Dress for respect at practices (and no cheering in the press box)

As you head out to practices for interviews the first few weeks of class, please (please!) make sure you dress professionally. Yes, you may be a college student. And, yes, you may be running to practice right after class. But you can still dress professionally for your sports gig. Don't wear t-shirts that promote drinking or say 'I'm with stupid' and don't wear ripped, cruddy hats. (And never wear them backward.) Take some pride in your profession. Shorts are fine for practices, but try to wear a collared shirt. Coaches and sports information directors will take you more seriously for your efforts. I recently polled 79 sports information directors who said college journalists rarely act or dress professionally . Nearly 55 percent of SIDs said students never, or rarely, dress professionally for interviews or at games. Only 7.6 percent of students usually, or always dressed, appropriately, they claimed. Yet, countless college sportswriters complain they are not treated like the professional reporters. Act professionally if you expect to be treated with respect.

One more thing: No cheering in the press box. Yes, you may be assigned to cover your university, but you may not cheer, clap or high-five others. You are supposed to be an objective observer. If you want to cheer, go buy a ticket and sit in the stands.

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Check out syllabus for sports reporting

Anybody who has read this blog knows my respect and admiration for Steve Klein, a talented and inventive sports journalist and professor. Professors looking to develop a sports reporting class ought to check out the website for his classes at George Mason. I will post mine by the weekend as well, but here's the link to Steve's website for his sports reporting class.
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Create good sports reporting habits early

Sports journalists are returning to campus ahead of the rest of the student body in order to publish that first week's newspaper.

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Many college athletes have also returned to campus, preparing for lengthy seasons of soccer, cross country, football, and volleyball, among other sports. (And some teachers, like myself, are also gearing up for an exciting academic year.) That first issue can be a challenge. Here are some tips for preparing that first issue.

First, do something as simple as heading out to a practice. Introduce yourself to coaches, trainers, and managers and watch the players work out. Many times, the managers and trainers are your best sources. They are there for every pass, corner kick, and ankle sprain. You can get a lot of background from these folks, information that can lead to news stories and features. But also watch the practices. Don't write; just observe. Get accustomed to these practice sessions. Afterward, you can jot down a few thoughts and observations. Make sure the players see you at these practices so they know you are working as hard as they are, credibility that can lead to better working relationships and conversations. Attending practices is one of the most important things a sportswriter can do. Make this a habit. Not that you should blow off that afternoon calculus class. (Only kidding. I know sportswriters like myself can spell calculus much, much better than they can quantify derivatives and integrals.)

Make sure you also write a season preview story. This can be done the second week, but try to publish it before your conference schedule begins. You'll need to get some background information first, determining, for example, the top players who return to each team. You'll also want to determine which teams have the toughest schedules in and out of the conference. Check these websites frequently, if not daily. This is another habit that will yield great news and feature stories. You will also write much more informed game stories as well. One more thing � check if your conference schedules a weekly press conference by phone. If so, ask to be included so you can learn more about your sport and so you can ask questions for notebooks, features and game previews.

One more suggestion for preview stories � interview opposing coaches and players as much as you cite your own players in order to get a fuller, more balanced look at your team's chances this season. This also yields a much more impressive clip.

We'll talk about this some more later, but start blogging on your team's practices even if only to offer a short note or a few observations. This can be especially helpful at newspapers that do not publish daily (but dailies should do this as well.) And file these dispatches right after practice. Eventually, you should start posting game stories as soon as they are completed. A more developed version can be published in the print editions or updated after you interview players and coaches.

Finally, make sure you introduce yourself to your school's sports information directors, athletic directors and coaches � even if only to pop in their offices for a few minutes. Reporting is about developing relationships.

Also, check this blog for more information on reporting through the school year. Now that school is back in session, I will be posting at least two to three times a week. You can also contact me at jgisondi@gmail.com if you have questions or suggestions.

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Gonzo (sports) journalism

Hunter Thompson was more than a drug-inhaling, liquor-imbibing, self-aggrandizing radical journalist. A new book claims the man who put Gonzo into journalism, writing subjectively, profanely and sarcastically, was also a sports journalist. Not that Thompson made many deadlines, apparently. In Outlaw Journalist, UF journalism professor William McKeen reveals that Thompson loved sports, covering Super Bowls, heavyweight title fights, and marathons. CBS Sportsline�s Greg Hardy interviews McKeen about the man whom he calls �the world�s luckiest failure as a sportswriter."

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Student journalists offer 1 side

There are always at least two sides to any story � unless that story happens to be about sports on college campuses. Or so it appears based upon a recent survey of college sports journalists. (A few weeks ago, I surveyed 72 college sports journalists and college advisers, along with 79 sports information directors. The results will be published in College Media Review.)

More than half of those responding say they rarely or never interview players and coaches from opposing teams for any of the following stories � gamers, previews, profiles, and features. Just over 10 percent of all college sports journalists say they interview opposing players and coaches for these same stories. That's a shame. Sports journalists cannot be lazy reporters. Sportswriters already have a poor reputation as borderline journalists who write for the toys department or serve as PR hacks for teams even though some of the finest reporters can be found in the sports department. Unless a locker room is closed, there is no excuse for not grabbing a quick comment from the other locker room or dugout. And there is absolutely no reason for not calling opposing coaches and players for game previews, profiles and features. That's how readers � and sports reporters � gain perspective on their local, or campus, teams. As sports journalists, we need to work hard and report in much more depth.

This summer you may be out there covering Little League baseball or travel softball. Treat these sports the same as you would college and professional teams. Introduce yourself to the opposing coach and ask to speak to some of these other kids. You'll learn a lot about the game. And readers will be terribly impressed � as will the sports editors who may consider hiring you some day.
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Rugby is quietly building momentum

Robert Husseman, a sports copy editor for the Oregon Daily Emerald, writes that the

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University of Oregon could be the first major Division I program to adopt women's rugby as an NCAA sport. The club team recently petitioned Oregon's athletic department, asking for NCAA status. This does not guarantee the sport will be established on the Eugene campus; however, it does show that women's rugby is quietly building some momentum. The sport is currently on the NCAA's emerging sports list, which essentially means that the NCAA has given it 10 years to garner enough teams to offer a championship. So far, five universities play women's rugby � Eastern Illinois University, West Chester (Pa.) University, Bowdoin College, Southern Vermont College and Norwich University � which is far below the required 40 teams needed to earn championship status. But the NCAA would probably extend women's rugby an additional five or 10 years if momentum continues to build. According to Husseman, petitions have been circulated through 50-plus universities, including Colorado, Missouri and California. Robert did a fine job exploring a complex topic, and offering salient details, significant background, and solid reporting on Oregon's petition. Check it out.

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Has sports journalism really lost its game?

Sportswriting today is unimaginative, sentimental, superficial, and sensational.

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At least, those are some of the claims made by Utne's Michael Rowe in "How Sportswriting Lost Its Game."

Rowe ponders: Does sports journalism suck? Overall, he seems to believe that opinion suffocates analysis, that stats derail stories, that analysis is empty, and that profiles are vacuous. On the other hand, Rowe cites several exemplary stories as well, such as Chuck Klosterman's piece on the Boston Celtics' transformation -- a story that is self-aware and which invokes first person, approaches that are usually eschewed in journalism classes and news rooms.

Using 'I' is a no-no everywhere except in the blogosphere, or so it seems. (I know, I know. You're saying, 'Joe, that's an obvious statement.' But, like other bloggers, I had to find a way to insert myself into this post.) Actually, using 'I' in a news story may jolt some editors, prompting them to find a 'better way' to tell the story in a more traditional, third-person omniscient manner. Using 'I' may also elicit anger (or jealousy) among print journalists who hate the self-promotional approach used by ESPN's anchors, by sports talk radio 'personalities,' and even by cross-over print journalists like Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon (who remain excellent sports journalists). Like with anything else, though, 'I' can be used both expertly by seasoned writers like Klosterman, and poorly by younger reporters who have not read much. (And reading, really, is the key to good writing. Read Gary Smith. Gay Talese. John Feinstein. Frank DeFord. Sports Illustrated. And books like Seabiscuit, Red Rose Crew and In These Girls, Hope Is A Muscle.)

Rowe also notes some other excellent examples, like one the New York Times ran on sexual harassment at Jets games and another that is really a series of dispatches on the Sonics' pending move from Seattle. These eclectic pieces are compelling, even if they are sometimes crude, like the one where the author drops an F-bomb, a word that would be as welcome in a news room as 'I' or 'layoffs.'

Whenever LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony come to town, I am happy to see local folks wearing their jerseys. I respect other people's basketball passions, even if they are vaguely treasonous. But whenever Kobe Bryant comes to town, my stomach burns with hate. So last week when I walked into Key Arena and saw at least a thousand people wearing Kobe-fucking-Bryant jerseys, I almost vomited.

Yet, Sherman Alexie does not pivot on this single expletive; instead, he turns toward a sad, subtle point about empty moral victories. In another dispatch, Alexie connects the Sonics' pending departure to Oklahoma to other national problems -- unregulated hedge funds, socialism, and Marxism -- before concluding that he would love to play hoops with Karl Marx's ghost so they could "have a long talk about the soulless billionaires who love to reap where they've never sowed." In another piece, he remarkably finds a way to blend Emily Dickinson's poetry with hope.

Rowe, though, believes that good sports journalism is rare, calling these exemplary pieces "islands in a sea of dead, beaten horses." Are these pieces unique? Certainly. But that's true for anything -- certain stories, art work, or buildings are better than others. As Rowe indicates, sports journalism can be overly sentimental, especially in formulaic profiles whose narrative goes from youthful struggles to current success (or vice verse). Single or double-source profiles do suck. In addition, Rowe notes that sports sections include way to many notes and briefs, that stories rarely have an overarching point, and that blogs frame news as debate, arguing points instead of digging into stories.

But Rowe is a little too harsh. Sports journalism is not as dire as Rowe and Richard Ford state. There's a lot of good local sports journalism in community newspapers that chronicle kids playing in youth leagues, competing for their local high school, or about adults running in 10K races or shooting a 300 game in the local bowling league. Sure, some of these pieces can be reported better, but what do you tell the sports reporter who wrote eight or nine pieces that week? How is he going to find the time to hang out for several days with a player or coach? Not that this sportswriter shouldn't push to develop a series or shouldn't work on a large profile piece, stories that delve into a topic important to the local community. (And which will provide an impressive clip for potential future employers.) But sportswriters at weeklies and small dailies need to work these into a busy schedule filled with game stories and short profiles.

This is not to dismiss Rowe's points. Rowe is correct to ask for more sophisticated and contemplative narrative journalism.

I want sportswriting to offer evidence of athletic struggle, not celebrity, evidence that �professional� sports tells me something about the cruelty, appeal, and exhilaration of playing. Fans and sportswriters, spectators all, may try to get inside sport, but few of us are on the sidelines and even fewer are on the field. Readers have been left to digest fantasy fluff and their own obsessions. If it has become increasingly difficult to admire athletes and appreciate sports, we ought to realize that their potential for narrative, for story, made them newsworthy in the first place.

We do need more intelligent storytelling and reporting. Check out Rowe's piece for more on these points. It's a good read.

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