities.

James is using the media as a public confessional. Even after some potentially damaging comments following the Heat's loss in game six, he stepped forward to clarify, apologize and restate his intention to work harder in the off season. James met the media again today with no script and took the heat (pardon the pun) like a man. Even his website reflected a dose of humility and contrition.

By contrast, Pryor had decided to take his PR campaign through super agent Drew Rosenhaus--the same agent who also handles Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco, which should tell you something. Pryor held a press event today in Miami (more irony); his scripted statement said nothing and he refused to handle questions. Pryor seems happy to let Rosenhaus to blow his horn for him, which considering what's happened with Owens and Ochocinco may not the wisest decision.

Two athletes in need of reputation repair. James has a long way to go, but at least seems to understand the road to redemption. To be honest, the level of hate against him is so strong, he may never get there. But Pryor just doesn't seem to get it, and he appears determined to head down a road that may one day push James from his position as America's public sports enemy number one.

Investigative Sports Journalism and Local Media

2011-06-09T08:47:00.002-05:00

In a previous post we talked about the role of the media in bringing down Jim Tressell (and now Terrelle Pryor) at Ohio State. Without the good, solid investigative journalism at places like Sports Illustrated, that entire situation might have gone under the radar.

Some interesting comments related to investigative sports journalism appeared in a chat in yesterday's Austin American-Statesman. Columnists Kirk Bohls and Cedric Golden made the point that because of a bad economy for newspapers, and corresponding cutbacks in staffing and coverage, such investigative work is much harder to do on the local level. Their comments are below:

Q: Do local journalists have a responsibility to expose NCAA violations? Do you have a responsibility to expose violations by (Texas Longhorns) players & coaches, even though you’d become persona non grata in Bellmont for the rest of your careers?

Kirk Bohls: I'd like to think that all journalists feel it's their responsibility to unearth violations or abuses of any kind. Newspapers have severely cut their staffs across the country, which has made it harder to do long investigations. Hard enough to cover all our beats.

Cedric Golden: We're already persona non grata. We have an obligation to expose corruption and report wrongdoing by whomever. Investigative journalism is a great tool, but newsrooms are much smaller these days, which makes the pieces much more difficult to pursue. Some of the best pieces take weeks, months, years to complete. The staffs aren't as equipped compared to past decades.

Kirk Bohls: Newspapers are declining because young readers--too many of them--just want entertainment, and consequently have lost tons of manpower and have smaller staffs. Investigations take a huge time and manpower commitment. People don't understand how important a role newspapers play in checking abuses of all kinds.

And that's a very important point. We seem very willing to turn over sports coverage to bloggers, fans and citizen journalists, but are any of them willing to go beyond boosterism and do the hard work of sports investigation? Do they have the time, resources and courage to do what the Lexington Herald Leader did in exposing corruption at the University of Kentucky basketball program in the mid-1980s (which won a Pulitzer Prize) or what Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams did with the BALCO investigation?

To be sure, many local sports journalists find it easier and more comfortable to play the role of booster and ignore local problems. (The old mantra--"hey, we have to live in this community, too"--is still alive and well). But as long as journalists are willing to take the time and effort to look under the rocks of big-time sports -- and as long as local newspapers are willing to commit to the effort -- we're all better off.

Tiger and the Olympics

2011-06-07T16:18:00.005-05:00

Two significant developments in sports media today, both involved NBC:

NBC has apparently retained the rights to televise the next four Olympic Games. The winning bid was $4.38 billion, which represents a drop from the current rate. NBC's austerity (if you can call it that) is understandable considering the network lost around $200 million for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. NBC Universal's new owners, Comcast, have spent the entire year cutting costs (and personnel like Dick Ebersol), so the move does come as a surprise. What's not surprising is that the value of mega-events not named the Super Bowl continue to decrease in value.

NBC received some bad news today when Tiger Woods announced he's skipping this month's U.S. Open because of continuing health problems. NBC has the television rights to the Open, and it's a well established fact that golf's television ratings drop when Woods isn't involved. The glimmer of hope for NBC is that Woods has been a non-factor all year and TV ratings have actually been strong at several events.

It might be the first indication that golf viewers are finally adjusting to a post-Tiger world. This is not to say that Woods will not win in the future, but the days of him dominating both tournaments and TV ratings are apparently over. And in the long run that's probably a good thing.

A Media Salute to the "Big Aristotle"

2011-06-02T09:34:00.005-05:00

The NBA is going to miss Shaquille O'Neal, who announced his retirement yesterday after 19 seasons and four NBA titles. In an age of surly, often threatening professional athletes, Shaq was pure fun--from his dozens of different nicknames to his off-court antics. In many ways, he was the world's biggest (7'1", 325 lbs.) kid.

Shaq also had a unique understanding of how to use the social media. He dwarfs (in more ways than one) other athletes with more than three million Twitter followers, and announced his retirement yesterday on the new social media site Tout. "I am the emperor of the social media network," he noted, and it's hard to disagree. Shaq's willingness to interact with fans and his pioneering use of the social media built up a storehouse of good will that long outlive Kazaam.

Shaq will hold an official retirement press conference on Friday, but he's already made his point: knowing how to use the social media is essential for athletes in today's sports environment. Others could take a lesson from the "Big Aristotle," who is now well positioned for any number of lucrative options in his post-NBA life.

Old School Journalism does in Tressel

2011-05-31T07:13:00.008-05:00

The big news from this Memorial Day weekend was the resignation of Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel; not exactly a shocking piece of news considering the growing evidence of Buckeye wrongdoing under Tressel.

The latest issue of Sports Illustrated has an in-depth report on what happened at Ohio State, and digs even deeper into what has become a sordid affair. Particularly interesting is this section of the story: "Tressel was forced out three days after Sports Illustrated alerted Ohio State officials that the wrongdoing by Tressel's players was far more widespread than had been reported." Reading between the lines, SI is apparently taking credit for forcing Tressel's ouster.

There's nothing wrong with SI tooting its own horn, and it also shows the power of investigative sports journalism. Outlets like SI and ESPN's Outside the Lines have the power to effect significant change in sports. (Remember, it was SI that just a couple of years ago uncovered Alex Rodriguez' steroid use). ESPN's "30 for 30" series has also been effective in this regard; in the film on SMU, the newspaper wars in 1980s Dallas were credited with bringing down the school's renegade football program.

We talk a lot about the fragmentation of today's sports media--the growth of blogging, fan participation and do-it-yourself sports content. But there is still a place for "old school" investigative sports journalism--working sources, following leads and digging for information that may take months to find. In other words, serious work by trained journalists.

Woodward and Bernstein would be proud.

Pay to Play

2011-05-27T08:39:00.003-05:00

In case you were not aware, there is a relatively new sports journal offering research publishing opportunities. The Journal of Physical Education and Sports Management publishes original articles in basic and applied research, case studies, critical reviews, surveys, essays, opinions and commentaries. JPESM is currently looking for qualified researchers to join its editorial team as editors, sub-editors and/or reviewers.

I didn't know much about this journal, but one of the interesting (and at least to me, discouraging) things I found was this note on their website: "Authors are required to pay a $550 dollar handling fee." Although the journal explains that publication is not contingent upon the author's ability to pay, and the journal may waive some of the fee under special circumstances, that still seems like a bad precedent to me. I assume it's because the journal is "open access," which means it's not charging a subscription for other people to see it. But $550 is a lot of money to me, and it seems like it would discourage some otherwise good scholarship. I hope it is not the wave of the future in terms of journal economics. I understand the realities of the publishing business, but I can't see how this model can sustain itself (especially since the journal publishes monthly).

Anyway, if you are interested in becoming an editor or helping the journal, you can contact them at manuscript.jpesm@gmail.com. If you are interested in submitting, there is more information available at this link.

It's Been a Long Weekend ...

2011-05-23T07:16:00.006-05:00

... and I don't mean sports-wise (although that is true). My daughter Emily graduated from Oxford High School this weekend and it was a great time. Lots of family in and a terrific graduation party at our house.

So instead of talking about sports, which admittedly gets less interesting for me as time goes on, this picture is really what mattered to me this weekend.

Congratulations, Emily and to all graduates of the class of 2011.

TV Markets and Media

2011-05-16T10:16:00.005-05:00

Interesting that the final four for both the NBA and NHL playoffs are dominated by sun belt teams. In the NHL it's San Jose and Tampa (along with Boston and Vancouver), and in the NBA, Miami, Dallas and Oklahoma City (who will play an interesting I-35 Western Conference Finals) join Chicago. Free agency has a lot to do with it. If you're LeBron James and can make millions no matter where you play, doesn't sunny Miami sound a lot better than frigid Cleveland?

On paper, TV executives seem to be happy with the remaining teams. After all, you've got markets 6 (San Jose), 7 (Boston) and 14 (Tampa) in the NHL, while the NBA has 3 (Chicago), 5 (Dallas), and 16 (Miami), to go along with 45 (Oklahoma City). But looking at it in terms of TV markets is old school thinking; the same kind of thinking that mistakenly got the NHL to add teams in places like Charlotte, Atlanta and Phoenix.

The emphasis today is on national appeal, and big stars can play in little markets. Thus, an NBA Finals matching Miami (with you-know-who) and Oklahoma City (with Kevin Durant) is probably a more compelling television product than Dallas-Chicago, even though the TV markets are smaller. And would anyone outside of San Jose and Tampa watch that matchup in the Stanley Cup Finals?

Today's sports programming needs stars (i.e. celebrities) and storylines to succeed. Golf has consistently shown that without Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson it has trouble getting audiences to watch. The Players Championship, which the PGA has aggressively tried to market as a 5th major, took place this weekend in virtual anonymity.

The NBA should hope the Heat, even in market 16, rally to make the NBA Finals. As for the NHL, Boston-Vancouver looks like it would be the best draw.

Dwight Writes in Small Bites

2011-05-13T16:06:00.005-05:00

Sorry it's been awhile since a post; blogger.com was down most of the week for maintenance.

Interesting stories filtering through Orlando and New York regarding Magic center Dwight Howard. The NBA All-Star is accusing the local newspaper, the Orlando Sentinel, of trying to "run him out of town." The Sentinel has published several articles essentially telling the free-agent-t0-be that he needs to let the Magic know his plans so the team can avoid a situation like last summer, when LeBron's surprise announcement left the stunned Cavaliers little time to rebuild.

Nothing much new here; athletes and newspapers have been feuding for decades. What's interesting is that Howard is not using the newspaper (or TV or radio) to fight back, but Twitter. He's posting messages and updates such as, "“I'm not blaming the media,” Howard would say in a later tweet. “I'm saying stop with the dumb articles." (To be honest, I'm not sure what the distinction is there).

This is how the modern athlete uses social media--as a means of connecting with fans, shaping a personal message, and of course, responding to outside criticism. Why bother to respond to the Sentinel (circulation 172,000 and falling) when Howard can reach more people (Dwight Howard Twitter followers: 2.02 million and climbing). Howard's affinity for Twitter is well known, but he's certainly not alone among athletes.

Maybe they should start taking classes or instruction on Twitter and PR strategies or crisis communications ...

Please Explain

2011-05-09T19:56:00.002-05:00

I'm trying to figure out why I can't watch the NHL game tonight between the Predators and Canucks on the Versus Network. On DirecTV, the game is blacked out in my area, I assume because I'm considered in the 'local market' (even though I am five hours by car from Nashville).

At the same time, I have no problem picking up the Grizzlies-Thunder game on TNT, even though I live less than an hour from Memphis.

It looks like the Canucks are going to wrap up the series tonight, but I still would have liked to see it.

To Be There ... Or Not Be There

2011-05-04T07:45:00.006-05:00

"You had to be there!"

How many times have we gone to a sporting event and said that later to a friend who wasn't at the game? But the actual live experience has lost something in recent years. For one thing, it's crazy expensive to go to a game these days, and in a bad economy the average fan simply can't often afford it.

More importantly, television (and the web) have now developed to the point where it's actually much better to stay home and watch the game. High definition, multiple angles, and now (in a limited fashion) 3D sports, are making the mediated experience better than the game experience.

Take last night's no-hitter thrown by Francisco Liriano of the Twins, who beat the White Sox, 1-0. MLB Network cut live to the game in the bottom of the 9th, so fans all across the country could see the dramatic ending. Not only did they see the no-hitter, they also saw less than 21,000 fans shivering in the Chicago cold as temperatures hovered in the mid-30s. In Detroit, the players' breath was clearly visible on a similarly cold night. Which experience was better ... watching it live in the freezing cold or seeing the same thing in the comfort of your home? (FYI, I was at old Comiskey Park to see Jack Morris' no-hitter in 1984, and almost froze to death).

Writing on baseball's attendance problems this season, Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated frames the issue: "How do you keep the in-person experience special in the face of connectivity options that were intended to be complementary but grow to become competition? If DVRs and large, high-def flat screens and whiz-bang camerawork made the couch more attractive than 50-yard line seats, what more erosion will come from 3D TV refinement and other advancements?"

That's what every sport now faces, especially in an era of inflated attendance costs. "We aren't just going to invest on new technologies that serve people at home," says Brian Rolapp, the NFL's Vice President for Digital Media. "We will continue to invest to make the stadium experience better."

But as the mediated experience becomes better and better, making the stadium experience better will become even harder to do. These days, "You had to be there to see it!" is often replaced with, "I caught it on YouTube!"

Monday Musings

2011-05-02T07:36:00.002-05:00

While we all digest the news of Osama Bin Laden's demise ...

Is there a better time of year for the sports media than right now? This week, we've seen the NBA and NHL playoffs, major league baseball, and the NFL draft. Add some spring college football, and it's hard to drag yourself away from the television or Internet.

If you're not watching the NHL playoffs (and relatively speaking, hardly anyone does), then you're missing a real treat. In 13 days of play so far, 12 games have gone to overtime, including Sunday's win by Tampa Bay over Washington. The coverage by NBC and Versus so far has been excellent, and Ed Olczyk might be the most underrated analyst on sports television. He made a great point in the Lightning-Caps game as to how Washington tied it up with a minute to play. Tampa defenseman Victor Hedman lost his stick and was handed a replacement by one of his forwards. But because Hedman is a lefthander and the stick was for a righthander, Headman couldn't clear a puck when it came to him, and that allowed Alex Ovechkin to tie the game with 1:07 to play. Olczyk noticed it immediately; all part of his great work with partner Mike Emrick. Emrick has done his usual terrific job and is simply the best play-by-play man in hockey.

The downside of all this for the NHL is the strong possibility of another small market Stanley Cup finals. How does a Tampa Bay-San Jose (or Nashville) final grab you? It can't appeal to the NHL, which is in danger of losing Washington, Detroit and Philadelphia before the conference finals even begin. (But having Nashville in the finals would bring about one consolation--more views of coach Barry Trotz, an Edward G. Robinson look-a-like who is a nice guy, but may be the most intimidating-looking coach in pro sports).

Just about everything that could be said about the NFL Draft already has been said. The two big stories were the guys expected to be drafted early, but who had to wait until the second day--quarterback Ryan Mallett of Arkansas and defensive tackle Da'Quan Bowers of Clemson. Health and off the field issues caused both players to slide down draft boards.

We know so much about players like Mallett and Bowers; their every move is dissected, analyzed and discussed on radio, television and the Web. For some reason, it made me think of a time when we knew hardly anything about college players. Entertainer Bob Hope used to host a post-season show in which he introduced players named to the All-America football team. The player would come out in full uniform, Bob would make a corny joke, and the player would laugh nervously before heading off. For many people, this was the only time they ever saw some of these players in uniform.

Enjoy some old-timey humor from 1984. (And also check out Bruce Smith, Doug Flutie and Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio).

Fund NPR? Only if they do sports like this ...

2011-04-26T09:13:00.005-05:00

There's been a lot of discussion lately about the funding, or more appropriately de-funding, of National Public Radio. NPR, and its cousin Public Television, are in a bunch of hot water with Republicans who don't like what is perceived as liberal bias. When the argument was at its hottest last month, some NPR executives were forced to resign.

But no matter how you feel about NPR, no one could argue to de-fund stuff like this. Station WBEZ in Chicago interviewed (or tried to interview) a Cubs fans on opening day. The interview turned into an instant classic (and remember, the game hadn't even started yet).

It's also an interesting lesson in how radio is embracing multimedia presentation. WBEZ incorporates video, blogging, podcasts and other multimedia formats. But let's not read too much into this. Simply enjoy the interview as a classic piece of sports media.

New Website and CFP

2011-04-20T09:34:00.003-05:00

If you haven't yet seen the new website for the AEJMC sports interest group, please check it out. Division chair Scott Reinardy says most of the credit goes to Marie Hardin and Melanie Formentin at Penn State for their work on creating the site. When you pay your AEJMC dues this summer (or whenever) don't forget to include an extra $10 for membership in the sports interest group.

And Younghan Cho from South Korea is soliciting papers for a special issue of Sociology of Sport Journal: Glocalization of Sports in Asia. This call for papers aims to general a special issue in which the concept of glocalization (Robertson, 1995) is used to explore the history, development and current state of Asian sports culture. The editors seek contemporary and historical examinations of sport glocalization in Asia from the late 19th century to the present, including the replacement of traditional sports, innovations of particular established traditions tied to sports and the invention of modern sports cultures.

The deadline for submission is September 30, 2011. Online submissions should be sent here; interested authors can get more information related to the call here. If you have further questions, contact Dr. Cho at c.younghan@hotmail.com or Dr. Charles Leary, charley.leary@gmail.com.

Contributors Needed for Sports Encyclopedia

2011-04-19T08:47:00.004-05:00

A retired professor at Penn State, Murry Nelson is editing a four volume encyclopedia on sports in American pop culture with an audience of general readers for purchase by libraries. According to Nelson the work "is intended for a 2013 publication from Greenwood Press and will have about 450 entries of varying lengths. I still have about 65-70 that need authors and thought that a few of these might be good topics for grad students or junior faculty (or senior, if any would be interested). It's a chance for publication and fun topics to pursue."

If you're interested, take a look at the attached list (media-related topics have an asterisk to make them easier to find). If you see a topic you'd like to write about, please get in touch with Murry directly. His email: mrn2@psu.edu.

College $ports Today

2011-04-14T14:17:00.004-05:00

For a conference that almost died last year through realignment, the Big XII (and yes, it will keep that name with only 10 teams) now looks stronger than ever--all thanks to TV/Internet/ media money. This week, the conference signed a new deal with Fox to televise its second-tier football package (ABC and ESPN get first dibs), but it's certainly not second-tier money: $13 million for 12 years. This comes on the heels of the unveiling of the Longhorn Sports Network deal with ESPN, which gives Texas $300 million over 20 years.

It all sounds like Monopoly money, but the buzzword in college athletics these days is "monetizing," meaning that member schools "can monetize some distribution rights" like Texas has, according to Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castliglione.

So a conference that was essentially on its deathbed last summer has now solidified its position and even extended its prominence. That's great news for the Big XII, but also unsettling that the television networks have that much power. TV money has allowed Notre Dame to stay independent and made the University of Texas athletic budget bigger than some third-world countries. The fear is that schools like Texas will try to also try to become independent to maximize their profit like Notre Dame, or that the big schools will band together to create their own super-conferences (which is what caused all the realignment mess last year).

But what's to say ESPN couldn't broker a deal to create its own super-conference? As long as TV is calling the shots why not let them go all the way? We could have an ESPN North (Big 10 and some Big East), ESPN South (SEC and some ACC), ESPN Southwest (Big XII and some Mountain West) and ESPN West (Pac-10 or 12? with some other schools). Very logical, especially around Final Four time.

As long as the tail keeps wagging the dog, it's not as far-fetched as it sounds.

The Men's Club

2011-04-11T08:02:00.007-05:00

It seemed to get lost in what turned into a very dramatic final round, but once again the Masters suffered a bit of a black eye over its treatment of women.

The Masters has quickly apologized for barring a female reporter from entering the locker room Sunday to conduct a post-match interview. "It should not have happened," said Masters spokesman Steve Ethun. "We will work as hard as we can to make sure it does not happen again." Nice words, but they didn't help Tara Sullivan of The Bergen (N.J.) Record who missed her interview with Rory McIlroy.

On the one hand you tend to look at this as a minor blip on the screen; very few places handle media relations better than Augusta National. Several female reporters at the tournament confirmed they had made numerous trips to the locker room for interviews in the past without incident. On the other hand, it's hard to believe stuff like this is still going on in 2011, and of all places the Masters should know better. Augusta National still doesn't allow female members and its highly publicized fight with activist Martha Burk still simmers.

What happened Sunday with Sullivan will probably end up as just a footnote to the 2011 Masters, but it does seem to suggest that the place where tradition is a way of life may have a hard time learning its lesson.

NSSA Awards Weekend

2011-04-08T08:07:00.006-05:00

We're always glad to help our friend Dave Goren, Executive Director of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. The NSSA hosts its annual awards this year the weekend of May 14 in Salisbury, NC. This year's Hall of Fame inductees are headlined by Bob Ryan (of ESPN and the Boston Globe), Bob Uecker (author, television personality and Milwaukee Brewers radio), Brent Musburger (do we even need to have a list here?), Mike Tirico of ESPN and Peter King of NBC and Sports Illustrated. There is also a "Women in Sports Media" issues forum which includes Lesley Visser of CBS.

There are tickets available for the different weekend events, including a golf tournament. For tickets to the entire weekend you can go here; for the Women in Sports Media forum here; and for the awards banquet here.

If all else fails, you can contact Dave directly at dgoren@nssafame.com

Cricket, Anyone?

2011-04-06T07:37:00.006-05:00

I knew there was a big sporting event that took place over the weekend ... wait a minute, I got it... Final Four?

Well, yes and no. Yes, the Final Four did take place this weekend, and it obviously got much of the attention in the sports media. But I was also surprised to see the amount of space (at least on ESPN) devoted to the Cricket World Cup. It was the lead story on ESPN's website late Friday and well into Saturday, with the network devoting a lot of resources to the event's culmination over the weekend.

In America, we tend to focus on events like the Final Four and Super Bowl, and certainly 15 million television viewers (the best for the Final Four since 2005) are nothing to sneeze at. But consider than the cricket final between India and Sri Lanka pulled in a record 67+ million, and nearly a billion (that's billion with a "B") Indians were following the matches. I personally don't follow cricket and couldn't tell you much about the game, but a billion is pretty strong.

We call our baseball championship the "World Series" (which gets harder to justify with the World Baseball Classic), and the winner of the Super Bowl brags about being "World Champions," but our corner of the world keeps getting smaller and smaller. This is not to say that cricket will ever supplant football or basketball in our culture (much like soccer never has), but the sports media continue to break down barriers and help improve cultural understanding.

A billion Indians must be on to something.

Not a Rose-y picture

2011-03-31T09:40:00.002-05:00

Lots of apologies from former NBAer and current ESPN basketball analyst Jalen Rose for his recent DUI. A blood test revealed that Rose was over the legal limit when his car skidded off the road on March 11.

Rose has been a fairly high-profile NBA analyst for ESPN, and the documentary he helped produce on Michigan's former "Fab Five" basketball team (of which Rose was a member) is also currently running on the network. The documentary became controversial for Rose's comments that he didn't get recruited by Duke because the school was only interested in "Uncle Tom" black players.

From our perspective, the question now is what ESPN will do with Rose. The network has history of acting quickly and severely when on-air talent gets into legal trouble. So far, ESPN has made no announcement about Rose's status or future, but you've got to figure some kind of suspension or similar punishment is in line. It would be both uncharacteristic and self-serving for the network let this pass without some sort of punitive action.

Hump Day News

2011-03-30T07:45:00.002-05:00

The Sports Video Group was formed in 2006 to support the professional community that relies on video, audio, and broadband technologies to produce and distribute sports content. SVG sponsors a college student competition, and this year the deadline for the SVG College Sports Media Awards is April 20. This link has more information about how to enter and other regulations.

We're also drawing close to BEA (April 9-14) and I did hear confirmation that the sports division will get an inside tour of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Tuesday, April 12. If you're interested in visiting the Speedway with the sports division group, please contact Don Moore of Ohio U. Southern at moored@ohio.edu. There is also information posted on the BEA Sports Division blog about the trip and other sports events at BEA.

ASWM Now

2011-03-28T07:51:00.002-05:00

I didn't know this, but March is (or soon, was) Women's History Month, and the Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM) will hold a webinar to close out the month. The panel will discuss the state of women's sports today, and look at the most pertinent issues women in sports currently face in 2011.

The panelists include:

• Russlynn Ali, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
• Christine Brennan, USA Today columnist
• Julie Foudy, former member of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team
• Jackie Joyner Kersee, Olympic gold medalist, U.S. Track and Field
• Nancy Lieberman, former WNBA player & coach, current coach of the Texas Legends
• Mariel Zagunis, Olympic gold medalist, U.S. Fencing

The title is officially called AWSMNow: Commemorating Women in Sports and it takes place this Wednesday, March 30 from 2:00 to 3:30 Eastern time. You can register for the webinar by clicking here.

BEA Sports Sessions

2011-03-24T07:44:00.002-05:00

The annual convention for the Broadcast Education Association is coming up soon in Las Vegas, and although I will not be able to go this year I did want to pass along some information related to the sports sessions.

Ken Fisher at Oklahoma is the chair of the Sports Division and he is doing a great job. Ken has put together another nice lineup of sports sessions and panels, including one with JSM authors. I also believe the Sports Division is sponsoring a behind-the-scenes trip to either the minor league baseball Las Vegas 51s (like Area 51, get it?) or the Las Vegas rodeo.

In any event, here's a complete look at the sports sessions scheduled for BEA. Hope you can make it, April 9-13.

NCAA Graduation Rates

2011-03-21T07:38:00.007-05:00

About the same time that March Madness hits every year the NCAA comes under increased scrutiny for its graduation rates. A couple of reports came out last week suggesting that while overall athlete graduation rates are improving, the gender gap--the difference between the graduation rates of Black and White athletes--keeps getting bigger.

During our spring break I had the chance to go to the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis and talk about it with NCAA researcher Todd Petr. It's part of a larger project I'm working on, but here is what Petr had to say about graduation rates:

You Knew it Had to Happen

2011-03-15T10:42:00.005-05:00

Sooner or later, the growing use of Twitter by sports journalists was going to get someone in trouble. The someone in this case is John Krawczynski, a Associated Press beat reporter covering the Minnesota Timberwolves. Krawczynski tweeted during the game that referee Bill Spooner told Wolves coach Kurt Rambis he would provide him with a makeup call after Rambis complained about one of Spooner's calls. Krawczynski tweeted that Spooner then "made an even worse call on the Rockets. That's NBA officiating for you." Spooner denies saying that to Rambis and has filed suit; the suit contends that publication on Twitter constitutes defamation and seeks $75,000.

Libel suits are incredibly difficult for public figures to win, and it would seem an NBA referee would qualify as a public figure. Spooner must prove actual malice, which means Krawczynski knew it was false, published it anyway, and do so in an attempt to harm Spooner. Spooner's suit attempts to make that argument, saying, "Defendant Krawczynski published this statement on his AP Twitter account knowing at the time, or with reckless disregard of the truth at the time, or without due care of the truth at the time, that Plaintiff Spooner did not tell Coach Rambis that 'he'd get it back' nor utter any words to that effect, and therefore that the quoted attribution was, in fact, false." Spooner apparently filed suit after Krawczynski and the Associated Press refused to publish a retraction.

Again, it's unlikely that Spooner will will this case (and more likely that some sort of out of court settlement will be reached), but the other issue here relates more to Twitter. Increasingly, Twitter is becoming the battlefield upon which media competition is taking place. The push is to get information out faster, and a "shoot from the hip" attitude, now pervades sports journalism. The new mantra is often "worry about the consequences later; get the information out now."

Well, now someone has to worry about the consequences. I wonder if Krawczynski would have written the same thing if he wasn't using Twitter and had more time to think about it (for a column the next morning, for instance). There is a complaint that the pressures to get information into the public immediately are eliminating the traditional debate and consider policies that go on in newsrooms. Here's guessing that such policies will now be discussed more seriously.

Bias, et. al.

2011-03-11T07:48:00.004-06:00

What does NPR have to do with sports media?

By now, I'm sure you've seen the stories of how National Public Radio executives were caught on tape denouncing Tea Party members as racists; two top NPR leaders were forced to resign in the fallout. Critics have long argued that NPR is left-leaning in its reporting, and these revelations seem to support that argument. So, what's the connection?

Just a reminder that everyone, including sports reporters and journalists, brings bias and personal feelings into a story. As much as we want to be fair and impartial, we're simply wired differently. Our feelings, perspectives and beliefs color how we look at the world, and that includes sports.

Consider the ongoing NFL labor negotiations. Your perspective influences whether you favor the owners or the players; it's almost impossible not to pick sides. Good reporting recognizes that perspective and tries to work around it. That doesn't mean such biases have to end up in print or on air, but recognizing them helps much more than simply ignoring them or pretending they don't exist.

This is our last day before spring break starts, so you might not hear from me for a few days. But before I go I did want to mention another online chat sponsored by the Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State. On March 21, the Center will host "Ethical Issues in the Coverage of Youth Sports." You can participate in the session by visiting this site at 1pm (Eastern) on March 21.

The Cost of Research

2011-03-09T08:08:00.002-06:00

I'm in the process of writing a book on the NFL and having been doing some research for the past year, mostly online. It's interesting to me to see how many research sites, especially those belonging to the media, are now charging money to access their files.

Larger papers, like the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune have charged for this stuff for some time. The price per article isn't too bad--most sites usually charged around $3-$4--but that can add up quickly. Last fall, I was able to find online versions of almost every issue of The Sporting News for free through an engine called Paper of Record. It was a treasure trove of sports information, but this winter POR has now gone to a pay model and requires a fee for access.

It's certainly understandable why these outlets are now charging money; such is the nature of the business in an uncertain economic environment. But there are at least two pretty good free sites still out there. One, of course, is the Sports Illustrated vault. The SI vault not only offers free access, but also reproduces the entire magazine with advertisements and page numbers.
The other site is the Milwaukee Journal/Sentine l, which also reproduces its papers from 1884-2007, and it has become an invaluable tool.

I would be interested to know if anyone knows of other free sites out there. Such a list would be helpful to other sports researchers.

Another BEA Panel Opportunity

2011-03-04T09:03:00.002-06:00

This comes from Wayne Hepler, Vice Chair of the BEA Sports Division:

"If you, or someone you know, has an interest or research focus on sports and culture, a BEA panel is short one person due to his lack of funding for an overseas trip from UK.

This is the "Gooaal" panel at BEA in April and the focus is on media and sports culture, as you can read online at the BEA conference website. Two panelists are addressing hockey and baseball, leaving a lot of room for something else (soccer is the absent topic now, but football, basketball, poker, horse racing, etc., would certainly work).

This could be fun, perhaps without too much preparation to do it well, if it could serve your purposes."

I know Wayne's name is spelled and pronounced "Hepler", but it still makes me think of the classic scene with Sam Kinson and Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School (the part I'm thinking of is at the 1:55 mark).

BEA Panel: Panelist Needed

2011-03-02T07:41:00.004-06:00

The B roadcast Education Association convention is coming up April 9-13 in Las Vegas, and one of the Sports Division panels needs help. Denise Belafonte is seeking panelists for her BEA2011 panel BEA-HD, 2D, 3D "Heightened Dimension" the rise of Sports in 3 Dimensions, Where Do the Colleges Go From Here? If you'd like to be a panelist, or would like more information about the panel, please contact Denise at dbelafonte@lynn.edu.

On the subject of panels, the JSM panel, which features some recently published authors discussing their research, is at 1:15, Monday, April 11. This session will feature Ray Gamache of St. Scholastica talking about "Genealogy of the Sportscast Highlight Form;" Steve Hill and Chang Wan Woo of Wisconsin-Stevens Point will present "New Media, New Audiences and New Questions: Exploring a Communication Research Agenda for Fantasy Sports;" and Tang Tang of Akron and Roger Cooper of Ohio State will offer "The First Online Olympics: The Interactions between Internet Use and Sports Viewing."

There are several sports related panels, papers and research presentations on the program calendar, so I hope you can make it to Vegas in April.

Boy, Talk about Coincidence

2011-02-28T12:12:00.002-06:00

Just a couple of days after we blogged about Jay Mariotti, another ESPN contributor faces charges of domestic violence.

Not much else to say here; we'll see how it plays out.

Mariotti Returns

2011-02-25T07:43:00.006-06:00

Former Chicago Sun-Times reporter and ESPN Around the Horn contributor Jay Mariotti has virtually disappeared from the sports media since his arrest last year on chargers related to an alleged domestic abuse incident with his girlfriend. Marriotti either quit or was fired from the Sun-Times, and was also quickly dropped by ESPN.

But Mariotti resurfaced last week with an in-depth interview with fellow sportswriter Jason Whitlock. In the first part, Mariotti talks about the incident. From a sports media perspective, the second part has some interesting analysis about the state of sports journalism today, including the pressures of multi-media sports reporting and the growth of the 'celebrity' sports journalist. You can find links to both parts here, as well as Whitlock's currert podcast interview with Buzz Bissinger. Regardless of what you think about Mariotti or what he did, it's an interesting insight to many of the issues and changes going on in sports journalism.

Also, a reminder that the deadline for early registration for the upcoming College Sports Research Conference is March 4. The conference is April 20-22 in Chapel Hill, NC, and you can find more information here.

A Gray Area

2011-02-21T08:24:00.003-06:00

Jim Gray of NBC and the Golf Channel has earned the reputation as a pretty tough sports reporter and interviewer. Unfortunately, he has also earned the reputation as someone who often makes himself the news, rather than just reporting on it.

Gray got himself kicked off the Golf Channel's coverage of this weekend's PGA tour event in Los Angeles. When Dustin Johnson missed his tee time Thursday, Gray hunted him down for an explanation during the round, which displeased both players and caddies. "In order not to provide further distraction, we've decided to remove Jim from this particular assignment," Golf Channel spokesman Dan Higgins said.

This all might be much ado about nothing, except that Gray has made a career putting himself at the center of the news. Just some of the highlights include:

*His (in)famous 1999 interview with Pete Rose regarding Rose's alleged betting on baseball. No one argued Gray's right to ask the questions, but his approach made him seem petty and vindictive. Gray apologized to fans the following night on NBC.

*A verbal confrontation with golfer Corey Pavin regarding Gray's reporting on the Ryder Cup.

*And who can forget Gray's participation in last summer's "Decision" announcement with LeBron James, where Gray asked 16 questions before getting down to the only question anyone cared about?

There is no doubt that Gray is an accomplished sports reporter, and he deserves his reputation for asking tough questions and not taking 'no' for an answer. But too many times Gray has injected himself into his own reporting. He is almost becoming a caricature of himself, like what happened to Howard Cosell at the end of his career.

The first rule of sports reporting should be "you are the reporter on the story, not the story itself."

Olympics Up For Grabs?

2011-02-18T08:08:00.005-06:00

Last month at the NATPE convention in Miami, outgoing NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker talked a bit about the importance of sports to NBC. Now Zucker is gone as part of Comcast's takeover of NBCU, and the new owners apparently don't think quite as much of sports, at least the Olympics.

New CEO Steve Burke has announced that NBC may drop the Olympics as part of cost-cutting measures. Burke says that NBC lost around $220 million on the 2010 games in Vancouver, and Comcast may not bid for future games because of the dramatic rise in rights fees. NBC paid $2.2 billion for the Vancouver winter games and the 2012 games in London.

Is this a sign of things to come or simply the move of one company trying to reverse its fortunes? (Burke says he thinks it will take five years to turn around the NBC broadcast network, which will need help from its profitable cable sister stations). Competition between other networks could still push rights fees for future Games above the $4 billion mark, but there is a growing sense that there is a limit on how much networks are willing to pay.

The Olympics are still important in many respects, but certainly not the seminal sports and cultural event they were in years past. We used to turn to the Olympics to see events and athletes from different places; things we had never seen before. Now, modern technology brings us all those things on almost a daily basis, and much of the reaction today is "been there, done that." Globalization of professional sports also factors into this. The opening of the NBA, NHL and MLB to foreign players takes away much of the Olympic mystique.

So is this an economic issue or a cultural one? An interesting question and there certainly is no easy answer. The reality is that it's probably a little bit of both.

SI, Part II

2011-02-17T10:18:00.006-06:00

On the heels of release of its annual swimsuit issue, Sports Illustrated has announced that it will no longer sell print-only subscriptions. In other words, if you want access to the magazine you're going to have to pay $48 for an "All Access" bundle that includes print, Web, and tablet and phone Android applications.

It sounds like yet another death blow for print in general, and more specifically for the magazine industry, but it's actually a logical evolution of media technologies. "You're really buying a subscription to the brand, not a magazine," said an SI spokesman of the move, which makes a lot of sense, especially considering there is only a small difference in cost.

Dr. Samir Husni of our faculty, also known as "Mr. Magazine," said the move is an extension of what the cable industry has been doing for years. "You buy basic cable as a bundle," he said, "and you get a certain amount of channels. We're going to see a lot more of what I call 'cable-ization' of the magazine industry." Husni said it's also a way for SI to remove some of the hassles related to figuring out its subscription numbers. Instead of trying to determine separate numbers for print, web and phone, this allows SI to have one subscription total.

It's a move that makes sense for a lot of reasons, and not necessarily another sign of print's impending demise.

SI Swims in a High Tide

2011-02-15T13:18:00.007-06:00

It has become an annual February event, but not even the Groundhog gets this much media attention. The new Sports Illustrated cover model has been announced, and on David Letterman, no less. What started as a relatively innocuous photo shoot in 1964 has become a worldwide media phenomenon.

There are obviously different ways to look at this. On a sociological level, women's groups (among many others) continue to decry the sexual objectification, although with everything else out there, including soft-core outlets like Maxim and FHM, it's hard to single out SI as somehow different or worse. Certainly one could argue that Maxim and FHM don't pretend to be something they are not, and that SI could just as well leave the cheesecake to others.

But the franchise is too successful and SI is simply making too much money at this point to turn away. From the very narrow perspective of media, what started as a way to fill a few pages during a slow sports month has now become a multi-platform money machine including magazines, videos and online sites. SI's success is also a testament to its ability to brand; there are a lot of similar swimsuit sites out there, but SI remains the icon and the leader. (Google "swimsuit models" and see how many sites are related to SI). Getting there first helped, but it doesn't keep you on top.

You may hate it; you might love it. But either way, get used to it. The SI swimsuit issue is not going away.

CFP: JoS on Athlete Sponsorship

2011-02-11T08:22:00.003-06:00

The Journal of Sponsorship has opened a call for papers for a special issue on athlete sponsorship and endorsements.

The journal is seeking manuscripts on athlete sponsorship and endorsements and related topics. These include celebrity management; athlete sponsorship; entertainment personality sponsorship; and celebrities as brands. Other relevant subjects are strategies for sales of corporate sponsorship programs; brand and rights activation; evaluation and measurement; aligning athlete/celebrity sponsorship and brand values; return on investment; athlete sponsorship and PR; combining celebrity and community sponsorship; contract management; and legal and regulatory issues. Related topics such as the sponsorship of professional sports and the role of athletes, either individually or as a team, in those sponsorships are also encouraged.

Deadline for submissions: August 1st, 2011

Review Decisions by: September 15th 2011
Publication Issue: Journal of Sponsorship Volume 5 Number 2
Publication Date: March 2012

You can find more information about submissions here.

Super Bowl Post-Mortem

2011-02-07T13:05:00.003-06:00

Well, it's over for another season, and maybe even beyond that.

The always-over-the-top Super Bowl may have set another audience viewing record last night. Early, although unofficial, estimates have the game up 3% from last year's record-breaking Saints-Colts matchup. Some of that may be due to lack of quality counter-programming. Many competing stations either tried to tie in to the game (The Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet) or simply gave up, bowing to the inevitable (A Roseanne marathon on TV Land?). Perhaps there was also a sense that with a strike looming that could cancel the 2011 season, this was the last pro football anyone was going to see for awhile.

If so, the NFL went out with a bang--good game, interesting commercials, drama at the end, and nice production work from Fox. Yes, there were assorted problems related to the game, including lots of chirping about the hosts, but in the end nothing could slow down the runway train that is the Super Bowl on television. In the multi-channel, multi-platform universe we live in today, sporting events are lucky to draw a 10-20 rating and 30 share. Estimates suggest Super Bowl XLV pulled a 71 share--71% of all people watching television last night were watching the game.

Astounding.

Weed Wacking and Waste Management

2011-02-05T20:55:00.004-06:00

Remember the Weedeater Bowl? The Independence Bowl was actually called the Poulan Weedeater Bowl for a few years when the power tool company was the main corporate sponsor. That may have been the worst name ever for a sponsored sporting event, but it's getting a real challenge this weekend from the Waste Management Open, a PGA event in Scottsdale, AZ.

Really? The Waste Management Open? I realize we live in a time of corporate sponsorships, but there has to be a better name than this. Did weather problems "flush out" the first round on Thursday? Are the scores now "going to pot?"

The WM (or should it be BM?) Open brings to mind some other similarly misnamed sporting sponsorships:

The Bacardi Bowl: This college bowl game was played in Havana seven times, the last in 1946. No way it would work in today's climate, but imagine the sponsored parties during the week of the game. Instead of shooting t-shirts into the crowd, cheerleaders could throw bottles of rum.

The MagicJack.com Bowl: Played in Florida, probably in a Walgreens parking lot.

Swingline Stapler Bowl: The official game mascot is called Petey the Paper Cut.

Quicken Loans Arena (Cleveland): An Internet mortgage company, who doesn't want to borrow from a company that sounds like "Quicky Loans?" Maybe that's what scared away LeBron.

And what may be the winner: The TPC Blue Monster at Doral Golf Resort & Spa World Golf Championships CA Championship.

There was a time when golf tournaments were named after people--the Bing Crosby at Pebble Beach, Hope, Gleason ... even Sammy Davis had a tournament in Hartford. Just since 2000, the tournament that started as the Tampa Bay Classic, has been:

The Tampa Bay Classic;
The Tampa Bay Classic presented by Buick;
The Chrysler Championship;
The PODS Championship;
and new this year, The Transitions Championship.

Enough ranting. Certainly the players don't mind the millions of dollars poured into these events by corporate sponsors.

Signing Day Followup

2011-02-03T07:34:00.003-06:00

Does any one sporting event deserve 10 consecutive hours of non-stop coverage? If it was the Super Bowl we would call it overkill, but no one seemed to have a problem with ESPNU going wall-to-wall with coverage of National Signing Day; a day when high school football players can officially sign their college letters of intent. It would be nice to think that the players did not see their shadows so we can forgo another six weeks of media coverage, but with the nation's #1 recruit still undecided that's not likely to happen.

National signing day is now behind us, but not quite over yet. The Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State is hosting a live online chat February 14 to discuss the issues and challenges related to this new sports media phenomenon. So if haven't yet made those Valentine's Day plans you can get in on the free conversation at this link. The discussion will take place at 1 pm (I'm assuming that's Eastern time).

I also wanted to call your attention to a call for a special issue of the International Journal of Sport Communication. The issue will focus on Innovative Communication in College Athletics, which is obviously a broad topic and one open to several different approaches. The deadline for submission is June 30, 2011 with the issue scheduled to publish in December. Other information, submission guidelines and contact information can be found here.

Wrapping up NATPE

2011-01-29T09:32:00.003-06:00

It was a great experience this week in Miami for NATPE (except the for the weather--nice, but hardly beach-worthy). I would certainly recommend the conference for anyone on the television side of scholarship; I think I got more out of it than any previous conference I have attended.

Some final thoughts on the proceedings--

1. Almost to a person, industry officials said that contrary to predictions "local television is not dead." Not only is it not dead, many executives, including those at Hearst, Gannett and Post-Newsweek, said they are expanding their local news operations. I suppose that could be either denial or wishful thinking, but I got the sense that most executives believed the ad market has turned around and that the financial cycle is on an upswing. By extension, that should be good news also for local television sports, which has gone though a difficult period the last few years.

2. The "next big thing" in television is going to be mobile TV, which should be a reality by the end of 2011, and executives said they had technical standards worked out even before the digital transition. The new concept is "TV Everywhere," which would allow consumers to watch content on a variety on screens and in a variety of places. Those in the industry say they are still working on business models for mobile TV, but live sports should figure in prominently.

3. The big issue at the FCC is spectrum allocation and specifically trying to get back underutilized spectrum from broadcasters. Expect a fight, because the bandwidth is extremely valuable and losing it would hurt broadcasters both financially and in terms of programming.

As always, sports will play a major role in all of these discussions, although outgoing NBC President Jeff Zucker admitted that live sports--the cash cow of the networks--really doesn't give companies anything in terms of what he called "online exploitation." Figuring out ancillary markets and opportunities is the key for content in the 2010s.

More from NAPTE

2011-01-25T09:11:00.003-06:00

An interesting morning discussion today with Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos at NAPTE in Miami (poolside, no less). Sarandos admitted that Netflix really doesn't concern itself with live sports programming; the company is more of a compliment to that type of programming.

Sarandos also did not think that the company would get into the burgeoning market for classic sports programming, saying it was probably too much of a niche area for Netflix. But he did think creative sports documentaries might have possibilities. Sarandos says Netflix is looking for programming with a long shelf life, but it seems to me that classic sports fits that category.

Sarandos said that within the next year we will continue to see "the explosion of online video," and Netflix is actively transitioning from DVD to streaming. On a typical day, 45,000 of the 100,000 titles in the Netflix library move, which speaks to the incredible volume of business and diverse taste of the audience.

Like almost everyone else at NATPE, Sarandos said the key to the next few years remains the ability to provide great content.

At NAPTE

2011-01-24T10:07:00.004-06:00

I'm in Miami at the annual NAPTE conference--a gathering of television programmers, producers and executives. Sports is a big topic here, and we just heard an address from one of the biggest players in media sports--NBC Universal President and CEO Jeff Zucker.

Zucker reinforced the importance of sports programming, telling the audience that the key in today's media world is to invest in quality content, because even the fanciest technology in the world is useless without it.

Zucker also praised NBC's Sunday Night Football program, which he called the number one show in all of television. He called the NFL one of the most important brands in television, especially because at a time when other ratings are down, the NFL is still going up. "You can't afford everything in television," he said, "but if you can afford anything, you afford the NFL."

The next five years, according to Zucker, will see content moving to mobile and other types of screens. He said the challenge for the industry is to figure out how to monetize that change and develop new business models. "We took a lesson from the music industry," he said. "They ignored the changes going; our philosophy is to try something different."

Zucker's last day as NBCU President/CEO is Friday; he is leaving the company (just bought out by Comcast) after 24 years.

Longhorn Sports Network-Part II

2011-01-21T13:15:00.003-06:00

As just a quick followup to yesterday's post about the Longhorn Sports Network, Berry Tramel of the Daily Oklahoman made an interesting point. Tramel's article (which you can read in its entirety here) discussed the issue in terms of whether it would be good or bad for one of the Longhorns' main rivals, the University of Oklahoma.

According to Tramel:

"From a sports standpoint, the journalism school would hit the nirvana. I’m sure Texas has the same kind of stuff going on as OU does; student-run sportscasts and sports-themed television shows. Instead of cable access, they could run on the Longhorn Network (or Sooner Network).

Are you kidding me? That would be fantastic experience and platforms for those students, and while the quality wouldn’t be ESPN-caliber or even your local sportscast, it wouldn’t be the worst thing on television."

I absolutely agree, but there is a catch. Many student-run media outlets are just that--student-run with little or no direction from faculty. For example, I know the Student Media Center at Ole Miss is almost totally hands-off, and students are allowed to develop, create and produce their own content. If the Longhorn Sports Network would want any kind of input or control into what the students are reporting, there could be some problems.

But it's still an idea worth pursuing.

Longhorn $ports Network

2011-01-20T07:03:00.006-06:00

The stakes just got a lot higher in the big money world of college athletics Wednesday with the announcement that the University of Texas and ESPN have partnered to create a 24-hour Texas sports network that will pay the university $300 million over 20 years. The network will show every Texas home athletic event that was not already promised to another network, which is a boon to non-revenue sports like cross country and rowing, and a huge recruiting tool for the Longhorns. It's also a dangerous sign that the big money of college athletics may be getting too big; Texas is already the richest sports program in the country and this makes the Longhorns look suspiciously like a professional sports franchise.

From a media standpoint, the main question is whether audiences will watch 24/7 programming like softball and swimming. The big money maker, Longhorn football, is already committed to other broadcast outlets, although the new network will get at least one football game. If--and its still a big if at this point--Texas can create an audience, it will send a signal to other powerful programs (Oklahoma, USC, et. al.) that they can do the same.

And what's keeping Texas from simply ditching its football broadcast commitments and going on its own? For now, conference affiliation, which the Longhorns say they want to keep. But the lure of keeping all that broadcast money to themselves--much like Notre Dame does--has to be very enticing. If that happens, the entire landscape of college athletics will shift dramatically as the big schools go their own way and leave the little fish to fend for themselves. (Remember it was Texas that held the key to all the conference realignment last summer).

The Texas-ESPN move got its impetus from the surprising success of the Big 10 network. BTN demonstrated that the demand for more sports programming was out there; now, Texas is trying it alone. If the Longhorns can pull it off, we may be entering a new--and potentially dangerous--world of college sports media.

JSM New Editor

2011-01-18T10:19:00.003-06:00

Last fall, I introduced Howard Schlossberg of Columbia College as the new editor for the Journal of Sports Media. The transition is just about complete, and Howard will officially assume editorship of the journal on February 1.

That means that any new submissions to JSM should go to Howard and not to me. (Although I will certainly forward them along if they end up in my hands). His email address is: hbssports@aol.com. You can also find out more about the journal and in Howard's JSM blog.

I'll keep on posting here as time permits and as things catch my eye, but for official information related to JSM ... Howard is now the go-to guy.

BCS Rehash

2011-01-11T14:10:00.002-06:00

The early returns for ESPN's coverage of the BCS title game are a bit of a mixed bag. The ratings for the game were down from the 2010 game which was broadcast on Fox, but it was still the highest overnight cable rating ever, and even higher than some recent BCS title games.

The strong showing, despite the lack of a true marquee program or player, suggests that signature sports events don't necessarily need broadcast networks and can succeed on specialized cable outlets. I don't think we'll see the Super Bowl on Lifetime any time soon, but with more and more homes hooked up to cable and satellite, the idea of the Super Bowl on ESPN in the foreseeable future certainly isn't far-fetched. And thinking beyond that, I think we're looking at a pay-per-view Super Bowl within our lifetimes. Consider that last year's game between the Saints and Colts had the largest single TV audience ever--106+ million. Charging just $5 per household--a measly amount considering the $50+ charged for boxing and wrestling--would create a payday of more than half a billion dollars.

That's just too much money to ignore.

Get Ready for BEA

2011-01-07T06:53:00.003-06:00

The BEA annual convention in Las Vegas is closer than you think, and again this year there will be several sports-related programs and panels. Denise Belafonte is seeking panelists for her BEA 2011 panel BEA-HD, 2D, 3D "Heightened Dimension" the rise of Sports in 3 Dimensions, Where Do the Colleges Go From Here? If you'd like to be a panelist, or would like more information about the panel, please contact Denise at dbelafonte@lynn.edu.

And the University of Tennessee has at least one opening for Fall 2011 in its Sport Management Doctoral Program. You can find more information on that here.

Otherwise, have a great weekend!

A Matter of Trust

2011-01-06T07:40:00.006-06:00

One of the big debates in sports journalism today is the role of new media in reporting. Yes, the Internet, blogs, Twitter and other social media make reporting much faster ... but there are continuing issues with credibility.

Consider what we've seen just in the past month in college football. According to Internet "reporting" Penn State's 84-year old Joe Paterno was hospitalized during preparation for the Lions' bowl game with Florida. But Paterno said the rumors were ridiculous because he was in a team meeting at the time he was supposed to be in the hospital. His wife also had to deny the numerous reports.

The University of Texas has conducted several assistant coaching searches, and right before Christmas several outlets began reporting that Terryl Austin of Florida would be the new defensive coordinator. Not just reporting as rumor, but actually reporting as fact. The problem is, Austin was not hired and the job went instead to Manny Diaz.

The problem seems to center on the numerous fan sites and blogs, most of which do not have any foundation in solid journalism. Many of these sites pass along rumors and innuendo without checking, and when they get caught ... they simply remove the offending information as if it had never even existed.

In some cases the traditional (or 'legacy') media of television, radio and newspapers are guilty of passing along the information because they don't want to get scooped. But most of the time, these sites are the only ones doing the investigative work to track down information and not release it until it's official. Or at the very least, to correctly identify rumors as rumors and not as fact.

We've read a lot about the demise of the legacy media, but they still have the one selling point that all these other Internet sites often lack--credibility.

Two Strikes and You're Out

2011-01-04T19:23:00.005-06:00

The unfortunate (and predictable) ending to the Ron Franklin-Jeannine Edwards story played out today when ESPN fired the long-time announcer.

On a day when (former?) Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez dominated the sports headlines, Franklin's dismissal ranked only a brief mention on ESPN, but it was a much bigger story in other media. Franklin apologized to Edwards, but in the end it wasn't enough to offset not only what happened, but also a similar incident two years ago where Franklin made disparaging on-air comments to sideline reporter Holly Rowe.

No doubt, what Franklin said was offensive and dumb, especially in today's PC media world where a wrongly-phrased comment can end a career, but it sure sounds like a knee-jerk reaction on ESPN's part, especially in light of the otherwise sterling 23 years Franklin spent with the network. One would hope, and expect, that Franklin will not be out of work long.

Disappointing start to New Year

2011-01-03T12:28:00.003-06:00

The story about Ron Franklin's alleged sexist comments to fellow ESPN announcer Jeannine Edwards is a disappointing way to start the new year.

We've discussed sexism in sports at length in this blog, and there's really no reason to go into it further. If the story is true, Franklin is in the wrong and will have to face the consequences. It's somewhat puzzling because Franklin is a true gentlemen and terrific guy; he went out of his way to help our students during his visit to Ole Miss last April.

At the same time, a couple of years ago Franklin had a somewhat similar incident with sideline reporter Holly Rowe, calling her "sweetheart" on the air. ESPN solved the problem by moving Rowe to another announcing group. It will be interesting to see how the network handles this situation, given that Franklin has a track record of gender insensitivity.

My personal take is that Franklin, who is 68, is from the "old school" where such comments were considered endearing. (With the obvious exception of his follow-up comment to Edwards). That in no way excuses what Franklin said, but I would hope that some sensitivity training and/or workshops will allow him to stay on the air.

Before We Reach 2011

2010-12-28T08:42:00.004-06:00

There are a couple of things to pass along ...

The University of Georgia has an opening for a Sport Management faculty position. It's at either the Assistant or Associate level and you can find more information here.

And add Ferris State University to the growing list of schools adding a new undergraduate Sports Communication program. The program includes a Sports Communication minor, certificate or Communication major concentration starting Fall 2011. For more information, contact:

Sandra L. "Sandy" Alspach, Ph.D., Professor/Sports Communication, Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI 49307; (o) 231-591-2779, (f) 231-591-2188.

From Everyone at JSM ...

2010-12-24T08:16:00.003-06:00

Had to Post This

2010-12-20T14:25:00.002-06:00

A friend sent this to me, and it's simply too good not to share. It doesn't specifically pertain to sports broadcasting, but I think it should be required viewing of anyone considering going into sports television or TV news:

Talkin' 'bout my (video) generation

2010-12-15T15:17:00.005-06:00

Want more proof that we live in a 24/7, instant access world, especially in sports media?

1) Check out the video from YouTube on the Florida high school player who got tossed from the game (and then school) for assaulting a ref. We all shake our heads and say, "How could this happen?," but the video already has more than 100,000 hits and is one of the most popular sports entries of the day. YouTube exposure only encourages more outrageous behavior from those who want their 15 seconds of fame (or infamy). It's also no surprise at all that the video came from someone in the stands. In a certain way, YouTube has also become the electronic policeman at sporting events, especially on the local level.

2) Unbeaten TCU doesn't have a chance to meet Oregon for the BCS championship, but the Frogs will give the Ducks a run for the most hideous uniforms. TCU unveiled its Rose Bowl uniforms, which are unique in several ways, most notably in that they have the school colors only in the socks and shoes. For some reason, schools that rarely play on the big stage feel like they have to make a huge splash for the TV audience, and Nike seems to be behind most of it. Here's hoping that Wisconsin comes out in the Rose Bowl with its simple red and white.

Pony Show

2010-12-13T11:35:00.004-06:00

ESPN's "30 for 30" series of documentaries continues to impress, especially the latest installment which focused on the Death Penalty given to SMU's football program in 1987.

ESPN interviewed both Eric Dickerson and Craig James for their reactions, which in the case of James is a conflict of interest. James works at ESPN as a college football analyst. For the record, both men denied ever receiving anything improper from SMU boosters, which is almost laughable given the fact that every single former SMU player interviewed for the program admitted to receiving money.

The film also made the interesting point that media competition may have been SMU's undoing. In the mid-1980s Dallas was still a two-newspaper town, and the Times-Herald waged a furious war with the Morning News to see who could be the first one to expose the scandal (the Times Herald ceased publication in 1991). Local television also played a major role, as WFAA aired an interview with former player David Stanley that proved to be the smoking gun.

In 1986, 47 U.S. cities had two or more separately owned newspapers that were not chain-owned or newspaper operations in which the two newspapers were owned by the same company, a number that had declined to 20 by 2000; that number continues to shrink in a tough media economy.

Could SMU "get away with it" today in one-newspaper Dallas? Even without two newspapers, there is still plenty of media competition in the Metroplex, especially now from bloggers and citizen journalists. Someone, somewhere would have found out the truth (or rumor) about SMU and posted it on the Internet. It took nearly a decade for the 'traditional' media to find out the truth about the Mustangs' football excess; it probably wouldn't take near as long in today's cyber-media.

That's W for Women

2010-12-08T21:12:00.004-06:00

It appears ESPN is making serious efforts to reach out to female audience members with the introduction of espnW. The network is taking baby steps online, but hopes to eventually expand to television, which could mean a channel dedicated to women's sports. “They’ve made the commitment," said women's sports advocate and former tennis great Billie Jean King. “I don’t think there’s ever been this much planning, research and commitment before.”

Two points about the ESPN effort--1) it seems to confirm recent research by myself and Dr. Mary Lou Sheffer that found that for people who consume a lot of sports (more than three hours per day), women actually consume more than men. In other words, the perceived difference between men and women--the difference upon which televised sports is based--is at the low end of the consumption scale. Of people who say they consume a lot of sports, women are not that much different than men. Dr. Sheffer and I recommended reexamining this traditionally ignored segment of the sports audience, which espnW seems trying to do.

2) But not everyone is on board with the execution, including women. According to the New York Times, some of the harshest critics are female sports bloggers, who said the attempt to market a female-friendly version of ESPN smacked of condescension and segregation. Laura Gentile, the vice president of espnW, was quoted by USA Today this month describing the effort as “where we talk about women finding self-esteem in sports and about getting a pedicure.” “For those of us that have worked really hard to keep up with the boys, that’s kind of tough to hear,” said Julie DiCaro, the author of a Cubs fan blog. She wrote a post this month titled, “Why I Hate the Idea of espnW” and noted, “It seems like this is the broadcasting equivalent of making something pink and putting sparkles on it,” she said.

Almost everyone views the female audience as a huge, untapped resource. The big question remains--what is the best way to reach women? Although no one has a good answer right now, at least give ESPN credit for trying.

CoSIDA Newsletter

2010-12-03T12:38:00.003-06:00

Clay Stoldt at Wichita State passed this along, and it really seems like a great tool for sports researchers, teachers and scholars. It's the continuing education e-newsletter for the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The newsletter has links to current industry issues and problems, and Clay says he's been incorporating some of the material into his classroom.

If you're interested in receiving the newsletter on a regular basis, there's a link about halfway down on the right side. Just click on "Join our Mailing List." Or you can just click here.

The Big ... East?

2010-11-30T07:45:00.004-06:00

In a move that made no sense geographically, TCU has decided to become a member of the Big East conference. (That's Texas Christian University, by the way, located in Ft. Worth, Texas, where the city motto says, "The West starts here").

But it made a lot of sense for other reasons, primarily because TCU wants to join the big boys in college football. The Horned Frogs have been shut out of the BCS title game the past two seasons, despite going undefeated in the regular season both times. They figured the Big East's automatic bid was the end run they needed, especially when Connecticut is currently favored to go to the BCS this year as the Big East representative with a 7-4 record.

What does the Big East get out of this deal, besides a school 1,400 miles away from conference headquarters in New York? Recruiting and TV exposure--the two big bywords today in conference expansion. Big East schools can now get a toehold in the rich Texas recruiting area; more importantly, they "get" (if that's the right word) the 5th-ranked Dallas-Ft. Worth television market, although it's hard to believe that folks there would watch TCU play Rutgers in football as opposed to teams from the Big XII.

TV money, markets and exposure are driving conference expansion, which is why other schools like Memphis, who were begging to get into the Big East, couldn't even get a look. As Susan Powter, the one-time weight loss guru used to say, it's time to "stop the insanity." TCU belongs in the Big East about as much as Texas does in the Big 10, which courted the Longhorns hard over the summer.

You can't blame TCU for following the money and grabbing a chance to get into a big BCS game. But what happens when the Horned Frog football program starts to bottom out, which has pretty much been its history for most of the last 70 years? The answer to all this seems to be a college football playoff, which would not only be a television bonanza for schools, but also end this game of conference musical chairs which threatens the stability, and credibility, of college athletics.

Bo and the Blogosphere

2010-11-22T22:43:00.006-06:00

One of the big complaints about how the sports media use new technologies such as blogging and Twitter is the lack of time and consideration devoted to stories. Today, ideas and rumors are often posted immediately to the web, with little or no investigation or old fashioned journalistic leg work.

A perfect example took place this weekend involving Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez and his coach, Bo Pelini. After Pelini went after his quarterback on the sidelines in Saturday's loss to Texas A&M, rumors started to swirl that Martinez had quit the team, and by Monday, the Internet was buzzing with reports of Martinez's departure. It got to the point that Pelini finally had to respond, flatly denying that Martinez had quit.

Interesting that none of the rumors (as far as I can tell) appeared in what we would call the traditional or "legacy" media (television, radio and newspapers) that cover the Nebraska program. They all surfaced on fan or private blogs, which forced the traditional media to pursue the story, thus giving it longer life.

There are plenty of people today who predict that the traditional media are doomed, and will be replaced by some form of new/social media. But this is another important demonstration that the "old" media, particularly in sports, still have a place in our news society, especially because they are willing to do the dirty, old-fashioned work of journalism.

A Bit Early, But ...

2010-11-19T07:34:00.005-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving from the Journal of Sports Media. We get a full week break here at Ole Miss, so in case you don't hear from us in awhile, here are some pre-Thanksgiving tidbits to nibble on--

The first anniversary of the car accident that caused Tiger Woods' world to spin out of control is next week, and Woods seems more eager than ever to try and rehabilitate his reputation in the sports media. He wrote a first-person story for Newsweek, appeared on ESPN Radio, and opened a Twitter account. His first tweets: "What's up everyone. Finally decided to try out twitter!" And then, "Yep, it's me. I think I like this twitter thing. You guys are awesome. Thanks for all the love."

Interesting that Tiger is just now starting to realize the value of Twitter and social media in terms of how he can connect to fans and shape his image. Tiger actually created a Twitter account in June, but apparently didn't get serious about it until last week. So far, he has 230,000 followers, which sounds like a lot, but consider that fellow golfer Stewart Cink, an avid Twitterer, has 1.2 million followers and Shaq has 3.3 million. Tiger is going to have to do more than just plug his website and Facebook page if he's serious about connecting to fans.
*************

The International Sociology of Sport Association World Congress meets in Havana, Cuba next summer. There's still time to sign up and you can find more information here.

*************

There is a call for submissions for special issues of Mass Communication & Society. The issues will center on the 2012 Olympics in London, with Volume Two to focus on the blurring of lines between producers and consumers of the 2012 Olympics in the new media landscape. Manuscripts of up to 9000 words (including references, tables, and endnotes) must be submitted by January 2, 2013, and should be submitted electronically through this site. Authors should indicate in their cover letters that the manuscript is for the OLYMPICS SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 2. Selected manuscripts are scheduled be published on December 1, 2013 in Volume 16(6) of MCS.

**************

And finally, the deadline for abstracts for the NASSH Conference in Austin, TX next year is fast approaching (December 1). If you're interested, there's much more information here.

A Home (Fashion) Plate?

2010-11-16T09:53:00.010-06:00

It's now official ... ESPN has run out of content to put on its self-titled "Family of Networks."

ESPN is now featuring Boston Globe style reporter Chris Muther in a series of in-studio reports that look at sports and fashion. (Yesterday's big news? Terrell Owens' decision to wear a fedora to a post-game press conference and this interesting choice of sideline attire for Morehead State basketball coach Tom Hodges).

OK, sports is not all life-and-death and Muther apparently has a serious interest in sports fashion. But is this what ESPN has come to in order to fill time on its various networks? Filling time with this kind of reporting suggests one of two things: 1) ESPN has too many networks and not enough compelling content to fill them all, 0r 2) ESPN is falling too far into the pit of "infotainment."

I seriously hope its 1) and not 2); ESPN already produces far too much sports shtick in order to fill out its schedule, and in many cases has come dangerously close to becoming the TMZ of sports.

Here's a suggestion for ESPN--either get rid of some of those thousands of networks or just create one more. Call it ESPN Whimsy and be done with it.

New JSM Editor

2010-11-11T09:59:00.003-06:00

Please join me in welcoming Howard Schlossberg of Columbia College in Chicago as the new editor of the Journal of Sports Media, effective February 2011. Howard brings years of experience as both a sports journalist and a teacher/academician to the position, as well as a passion to maintain the quality of JSM. There were several outstanding candidates who applied for the editor's position, but it seemed like Howard best fit the mission and work of JSM.

If you're interested in contacting Howard to volunteer your services regarding JSM, he can be reached at hbssports@gmail.com or hschlossberg@colum.edu. He also has his own blog related to JSM and sports journalism, and as you can read, he is not afraid to share his opinion.

As for me, I'll still be involved with JSM, but to a much lesser extent. (I'm just now finishing getting Volume 6, Issue 1 ready for press). I haven't yet decided what to do with this blog; let me know if you want me to keep it going ...

Probably a Moot Point, but ...

2010-11-09T11:08:00.003-06:00

... it's interesting to consider what role the media (and the fans) played in the sacking of America's Coach, Wade Phillips.

Yes, Phillips was a dead man walking after the Cowboys' 1-7 start, and almost certainly would have lost his job at the end of the season. But the media and the fans certainly had fingerprints on the gun that ended his coaching career in Dallas.

Jerry Jones had never fired a head coach in midseason before, and the Cowboys had never, ever fired one midseason in their 50-year history. But the clamor for Phillips' job got so loud from the Dallas media and from disgruntled Cowboys' fans, that Jones decided he had to act.

If not for the 24/7 harping, Jones probably would have waited until the end of the season. But the realities of today's sports media landscape are impossible even for Jerry to ignore. Every owner can read the blog and Internet comments, and the homemade "fire_________.com" websites, and that gives today's coaches a very short shelf life. It was almost unheard of to fire an NFL or college coach midseason, but now it happens almost as regularly as the leaves turning colors.

It also signals a shift in the role of the hometown reporter, who instead of staying somewhat neutral, has now become something of a mouthpiece and advocate for the fans. To put it in political terms, the reporter becomes "elected" by fans to represent them and their opinions in the Congress of sports discourse. It sure empowers the fans, but I'm guessing it also makes life a lot harder for the reporter.

And, of course, for guys like Wade Phillips.

Several items going today

2010-11-04T08:15:00.004-05:00

... so I decided to just lump them together in one post:

1) Sports researchers at Murray State are investigating the ways that football fans react to games and express their fandom. The researchers need some feedback through an online questionnaire and encourage you to take part.

2) The Mississippi Communications Association has an open call for papers for its annual convention next February. The submission deadline is January 21, 2011 and you can get more information about the call here. I'm not sure if it's limited to scholars in Mississippi, but I would have to believe they would accept submissions from the region. The competition is open to all sports entries.

3) And don't forget the sports journalism chat hosted by the Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State. The topic is "The Intersection Between Fantasy Sports and Sports Coverage: Implications for Journalists and Predictions for Media Organizations." It takes place at 1pm Eastern time on November 15 and you can access the chat at this site.

But MLB Network will have it covered

2010-11-01T12:36:00.003-05:00

And yet more ammunition for our discussion last week of the problems of baseball on TV. Tonight, the Giants could win their first World Series in 56 years and their first representing San Francisco ... and more people might be watching the Colts and Texans on Monday Night Football.

Don't mean to pile on, but just sayin'.

Irish Eyes Aren't Smiling

2010-10-30T22:10:00.008-05:00

It was a terrible week for the Notre Dame football program, which lost a student manager to a scaffold accident, then lost at home to Tulsa, 28-27. That makes the Irish 4-5 on the season and 3-3 at home (and with ranked Utah coming to South Bend next week, the home record could soon drop to 3-4).

Maybe it's time for NBC to start rethinking its affiliation with Notre Dame. The network has owned the exclusive rights to broadcast Irish home games since 1991, for which it pays the school around $9 million per year. But Notre Dame hasn't been Notre Dame for about 20 years now, and last year the package had the lowest ratings its ever had.

NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol continues to defend the contract (which was extended until 2015 a couple of years ago), saying, "We're big believers in how Notre Dame time and time again over all these generations has maintained its strength. I don't see that going away." But Ebersol also said "if the vast majority of the years has Notre Dame competitive in that top 10 or for that top 10 through the majority of the season, then we'll be very happy."

It's painfully clear that for yet another season Notre Dame is nowhere near the top 10. NBC made money on the deal when the Irish were consistent winners and playing at home against nationally recognized teams. This year's home schedule includes Western Michigan, Tulsa and Utah. Notre Dame even moved the start times for its home games from 2:30 to 1:3o Eastern so as to avoid competition with games kicking off at the same time on ESPN and CBS, but that hasn't helped much.

If new coach Brian Kelly can't turn around the Irish soon, NBC would be wise to seriously consider dropping the package when it runs out. It certainly doesn't make much financial sense to pay so much for so little return. Notre Dame already has a sweetheart deal with the BCS on top of its sweetheart deal with NBC, but if the network decides to pull out, it might further push the Irish toward a conference affiliation, such as with the Big 10. And you know the Big 10 Network would love to have the Irish, no matter what their record.

The Trouble with Baseball

2010-10-28T07:36:00.007-05:00

UPDATE: (And Bud Selig says he's happy?)

Trying to kill some time in the car last night I flipped around the radio dial looking for Game 1 of the World Series ... and never found it. Lots of 50,000-watt sports stations talking football, the opening of the NBA season and even hockey, but no baseball. (Yes, I know ESPN radio has a contract to broadcast the series, but that doesn't mean local stations can't pre-empt for potentially more profitable local shows).

There was a time when the World Series was the preeminent sporting event in the country, and it's somewhat sad to see it have to compete for media attention with football on the weekend, then MMA, college volleyball and fantasy football during the week. (The first two games of the Series had to go head-to-head with NCAA football--#3 Boise State on Wednesday night and #16 Florida State on Thursday).

Some of the problem is scheduling. When the Tigers and Cardinals played in 1968--the last World Series before the playoffs began--the Series began on October 2 and finished on October 10. Thanks to two rounds of playoffs this year's Series didn't even start until October 27 and will finish in November. By that time, the sports calendar has turned to basketball, hockey and other winter sports and most fans have moved on. And now, baseball is considering adding even more playoff teams, which could conceivably push back the series until Thanksgiving.

The other problem is one that baseball has tried to overcome for the past 50 years--the game simply doesn't work well on television. Major League Baseball has wisely moved up the start times of most games so they don't end after midnight anymore, but that's only a cosmetic fix. The game has too many long periods where almost nothing of consequence seems to happen, and that has been underscored in this year's playoffs which have been dominated by low scoring and pitching. (Notwithstanding last night's 11-7 win by the Giants). NFL fans can flip through "Red Zone" channels to find the next exciting play, but you can't do that with baseball. The pace of the game fits much better on radio, where listeners are required to use more imagination, but even there the Series is getting blown off the airwaves.

At this point, the World Series on television is still broadcast on the networks, mainly for reasons of "tradition." But if trends keep heading in the same direction I can see a day where it moves to cable (like the BCS) or even pay-per-view.

The Nightmare Series for FOX

2010-10-25T08:07:00.003-05:00

A big loss for FOX this weekend, which was desperately hoping for another Yankees-Phillies World Series to juice its ratings. With both teams now gone, expect those high television ratings to go with them. In today's media market, you need one of three things to get people to watch the World Series:

1) big market and/or popular teams (the Yankees are both)
2) star power
3) interesting story lines

Unfortunately, the Rangers-Giants series which starts Wednesday has none of those things going for it. The closest thing to star power is Giants' starter Tim Lincecum, and he would make at most three appearances if the Series goes seven games. Interestingly, this would have been a great TV matchup 10 years ago when the Rangers had Alex Rodriguez and the Giants had Barry Bonds. A dispute with Cablevision may keep the Series out of the New York market, which is yet another major headache for FOX.
-----------------------
On an unrelated note, I was surprised this weekend by the reaction of my 15-year old son to the Texas-Iowa State game. He is a huge Longhorns fans and I figured he would really be down after Texas' inexplicable loss, the team's third of the year. However, it barely registered with him, in part because he spent much of the day playing his EA Sports College Football '11 video game. He brags that he has won six national championships and four Heisman Trophies in the game, and I could hear him cheering and yelling at the screen while he was playing.

It's fascinating to me that today's generation gets as much, if not more, enjoyment from the simulated sports experience than the real thing. I also understand that Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert had a much better Saturday in my son's game than he did in real life.

Juan takes the Bullet

2010-10-21T20:10:00.010-05:00

Before we get to the sports, first a quick word--shameful.

Or reprehensible. Self-serving. Hypocritical.

Actually, NPR's firing of journalist Juan Williams is all of the above. NPR ostensibly fired the long-time commentator for comments he made about Muslims on Bill O'Reilly's FOX program Monday night. NPR publicly said the comments "undermined his credibility," but this is nothing more than political correctness run amok. Williams said something that could potentially offend Muslims, so he was let go. In today's world of inclusiveness, the unwritten rule is that you can't say anything that could potentially offend anyone, especially Muslims. Even if you are a journalist with a long track record of integrity and fairness. I disagree with a lot of Juan Williams' positions, but the guy is a professional and a journalist of the highest order.

What does any of this have to do with sports? Let me put it another way--does anyone remember the old Baltimore Bullets?

The Baltimore then Washington Bullets became the Washington Wizards in 1997 because the team owner felt the name was inappropriate given the city's high rate of gun violence. By changing the name, the team hoped it might have a positive impact and reduce DC gun violence. Right. And exactly how has that worked out?

Sports logos send a media message, and today that message is one of non-offensiveness. The idea is to find a mascot that can't possibly offend anyone, and while some groups have a valid complaint, the boundaries today are bordering on the ridiculous.

Of course, we know all about that here. Colonel Rebel has been permanently retired to the land of offensive mascots, even though (to the best of my knowledge) he never offended a single Muslim.

Juan Williams probably knows how he feels.

Think Pink

2010-10-19T11:22:00.005-05:00

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which you should certainly know by now if you are a football fan. Pink has been everywhere in the NFL this month, from coaches to referees to players' equipment. It's all part of a partnership with the Susan Komen Foundation to raise awareness and money; as a public relations campaign, it's been one of the biggest and best ever for breast cancer prevention and treatment.

Other sports have done similar things, but nothing on the scale of what the NFL has done, and it's almost impossible to watch a game this month without seeing the signature pink color associated with breast cancer treatment. The Komen Foundation deserves credit for aligning itself with the highly visible NFL and getting a massive amount of publicity.

It's a more interesting decision on the part of the NFL, which usually keeps its charity work much more low key. The NFL never exactly said why it was going all out for breast cancer, other than it's an obviously worthy cause, and it would be interesting to know exactly why the league went with this instead of say, arthritis or Alzheimer's. (With all the crippling injuries that result from playing the NFL for a long period of time, one would think the league would be raising money to help its retired players).

I would imagine other charities will be lined up to try and get the same kind of exposure and publicity the NFL offers. In the meantime, congratulations to the Komen Foundation for a master stroke of public relations. As just a side note, at our local high school football game Friday night the field was decorated with a pink ribbon and cheerleaders went through the stands collecting for breast cancer. I don't know who's doing PR for the Komen Foundation, but that person deserves a raise.

A Bear Market

2010-10-15T07:34:00.017-05:00

What a day at Ole Miss Thursday! Former President Bill Clinton spoke on campus, and we now have an official new mascot--the Black Bear. As far as mascots go, it was probably the best of the three remaining choices, but I hope we avoid a cartoonish bear like Baylor has for some of its games. Baylor actually has live bears on campus, which would be great ... and make tailgaiting in the Grove infinitely more interesting.

Four things to pass along today ...

1) The new AEJMC sport interest group is looking for qualified reviewers to look at submitted research papers. If you would like to help out, contact Dr. Mary Lou Sheffer at Southern Miss (sheffer6@yahoo.com) or Bob Trumpbour at Penn State-Altoona (rct4@psu.edu).

2) On the subject of AEJMC, Peggy Beck of Kent State-Stark is trying to put together a panel for St. Louis in 2011. It will deal with the escalating problems of working in media relations in the era of blogs and online coverage. In her interviews with PR people in baseball, the issue surrounds credentialing and how to credential those who do not represent "standard and recognized" media. If you're interested in taking part, you can reach her at: commprofbeck@sbcglobal.net.

3) A CFP for the North American Society for Sport Management Conference next June in London, Ontario. The deadline is fast approaching, so if you want to submit a paper or proposal there is more information here.

4) And finally, the Journal of Language and Social Psychology has recently published a special issue dealing with sport communication. You can access that issue at this link.

Bear down, and have a great weekend.

The Sounds of Silence

2010-10-11T13:39:00.007-05:00

During the Georgia-Tennessee football game Saturday, the sound from the announcers' microphones went out for a significant length of time in the second half. You could still hear the field audio--cheering crowds, players calling signals, coaches yelling--but that's all. The problem was eventually fixed and the game ended with no other technical problems.

Listening to a game with just field audio and no announcers reminded me of NBC's bold experiment in 1980, when the network televised the Jets-Dolphins NFL game with no announcers at all. An entire game with no commentary, or as legendary sports writer Red Smith wrote at the time, "no banalities, no pseudo-expert profundities phrased in coachly patois, no giggles, no inside jokes, no second-guessing, no numbing prattle."

In some ways, the experiment was in response to Monday Night Football's Howard Cosell, who at the time was one of the most recognizable, and disliked, football announcers on television. NBC's Don Ohlmeyer was the one who made the decision:

Ohlmeyer was right, and the experiment did not really work. There was no ensuing outcry to get rid of announcers, and the idea was not repeated (although the NFL Network did experiment with it for a preseason game in 2004). But given the growth in new technologies and channels, it's somewhat surprising that an announcer-less channel isn't an option for say, the NFL Sunday Ticket package or NCAA football.

And think of the cost savings not having to pay announcers ...

New Comm Sport Website

2010-10-08T10:06:00.004-05:00

In previous posts I have mentioned the Summit on Sport Communication, which this past spring convened for the fourth time. Attendance at the Summit has increased significantly since the first meeting at Arizona State in 2002, and this year's event in Cleveland had a record number of attendees and research papers.

To help organize the growth a website has been created. Feel free to check it out and make your comments--it's another positive step forward for sports scholarship and sports scholars.

The Fifth Summit on Sport Communication will take place in the spring of 2012 at Bradley University.

CFP and Online Chat

2010-10-06T07:23:00.002-05:00

A couple of things to pass along this morning, so mark your calendars ...

1. Sports Journalism Chat on Bloggers, Credentialing

The Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State will host an online chat on October 18 at 1pm. Although many major news organizations have found homes on the Internet, some reporters who cover sports online still struggle to get access to the events they write about. Those competing responsibilities, differing outlooks and resulting decisions about who can and cannot officially cover events will be addressed at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 18, during the first online chat conducted by the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism.

"Who Should be in the Press Box and Why? Issues in Credentialing Bloggers and Journalists" is free and may be accessed online.

Participants include:
-- Michael Signora, vice president of football communications for the NFL
-- Jerry Micco, sports editor of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette
-- Cheryl Coward of Hoopfeed.com
-- Malcolm Moran, Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society/Director of the Curley Center

2. Call for Papers: Illuminare: A Student Journal in Recreation, Parks and Leisure Studies

Illuminare is requesting submissions for the 2010-2011 publication. Possible topics include:

Recreation Sport Administration
Parks and Recreation Management
Outdoor Recreation
Therapeutic Recreation
Tourism Management.

Deadline is December 6. All manuscripts should be submitted electronically to illumin@indiana.edu with the subject heading "Illuminare Manuscript: (Topic Area).

There is more information available on the call and submission guidelines. For further information, contact Josh Pate at the University of Tennessee: joshpate@utk.edu

Click, Click

2010-10-04T08:48:00.008-05:00

A huge break for the Ryder Cup getting rain delayed this weekend. That allowed for the event to finish on Monday and not get lost among all the NFL games. Yes, that put the final day of play on the USA Network rather than NBC, but NBC's all-day coverage on Saturday was almost totally eclipsed by college football. It figures that today's thrilling finish still probably garnered more audience on USA than it would have Sunday on NBC when most people were watching the NFL.

The interest in the Ryder Cup has been much stronger in Europe, and the media's over-the-top coverage caused some predictable problems. On Saturday, a camera shutter clicked right during the middle of a Tiger Woods back swing. Of course, Tiger backed off, the photographer was duly chastised, and Woods finished his shot.

The media requirements of different sports are fascinating, and in some ways, archaic. Golfers and tennis players require absolute silence and if the media intrudes the players get a "do over." Yet, a guy trying to make the winning free throw in a basketball game usually can't hear himself think for all the noise. I can't imagine it's harder to sink a putt than hit a fastball, so why the difference?

In some ways, it goes back to the evolution of the sports. While football and baseball were often viewed as brutish, golf and tennis were considered "gentlemen's games," and each had a strict set of rules governing behavior, deportment and dress. While golf and tennis still have many of these requirements, the increase in money and media coverage make it hard to think of them as gentlemanly anymore.

It would be interesting to see how these PGA professionals, making millions of dollars thanks to TV money and marketing sponsorships, would fare having to make a putt with 20,000 people screaming in their ears.

But Can Einstein Shoot the Three?

2010-10-01T07:42:00.003-05:00

Of course, you know the basketball player in the picture. It's none other than the Knicks' Danilo Gallinari, a 22-year old from Italy who has averaged 12 points per game in his two NBA seasons. With Danilo behind them, the Knicks went 29-53 last season, finishing 32 games behind first-place Cleveland.

What you may have missed is that this week Gallinari released his autobiography. That's right ... 22-years old + 12 points per game + terrible team = autobiography.

OK, so it was released in Italy, where Gallinari is something of a celebrity and others have done it at even younger ages, including Miley Cyrus, but there's something not right here. There was a time when autobiographies (or memoirs) were written by people who had actually accomplished something. Consider also that Albert Einstein, George Washington and Mother Teresa never wrote one.

It's simply further evidence of the branding, marketing and sports celebrity culture we live in. Athletes are products, and they have to market themselves in such a way as to make their brand more profitable. Today, we don't watch athletes as much as we do international conglomerates. And as always, the credit (or blame) belongs to money and media. When athletes understand how to use one, they can reap the benefits of the other.

There's been a lot of discussion lately about the fate of the free media, which in many cases is in dire economic trouble, and many are predicting a future in which media companies will have to begin charging for online material that is now free. It's not too hard to envision a scenario in which athletes, now Tweeting and blogging for free, do the same thing.

Of Birdies ... and Tweets

2010-09-29T08:25:00.005-05:00

First, they couldn't ... now they can, but only just a little. It seems that the big story at this Ryder Cup is not the golf, but Twitter.

Captains Colin Montgomerie and Corey Pavin relaxed their total ban on Twitter during the competition, allowing players to tweet as long as it doesn't reveal anything from the team clubhouse. European golfer Ian Poulter was already out tweeting to his 1+ million followers about the course conditions after a practice round in Wales; the real competition begins on Friday.

Ah, yes ... the real competition. Isn't that why all these golfers are there? Yet, Twitter has threatened to become the main event--not just at the Ryder Cup, but in other venues as well. Who cares what happens in the actual game ... it's what the athletes think about it, right Charlie Villanueva?

It's fascinating now that the mediated sports experience is in many ways becoming more important than the experience itself. Athletes like Poulter are using Twitter to increase their fans base and visibility, which makes them more marketable ... which, connecting the dots, makes them more money. So does it make any difference anymore who actually wins?

Instead of golf, maybe there should be an 18-hole "tweet-off" where players compete against each other to see who can get the most followers for the week.

(Sports) Journalist Barbie

2010-09-27T10:09:00.005-05:00

It has not been a very good week for women in sports media, or television journalism as a whole. Mattel announced that the next evolution of career Barbie will now include TV Journalist Barbie, complete with pink power suit and high heels. To some, this development means nothing less than the end of journalism as we know it (with some help from CNN).

To those of us who watch the sports media, there are already plenty of TV Journalist Barbies out there. The lesson here? If you want to be taken seriously at work, dress the part ... including you, Barbie.

CFP: NASSH

2010-09-23T07:20:00.002-05:00

The North American Society for Sport History (NASSH) will hold its annual convention next May at the University of Texas in Austin. Abstracts for submitted papers or sessions are due December 1. For more information, you can contact Program Chair Catriona Parratt at catriona-parratt@uiowa.edu; there's also more information about the submission process here.

Also, a shout out to JSM editorial board member Michael Butterworth at Bowling Green (OH). Michael has just published a book, Baseball and Rhetorics of Purity: The National Pastime and American Identity during the War on Terror, published by the University of Alabama Press and now available on Amazon. Sounds like a good Christmas stocking stuffer ...

The Oxford Bolt

2010-09-20T07:28:00.003-05:00

Apropos of nothing really related to sports media, I wanted to pass along this web link to you:

http://oxfordbolt.blogspot.com/

It's a site created by our local high school, which is taking its first steps into broadcasting. The school has always had a pretty good newspaper, but this summer decided to get into multimedia. I've been working with the teacher of the class and the students for about a month, but what you're seeing on the site is all them--their shooting, editing and layout.

If you have any comments or suggestions to pass along, I'm sure they would love to hear them. You can contact the teacher at: marni.herrington@gmail.com

And my apologies for use of the word "apropos."

Both Sides of a Double Standard

2010-09-14T19:48:00.005-05:00

It is sportscasting's version of a Catch-22, and I'm not talking about a deep sideline pass.

The untenable position of female sportscasters was brought home during NFL opening weekend. Azteca TV reporter Ines Sainz was allegedly harassed while trying to cover practice and interview players with the New York Jets. In response to that, Redskins running back Clinton Portis told a sports radio station,"You put a woman and you give her a choice of 53 athletes, somebody got to be appealing to her. Somebody got to spark her interest, or she's gonna want somebody. I don't know what kind of woman won't, if you get to go and look at 53 men's packages." The NFL chastised Portis, who then apologized.

Here's the problem for Sainz and other would-be female sportscasters: you've got to be fairly attractive to get a job in the first place, which then unfairly exposes you to potential harassment.

Let's be honest--whether you think it's right or wrong, fair or unfair, the women covering sports on television have to be good-looking. The audience is dominated by men and that's what they want to see. Is it a double-standard? Certainly, but we're not talking about fairness here, we're talking reality. Google something like "hot female sportscaster" and see what you come up with. Some women even embrace the attention and use it in their career s. It's a little too early to tell about Sainz, but she hasn't been shy about using this situation to her advantage, and she wasn't exactly looking demure in her interview with Fox.

On the other side, you have female sportscasters who rightly who want, and deserve, to be known for their ability and professionalism. There's the Catch-22, and the women are caught right in the middle.

This in no way is to condone harassment in any form, and the female sportscasters who have suffered from it have every right to complain and fight back. But there's a long history of this kind of thing in the sports media and based on what happened this weekend it is apparently not going to go away any time soon.

How Not to Use the Sports Media

2010-09-08T19:27:00.005-05:00

What a great time to be a sports fan--college football underway, the NFL to start this weekend, baseball pennant races, the U.S. Open tennis reaching a climax, Ryder Cup golf coming up, racing still going, etc.

Seemingly lost in all this in the WNBA, which opens its championship round this Sunday at 3pm on ABC. That's right ... the WNBA is going toe-to-toe with the opening weekend of the NFL regular season. That shouldn't do much to help the WNBA's regular season cable ratings of 0.2 on ESPN2, which translates to about 263,000 viewers. By contrast, the NBA regular season drew 1.65 million or a 1.1 rating on ESPN.

The WNBA is doing everything it can to hold on in tough economic times. This year it signed new sponsorship deals and doubled the number of jersey sponsorships. (See the cool sponsored jerseys in the picture? Hint: they are not a reference to former NBA great Dave Bing).

The fundamental rule of the sports media, especially television, is "thou shalt not compete with the NFL if at all possible." Major league baseball knows that, having moved most of its playoff games out of direct competition with the NFL, and even the popular NCAA football doesn't try to compete. If the WNBA is truly going to make it, the league needs to adjust its schedule to 1) maximize television exposure and 2) avoid the NFL. What about a season that starts in January and ends with the playoffs in April? Yes, I realize that puts them in direct competition with NCAA and NBA basketball, but that's still better than the current summer-early fall schedule, which puts the regular season in July and August when people are at the beach, and the playoffs in September when everyone's attention turns to football. The NBA, which bankrolls the WNBA, doesn't want direct competition, but does it honestly think that a significant number of people would switch channels?

I'm not sure what the over/under is on Sunday's television ratings, but my guess is you'll need a microscope to find them.

Coming this Sunday to MPB

2010-09-02T16:44:00.005-05:00

I realize only a small part of our blog audience can get Mississippi Public Broadcasting, but if you happen to be one of the select few ...

My documentary "Rebel Rewind: Where are they Now?" will appear this Sunday at 12:30pm. It's a look at some former Ole Miss athletes and what they are doing today. The half-hour program focuses on five different athletes--Larry Grantham, Jake Gibbs, John Stroud, Ben Williams and Billy Ray Adams.

You may remember Grantham and Gibbs, but probably not someone like Billy Ray Adams. He was my favorite story and I've included that part of the program here:

Ole Miss alum and ESPN broadcaster Ron Franklin is the host, which alone makes the program worth watching. Mark those calendars ... Sunday, September 5 at 12:30 pm on Mississippi Public Television.

See No Evil

2010-09-01T12:06:00.003-05:00

When I was younger I had a subscription to a publication called Dallas Cowboys Weekly. (It still exists, just in a slightly different format). It was interesting (and the pictures of the cheerleaders were great), but I eventually stopped my subscription, because even as a teenager I realized the magazine was only giving me the "official" Cowboys party line.

The situation here at Ole Miss with Jeremiah Masoli reminds me a lot of the old Cowboys Weekly. You probably heard about the NCAA's decision to deny football eligibility for former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, who was trying to play this season at Ole Miss. It was big news nationally, and especially here in Mississippi.

What's interesting is that the University's official website has not a single mention of it, even on the page called "Newsdesk." The athletic department site does have press conference comments from athletic director Pete Boone, Masoli and coach Houston Nutt. However, there is nothing beyond that and you'll notice that no reporter questions were allowed to be asked.

Understand, this is not simply a rip on Ole Miss. All universities do the same thing during crisis situations--circle the wagons, limit access and say absolutely as little as possible. The fact that Ole Miss even made Nutt and Masoli available speaks in its favor.

But it also reminds us how limited "official" sources are. Ole Miss Sports is going to give you the party line, which generally means "all good news, all the time." That's why we have independent
media--so they can give us the full story, warts and all, even if that story is unpleasant. Yes, the media do go overboard at times in bringing us that story, but that's the price we have to pay to get at the truth.

And, sad to say, DCW apparently no longer has a cheerleader feature.

A Blogful of Headaches

2010-08-30T07:49:00.006-05:00

We have previously discussed the new realities for sports reporters regarding using new media technologies. I got a first-hand look at just one example on Saturday night.

While the Cowboys were playing the Texans in an NFL exhibition game, I decided to see how the bloggers at the Dallas Morning News were handling the game. I was especially interested because the Cowboys were playing poorly, which is usually cause for complete panic among Dallas fans, even in a preseason game. As I read through the blog, two things jumped out--

--The sheer volume of people taking part in the conversation. It was a vivid demonstration of how sports reporting truly has become two-way and interactive; people want to have their voices heard. In fact, so many people were involved that the DMN staff simply couldn't keep up. A sampling of their responses:

8:56 pm SportsDayDFW.com:
I hope you guys can be a little patient. The number of comments is making it almost impossible to keep up.

9:35 pm SportsDayDFW.com:
Almost 1,300 in the chat tonight when last I checked.

--Interacting with fans sounds like a great idea, but it can drive sports writers to distraction. Reporters have a myriad of things to do covering a story, so their stress level is already high. Answering blog questions, especially the same ones over and over, can put them over the edge. Look at some of the responses of writer Todd Archer; he's trying to be as nice as possible, but you can almost sense that the people writing in are driving him nuts:

7:31 pm Todd Archer
Really, we're going with the 'no fire' stuff on Aug. 28? Really? Geesh. Not saying you shouldn't be upset with what's going on, but just have some perspective.

7:33 pm Todd Archer
PA Cowboys fan--you must not be able to read. I just wrote that they've allowed two sacks, had three negative plays. Try again.

8:27 pm Todd Archer
Why do we put up with some of the posts we do?

After listening to the panelists at the AEJMC convention in Denver, I made the comment that I don't think I could do what today's sports reporters have to do. Based on what I read Saturday, I'm more convinced of that than ever.

BEA Deadline

2010-08-28T08:59:00.017-05:00

A little longer post this time than usual, because I couldn't get Google Docs to work correctly ...

Be aware that the BEA Sports Division has moved up its paper and program submission deadline from December to September. If you're interested in submitting for the April 2011 BEA convention in Las Vegas, the information for both calls appears below.
-------------------

56th Annual Convention & Exhibition
9th Annual Festival of Media Arts
Call for PAPERS

Submission Deadline: September 15, 2010

Note: The program and paper submission deadline date is the now same.

The Broadcast Education Association invites scholarly papers from academics, students and professionals for presentation at the 56th annual convention, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The BEA2011 convention spotlight is BEA:HD. HD has become a metaphor for the rapidly changing media landscape. The HD paradigm encourages critical examination of all aspects of media education—technology, content, research, pedagogy. HD offers multiple interpretations—from high definition to hyper-dynamic—and we encourage BEA members to creatively interpret BEA:HD.

BEA:HD serves as a focus for the convention, but papers are not limited to this area of research and discussion. All sessions must adhere to the goals and objectives of the interest division(s) to which they are submitted. Descriptions of each Interest Division are listed on the online paper submission site. Each division selects up to six papers - four for presentation and two as alternates – for presentation at the convention. In addition, a few papers may be selected by divisions for consideration in the Scholar-to-Scholar (poster) session.

Once again, through an online system by All Academic, Inc., BEA members can upload papers online for the 2011 paper competitions. In addition, reviewers will be able to go online and blindly judge the entries. Papers can be submitted to the BEA 2011 competition site . Papers are submitted directly to the relevant divisions as either “Debut” or “Open”papers. The Debut category is open only to those who have never presented a paper at the BEA2011 convention. First and second place winners in Debut categories receive $200 and $100 to help defray their costs of attending the convention. If you have previously presented a paper at a BEA convention, your submission category is “Open”.

Papers must be submitted through All Academic, Inc. by midnight EST on September 15, 2010.
-----------------------------
Call for PROGRAM PROPOSALS
Submission Deadline: September 15, 2010

Note: The program and paper submission deadline date is the now same.

The Broadcast Education Association invites program proposals from academics, students and professionals for presentation at the 56th annual convention, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The BEA 2011 convention spotlight is BEA:HD. HD has become a metaphor for the rapidly changing media landscape. The HD paradigm encourages critical examination of all aspects of media education—technology, content, research, pedagogy. HD offers multiple interpretations—from high definition to hyper-dynamic—and we encourage BEA members to creatively interpret BEA:HD.

BEA:HD serves as a focus for the convention, but program/panel proposals are not limited to this area of research and discussion. All sessions must adhere to the goals and objectives of the interest division(s) to which they are submitted. Descriptions of each Interest Division are listed on the online paper submission site. Click here to submit your proposal online.

Programs must be submitted by midnight EST on September 15, 2010.

Program Submission Process:

* New account: All users will need to create an account to start the submission process.
* Submit a program: Click on the link for “Submit or a Paper or Program Proposal.”
* Select a Division: Read the division descriptions and select the primary division to which you will submit your program. Programs can have up to one (1) interest division co-sponsor.
* Title/Abstract/Program Information: Follow the guidelines to submit the title & abstract and additional program information.
* Review your information and submit: Don’t forget to review your information. If accepted, this is how it will appear in the program.
* Editing Abilities: You will be able to edit and or re-submit the description and panelists until the system closes at midnight EST on September 15th.

Program Session Types

Program proposals of the following types will be accepted from individual members:

• Invited panel/paper sessions: These are the standard convention format sessions with a moderator, 3-5 presenters and, if possible, a respondent (and sponsored by Interest Divisions).
• Invited plenary sessions: These panel or speaker sessions should be of broad interest to all convention attendees and would be scheduled in stand alone times. Of particular interest are
plenary sessions related to the broad topic of ethics and how it cuts across various strands of
broadcast education, technology, production, news, and other relevant areas.
• Showcases: These sessions highlight student work in which faculty have been involved. Showcases are to be more "show" than "tell" and require preparation of audio-visual material before coming to convention. (These sessions are sponsored by Interest Divisions.)
• Technical Demonstrations of hardware or software. An equipment or software manufacturer/ vendor brings in the latest communication technology to demonstrate. Often, faculty who have worked with the technology are included to talk about their experiences with the equipment/ software in the classroom or lab.
• Workshops involving intensive training and professional development.
• Other ideas? Contact us if you have other alternative innovative ideas for program sessions, such as off-site tours or technical training at BEAMemberServices@nab.org and we would be happy to talk about them.

Proposal Procedures

The Interest Divisions of the BEA significantly shape the convention program. Individuals submit program proposals online and they are able to be viewed by the indicated “sponsored” Interest Division leaders - or multiple Divisions leaders in the case of co-sponsored proposals. Division leaders evaluate and rank the proposals and forward the evaluations to the 2011 Convention Program Chair, Michael Bruce. Michael Bruce can be contacted at michael@bea2011.org.

Every effort will be made to give each division several invited panel sessions, a competitive paper session and a division meeting. All program slots are competitive so if information is not provided in a complete and timely manner, those program slots may be assigned to other session proposals. Priority will be given to proposals forwarded by the Interest Divisions especially those panels sponsored by more that one Division.

**IMPORTANT** Note for Co-Sponsored Panels

Co-sponsored proposals are encouraged. Co-sponsorship occurs when more than one division recommends a specific panel for inclusion in the program. No more than two (2) Interest Divisions
will be listed for co-sponsorship on a particular session. Panel producers must indicate each division being proposed as a co-sponsor on the “Review your submission information” page. Go to the bottom of the page and click on the green link that says “Add a Co-Sponsor.” Panel proposals with multiple interest divisions indicated for sponsorship will be made available to each division for consideration.

Panel Participants

In an effort to maximize opportunities for diverse participation, panel proposals should seek participants representing a mix of genders, ethnicity, institutional affiliations, and nationalities. Proposals should also seek to include participants new to BEA and the Convention. Professionals in the industry also are encouraged as participants. Please visit our “Panelist Seeking Panels” and “Panels Seeking Panelists” sites to help populate your panels.

It is BEA policy that a person is limited in the number of appearances he/she may make during the convention.

1. An individual may have only one appearance as a panelist during the convention.
2. A person may have one additional appearance as a panel moderator or respondent.
3. A person may have unlimited appearances as a presenter of competitive papers, productions
or other competitive sessions.

Take note that all rooms will ONLY have projectors and screens and will NOT have monitors and DVD and/or VHS players. If you plan to play a DVD, please bring your laptop. Right now, we will have limited internet availability. We will keep you posted as/if this changes.

Division Chairs are to evaluate the eligibility of the participants in those proposals submitted to that division. The Program Chair shall determine participant eligibility across divisions once the proposals are submitted.

COMPLETED Program Proposal Submissions must be submitted online by midnight September 15, 20