Past The 'Keeper

Julie Ward was the assistant sports editor at USA Today from 1989-2007 and is a past president of an organization called A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

After

Women make up 51% of the American population, yet there are such an extremely low amount of women writers.

Why are there so few women in leadership positions?

There is a very small amount in the pool to begin with.

The day after the 2011 Super Bowl there were no women’s bylines in 22 pages of the USA Today newspaper!

A lot ofo women do not choose the sports writing profession because it is tough. If they do get into it, they will need to get out of it soon after.

• They carry a bigger burden. They must be the caregivers to their family.
• Hours are awful (work weekends, etc.)
• When men get into sports writing, there is a large amount of them who stay until the end until they move up to the highest position they can. Therefore, there is limited high positions for women.

There needs to be more diversity.

When she would go into a meeting at USA Today, the first question they would ask was, “How much diversity do we have on our staff?”

As her career continued, she would find that she was the only woman in the meeting and felt that she was only invited to the meeting to be the “token woman.”

Mary Garber, a legendary and credentialed sports writer in the 1950’s, was not allowed to be in the press box. Shocking.

There are probably more women covering the White House than men (or at least 50-50) and there may be more women covering the business side of reporting, but other than those there most likely isn’t anything else that women reporters are near the same amount as men.

Photo courtesy of Hoopedia

In Playing for Keeps, David Halberstam takes the first full measure of Michael Jordan‘s epic career, one of the great American stories of our time. A narrative of astonishing power and human drama, brimming with revealing anecdotes and penetrating insights, the book chronicles the forces in Jordan’s life that have shaped him into history’s greatest basketball player, and the larger forces that have converged to make him the most famous living human being in the world.

From The Breaks of the Game to Summer of ’49, David Halberstam has brought the perspective of a great historian, the inside knowledge of a dogged sportswriter, and the love of a fan to bear on some of the most mythic players and teams in the annals of American sport. With Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls he has given himself his greatest challenge, and produced his greatest triumph. The book is rich with Halberstam’s professional signature: incisive, carefully woven human portraits of the major figures. We see the various players and teams the Bulls must overcome on their long, hard journey to six world championships, including Larry Bird and the Celtics, Isiah Thomas and the Pistons, and Magic Johnson and the Lakers. We get a rare insider’s view of the dynamics between Jordan, the star, and the others who played critical roles in the championship seasons, including the shrewd, thoughtful Phil Jackson, the enigmatic Scottie Pippen, and the curiously shy Dennis Rodman. In addition, we see the bitter divisions between players and management on the Bulls, and the NBA’s interior pressures and conflicts as basketball grows during Jordan’s reign into a phenomenally successful big-time celebrity sport. This book is, as well, about fame in America, the forces that create it and its consequences. Among other things, we see how David Falk and Nike launched the campaign that sold Jordan to the world, abetted by a small Oregon ad agency, Wieden and Kennedy, and a struggling young Brooklyn filmmaker named Spike Lee.

The product of tireless on-the-ground reporting suffused with the wisdom and imagination of one of our greatest writers, Playing for Keeps is a book that, in defining Michael Jordan, also helps to define America in the Jordan Era.

Photo courtesy of Steve Klein

Tom O’Connor, the athletic director at GMU talked about what it takes to be involved with a division I athletics program and what he expects out of his student-athletes.

What should intercollegiate athletics be about?

• Quality and balance. Be the best, meaning not only on the playing field but also in the classroom.
• Sportsmanship — the core value of intercollegiate athletics.

Sportsmanship involves yelling at the refs, getting a technical foul, etc.

• Have fun. The athletics department is similar to the “toys and games department” at a retail store.

Why?

Because it’s fun. Everybody enjoys going into the toys and games department and O’Connor wants everybody to feel the same involving athletics.

He referenced sports as a “side door” rather than the “main door” of the university. He truly believes that learning in the classroom is the main door and the most important aspect of being in a university.

The memorable 2006 Final Four run helped bring visibility to GMU and brought indirect marketing to the university with around $1 billion in free marketing and advertisement.

At first the criticism and attention that GMU had was negative from the media and as they had success, it turned into positive attention.

The sports budget — which I was apparently confused about — is frozen, not cut. All the money that the athletics has comes from people who pay to watch and also from outside donations. The coaches salaries and scholarship money was not cut. It stayed the same. But rather than flying to Dallas to play a team, they will just go to Baltimore to play someone else instead. O’Connor wants to focus on getting the basic human needs fulfilled first and foremost before anything else.

These are:

• Clothing
• Shelter
• Food
• Good equipment to play with

For GMU to have a football team, the money would come from student fee’s rather than tuition. But at this point in time, O’Connor hasn’t received the necessary funding from alumni to begin a football program at Mason. And if it does, he wants it to be big-time.

Let’s not think small. Think big.

Tom O'Connor speaking at GMU (Photo courtesy of Steve Klein

When the jerseys are put on and the games begin, George Mason University student-athletes become performers — but their lives beyond the sport are very similar to the typical college student.

A university-wide phenomenon has the typical student believing that student-athletes are spoiled with benefits.

Though for the most part, the truth is quite the opposite.

“We hold our student-athletes to high standards,” said GMU’s assistant vice president and athletics director Tom O’Connor. “Many people don’t know this but on average, student-athletes at Mason have a higher overall GPA than our non-athletes on campus. They aren’t spoiled.”

O’Connor, who spoke at GMU Thursday, defended the notion that student-athletes receive more benefits in the classroom than the typical Mason student.

In addition to being held to similar high standards in the classroom, GMU student-athletes also use the same facilities on campus as every other student.

Student-athletes are most notably seen working out next to the typical Mason student at GMU’s gym facilities, including the RAC, the Aquatic and Fitness Center, and Skyline.

“I live in the Student Apartments, which is right by the RAC, and I love working out in that place,” said Chase Miller, a sophomore on Mason’s soccer team. “The facilities on campus are awesome and I have no problem running on the treadmill next to a non-athlete.”

In addition to sharing the same facilities, student-athletes go through the same housing registration process as every other student on campus.

“We don’t get benefits when it comes to housing,” said Dustin Butcher, a junior on the GMU soccer team. “We have our scheduled time that we have to register just like everyone else and if we don’t get it done, we are stuck with the same issues as them.”

That schedule caused problems this semester that every student was worrying about — including the student-athletes.

“There was a glitch in the system with the high amount of people registering at the same time,” Butcher said. “My roommates and I all had to wait and wonder if we would get the room we wanted, just like the other people on my floor who don’t play sports. And it turned out that we didn’t get it.”

While nearly all student-athletes and non-athletes had to deal with those same housing issues, the players on Mason’s basketball team didn’t have the same worries as the rest of their fellow students.

“I will admit that the basketball team gets some extra benefits that the typical student and student-athlete doesn’t receive,” said O’Connor. “And to be honest, it comes from a business and recruiting standpoint so we can bring better players into the program and get more revenue at games if we do well.”

Vince Papale’s football career ended in stardom but it was a long road that took him to that point in his life.

Actor Mark Wahlberg portrays Papale’s journey through the film Invincible. Based in Papale’s hometown of Philadelphia, Pa. he was working as a supply manager two days a week until budget cuts eliminated his job completely.

Nothing was going well for him.

His wife divorced him, believing Papale would never amount to anything in life, but when then-Philadelphia Eagles coach Dick Vermeil announces that he will hold an open tryout to spice things up for the team, Papale tries out — reluctantly.

With so much trouble in his life up to this point, most people would have give up and never taken the tryout seriously, but Papale didn’t just go — he went there to prove he could play with the big boys of the NFL.

Day after day, his teammates never gave him a chance, always trying their hardest to put him down, hurt him, and prove this 30-year old didn’t deserve a shot to play with them.

But Papale was used to this kind of treatment his whole life and it never stopped him from doing what he wanted to do — and doing it to his best ability.

A true die-hard fan, Papale was being covered by the local news station throughout his tryout and eventually shocks the world and actually makes the team.

The team had been so bad in recent years that a win was rare. But in just his second professional game, Papale recovers a fumbled football and runs it all the way back for a touchdown with his best friends in the stands watching and cheering him on.

This is a story that truly shows what passion, a love for the game, and commitment can get you. I could watch this movie over and over again, yet I will never stop getting chills down my spine.

A true never-give-up movie is a must-see not only for sports fans, but for anyone who has ever been told they couldn’t make it.

In case you haven’t seen or heard of the movie, here’s a trailer:

Jeff Zillgitt is the NBA beat reporter for USA Today.

There is a place for every young journalist, you just need to find out where that place is. You are churning out copies all the time so you don’t get much time with any one story.

You might not break every story, but you don’t want to miss any story. You must be aware of it all and keep track of the stories that are constantly coming out. There is no problem acknowledging another newspaper when they report something.

It’s always a good thing to call a coach so they get to know you and create a relationship. But even if you have  a relationship with them, you should be critical if the player isn’t doing well or positive if they are.

Write the truth.

It’s not easy to get info out to the public, especially when the person does not want that story to get out. And while it may make both of you uncomfortable, at the end of the day, it’s your job. You must do it and ask questions.

You should know how to get information. This is important not only in journalism but also in the world outside of it. Employers love people who can do this.

The best interviews are not only when he was firing questions away at the player or coach but when he was able to strike a conversation with them so each of you are comfortable.

Even if you are not an expert in a certain sport, it’s really important to know who to ask and be confident enough to ask them any and all questions to help you do your job well.

The nay-sayers have said that Lionel Messi doesn’t perform for Argentina the way he does for FC Barcelona.

He did more than quiet them in an international friendly match against the United States.

His Argentina side was rewarded with a goal in the 41st minute after Esteban Cambiasso finished a play set up by Messi after the “little lion” skillfully beat numerous defenders and played the ball across the goal mouth  for Cambiasso to put away.

And the way Messi squeezed through tight gaps in the American defense, weaved his way around multiple players, and roamed all over the field in the first half reminded everyone of the way he plays at Barcelona.

No one could deny that.

The second half, unfortunately, was  a different story.

The Argentinians looked like a different team, losing their sharpness and allowing the Americans to get comfortable playing and eventually — after a horrendous drop by Argentina’s goalkeeper — USA scored when New York Red Bulls‘ 18-year old Juan Agudelo tapped the ball past the fallen goalie to tie the score at 1-1.

Argentina was never able to get another goal and USA came away with a happy draw, but the Argentinians were left confused, wondering why the score wasn’t more like 5-0 instead of 1-1 in the end.

It’s been a rough week for the “Gooners.”

Tomorrow’s match won’t make things any easier.

Arsenal, hoping to make amends for their loss in the Champions League last week,  will need a victory as they play the Red Devils, a team with a bullseye on its back.

A win for Arsenal would be amazing following the week they’ve had.

Let’s recap:

1. They tied Sunderland, a mid-table team
2. They lost to FC Barcelona in the second leg of the Champions League, despite winning the first leg
3. Captain Cesc Fabregas is out with an injury
4. Their starting keeper is out six weeks with an injury

It’s safe to say things are looking bleak for second-place Arsenal.

But luckily for them, Man U has struggled in similar fashion.

Here’s their recap:

1. Rio Ferdinand is out with a calf injury
2. Anderson is out with a knee injury
3. Park Ji-sung is out with a hamstring injury
4. Antonio Valencia is out with an ankle injury
5. They’ve lost their last two games

Although both teams have injuries and seem to be struggling, it will definitely be quite a match up that shouldn’t be missed.

Check back after the game for the recap.

Washington Redskins blogger, Matt Terl, a University of Maryland graduate, began with freelance work, not having a known path to what he wanted to do as a creative writing major.

Creative writing major? That’s right.

So how did he end up as a blogger for DC’s pro football team? Let’s find out:

As a die-hard Redskins fan, he first made sure there was some sort of content every day on his blog — whether good or bad. It was important to keep a steady flow of content.

He reached out to DC sports “bogger” Dan Steinberg to get his name out and possibly get a job. His wish was granted when he got an interview and was given a job to blog!

The start to the path which made him the team blogger initially began when he was part of the Redskins PR department. But finally he got what he really wanted.

To be the embedded fan.

He knew what people want to see. They wanted “the nooks and crannies.” And he would give it to them.

Terl began the first day of training camp in 2008 and going from an unknown figure to a well-known figure was very difficult, especially from those who doubted his abilities.

The transition was rough. But the ownership and General Manager never had a problem with what he blogged.

So he continued. And still does to this day, without a single doubt from anyone above him.

He stays giving fresh, new updated content each day. After all this is, in Terl’s opinion, the most important concept to understand when looking to be a writer/blogger in the future.

Jon DeNunzio began writing sports at the University of Virginia writing women’s soccer and fell in love with it all.

He covered high school sports, some college games, and began editing sports articles and eventuall got a full-time gig at the Prince William Express.

It’s imporant to pay attention to the “landscape” and must know what’s going on with everything around you. When George Solomon hired him as a full-timer at the Post, Solomon asked DeNunzio what he was reading outside of sports and journalism (hmm. Sounds like something our class heard on Tuesday). You gotta be well-rounded. Plain and simple.

As the User Activity Editor at the Post now, his job is to focus on user interactions on the editorial side of things. These include live chats, polls, crowdsourcing, comments. Basically he finds out what people and followers want to know to get stories on those things instead of only what is on the editor’s agenda.

Real reporters go into the heart of the story. At the 1996 Olympics, there was a bomb and a reporter he knew went straight toward the bomb.

That’s a real reporter.

What has not changed in journalism since he began:

• Ask the hard questions
• Find a job that pays well and secure your spot in the journalism business
• You are competing for jobs
• You must want to be a journalist and love it
• Must work hard and work long hours and must enjoy it — if you are busy, it is because people are interested and want to read your stories
• Must pay attention to details because it can get confusing (McLean School in Potomac, MD and a Potomac School in McLean, VA)

Without credibility as a writer, you have nothing!

• Keep it simple. The reporting and the facts is the most important — not the adjectives.

Twitter can help with keeping your writing simple. You can’t make things “flowery” with just 140 characters.

What has changed in journalism:

• Information is much more at your fingertips now than ever before
• The audience is more empowered now
• Readers don’t trust journalists the way they used to.
• Everything you say is evaluated — embraced or ignored
• The pace of the news
• Conversation is in real time
• Big-time personalities aren’t as influential as they used to be

As a final reminder and thought as DeNunzio leaves, make sure to listen to your audience.

They are who you are writing for.