Sports Journalism

In case you missed it, here’s Mike Wallace‘s “60 Minutes” interview with Roger Clemens from Jan. 6. You can watch it in one clean take by going to the program website, or you can watch it in two parts here (click on video, then scroll down to find the 14-minute interview; c’mon, CBS, how about a direct link or an embed code?).

Also, here’s a fun take on Clemens’s denials that he ever used steroids.

ALSO:
— Alan Schwarz of the NYTimes: Clemens Faces Dangers of Spin in Steroid Case

Former MLB first baseman Rafael Palmeiro did everything he could to absolve himself of responsibility for his actions. He tested positive for anabolic steroids only two months after appearing in front of Congress and declaring he had never done steroids. He changed his story a bit after the test, saying he had never “knowingly” done steroids and that a B-12 injection given to him by teammate Miguel Tejada caused a positive test.

Roger Clemens has now told essentially the same story to Mike Wallace on “60 Minutes.” What did he say he used?

Lidocaine and [vitamin] B-12. It’s for my joints, and B-12 I still take today, Clemens told Wallace in the interview.

So, who do we believe? Clemens’ former trainer, Brian McNamee, had his story corroborated by Andy Pettitte, who admitted to using HGH.

As journalists, how do we cover people who could be caught in a lie without getting caught up in the situation ourselves?

Few situations have existed like the steroid story where journalists could have outed players for years, but never had the facts straight or the guts to do it. Buster Olney of ESPN.com, for one, has partially blamed himself and his colleagues for the lack of fortitude to cover the steroid issue better, earlier.

How do we cover the issue better so this doesn’t happen again? Did journalists get caught being fans first and professionals second with their coverage of the situation?

Dear George Mason University students,
As a former GMU student, I like to help create opportunities for fellow Patriots. Take note of this internship below and note that you will be working directly with me. This opportunity will only be given to those students who are self-motivated and are willing to work hard. See below.

Cross-Platform Internship: Northern Virginia Click

A local sports television show/broadcaster dedicated to local high school, college and youth sports in Northern Virginia is seeking college-level interns.
Students/volunteers will get an opportunity to get a hands-on experience with a weekly television broadcast and can also volunteer their time to help produce high school games on a weekly and bi-weekly basis.
Students will also get an opportunity to write for the web, making this a cross-platform opportunity.
Video-editing and personal equipment is not necessary, but will give candidates the advantage. Students will be placed in the company where their talents and interests apply.

This unpaid internship can be applied for college credit.

Please send resume and cover letter to Associate Producer B.J. Koubaroulis at bkoub@yahoo.com.

The talking heads on television sometimes forget how they got there.

In a rapidly changing world of sports media, where the written word has taken a back seat to the shouted one, many sportswriters have become so enchanted with their own likeness that they’ve forgotten one of the cardinal rules of journalism: No one cares about you.

Readers care about the athletes you cover, the thrilling games you’ve seen, the back-room arguments you’ve witnessed, the secrets you know. Readers depend on you to use your inch-count to dish about the athletes, not about yourself.

In my opinion, there has been just one man that has mastered the art of writing about himself and making people consistently care: Rick Reilly.
My point is that there are rare occasions when the reporter becomes the story — usually in a negative, scandal-based news report.

But in this story, A survivor’s story, Yahoo’s Bob Margolis tells a story that breaks the above-mentioned cardinal rule and for good reason. In this case, readers do care about Margolis, whose writing is basic, but powerful.

Here is a portion of his first-person story:

Several days after Johnson wrapped up his first title, I found myself in the office of Dr. Pat Toselli, the chief of surgery at St. Luke’s Hospital in Allentown, Pa., who, after examining me and looking at the test results, said, “This looks like it could be lymphoma.”

Lymphoma. Isn’t that cancer?

“Yes,” he said. “But, we’ll only know that for sure once I can remove the lump in your leg.”

Wait a minute. Cancer? Me? I’m never sick. I don’t even get colds. I’m a pretty healthy guy. Maybe a bit overweight. But, hey, most of us writers who travel the circuit are. It’s just a part of the deal when you travel as much as we do.

I don’t smoke. I take a handful of vitamins every day. Cancer? Are you sure?

The thought of having cancer took my breath away. Am I going to die?

My whole life began to change from the moment he said the word lymphoma.

My older sister had died three years earlier from lymphoma. All I could think about was seeing her lying in a hospital bed.

I didn’t want to die.

I was scared.

How do you tell your children you’re sick and, worse, it might be cancer? When I did, we all cried.

I kept telling them that everything would be alright, even though I knew it might not be.

The post below is from “The Daily Fix,” the Wall Street Journal’s sports blog written by Jason Fry and Carl Bialik. It’s a great place to look for some of the best daily writing about sports.
If you read the Washington Post’s Alan Goldenbach‘s item below this one, you’ll understand why he and I are sometimes cynical about our interest in organized sports. It’s hard to remain a fan when fans act as Dick Meyer describes. Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs frequently praises the hometown fans who attend the game. Obviously, he doesn’t sit in the stands:

At a recent Bears-Redskins game in Washington, D.C., CBS News.com’s Dick Meyer was horrified by the behavior of his fellow fan — obscenities, stripteases and aggression were the hallmarks. It will be the last pro football game he attends, Mr. Meyer writes in the Washington Post. “There simply was no code of conduct, no social superego, that discouraged this behavior, even around children,” Mr. Meyer writes. “Worse, some people were there precisely to get drunk, angry, loud and vile. The idea that fans would have manners or courtesy in any form seems archaic and silly. Americans have been worried for a decade about the social isolation known as ‘bowling alone.’ But if the social bonding generated by ‘watching together’ is like the atmosphere at the Bears-Redskins game, it’s understandable why many people prefer to watch alone.”

Sportswriters need to be able to separate themselves from being a fan. Is that something you can do?

Here’s a post from the Washington Post’s Alan Goldenbach, who will be our class guest sometime in February:

Fifteen days after The Mitchell Report surfaced and stripped Roger Clemens of his Cy Young Awards — at least in the courtroom of public opinion — the New York Yankee pitcher posted a carefully-worded video on the web site of his foundation: The Roger Clemens Foundation.

While the video seems incredibly convincing, it is unfortunate that we live in an era of denial that makes Clemens’ rebuttal an eerily familiar experience.

Pete Rose lied to us for more than a decade, then wrote books about it. Rafael Palmeiro wagged his finger at Congress and Barry Bonds might actually do prison time for lying to a grand jury.

As a journalist, what I take away from this video is that Clemens has now joined the long list of athletes that are using their own web sites to relay their message, further breaking down the relationships that athletes used to have with the media.

But it’s not just athletes. Politicians, public figures, Hollywood stars, etc. are using multimedia to get their message out.

But will this practice eventually cut out the media? While I think there is some merit to this practice, I also think it’s important to note that having an athlete’s message put into context within a factually based article, written by an objective observer, is often needed.

The media is often the middle man or the voice of reason between conflicting sides or opinions, i.e., Clemens vs. the Mitchell Report. Without the middle man providing objective context, it just becomes a “he said, she said.”

We’re going to talk about blogs, contribute to this blog, and try to better understand the legitimacy and impact of the 10-year-old online format throughout the semester.
Ironically, I first set up a blog about nine years ago without knowing it was a blog when my soon-to-be friend Craig Calonica reported by satellite phone for USAToday.com during his ascent of Mt. Everest in 1998.

Today, blogs provide timely, credible information that mainstream media is either unable or unwilling to provide. Hockey is a good example here in the Metro D.C. area. Although Tarik El Bashir does an admirable job in his limited (by his newspaper, the Washington Post) coverage of the Washington Capitals, there is plenty of coverage online, especially on some excellent blogs like Off Wing Opinion. Hockey is just one coverage example in which mainstream media has abdicated its once dominant leadership.
To better understand this trend, here’s what former AOL executive and Caps owner Ted Leonsis has to say on his terrific blog, Ted’s Take:

This fact of life is exactly why we have helped to jumpstart a blogosphere around our team; why we have developed a great website; and why we will talk and cooperate with every source of news out there. I believe that big city newspapers are a dying breed of media. We have to expand our coverage and also help the newspapers to connect with the new consumer. We will do our best but it isn’t for lack of trying. These are trying times for newspapers and we must find viable and alternative means to get all Caps information out there to whoever wants it in the format that they want.

The Washington Post has dedicated one writer to our beat, who does magnificent work, but he can’t work 24/7. When he takes a day off, there will be no ink or pixels dedicated to us.

I have received dozens of angry emails and blog post messages regarding the Washington Post and its lack of even a mention of the Caps vs. Red Wings game in Monday’s paper. The game was on national television and was being played against the best team in the NHL. I agree with you and your concerns. There isn’t much that we can do about it.

The Washington Post is pretty supportive of all sports teams in town but is struggling as a mainstream media property. Its ad sales are down; its circulation is down; its costs are up; and it is struggling with its business model. Based on present course and speed, the paper will soon be a money loser and by their own admission, the Post Company is really an educational software concern now. The paper is cutting resources and even newsprint and it believes — I think misguidedly — that it doesn’t need to cover the Washington Capitals as much as other news stories because our audience isn’t big enough to warrant the coverage. I find this ironic in that the New York Times is a sponsor of the Caps and is selling subscriptions to their paper at every Caps home game. They find our audience desirable because of their educational levels; their income levels; their familiarity with the web; and their passion for all things Caps-related.
Posted by Ted on December 18, 2007 11:14:00 AM

You may not take blogs any more seriously than sports talk radio, but Ted Leonsis does (he takes sports talk radio pretty seriously, too). What he doesn’t take seriously are dying industries like newspapers that continually abdicate their traditional role in our lives, then complain that nobody reads them.
As far as the Washington Post — my hometown newspaper — goes, it’s great if you like politics and the Washington Redskins. I like politics, but I have online sources of information that are just as interesting and informative and, yes, credible (for instance, the Politco and Mark Halperin‘s fine blog on Time.com, The Page).
You can’t avoid (but I can ignore) the Redskins, but if the Post thinks that extensive coverage of the Skins at the expense of other coverage is a working circulation strategy and revenue stream, well, I’m going to agree with Leonsis.

Here’s a column written by Norman Chad called “It’s Time To Turn Page On Report” from Monday’s Washington Post that really helps put the Mitchell Report into perspective.

“Its Time to Turn Page on Report”

At the end of the day, what does it matter if these guys did steroids?

Like most sportswriters, I’m often caught up in the purity of things, the honesty and virtue of what sports really teaches us about everyday life. It’s why I love high school sports — where those lessons are learned in every bounce-pass, strikeout and windsprint.

That baseball is no different than anything else.

This column helped me break out of my journalistic blinders and realize that baseball is just like everything else in life — its vulnerable to cheating and lying and stealing.
Just like everything else.

Sure they can swing a bat better, but are they better than us?

We were confused into thinking that just because Roger could hurl a 98-mile-per-hour uncle charley that he was actually a better guy than our drunken cleptomaniac uncle Charley.

We don’t want these guys to be ordinary because it lowers the ceiling of what ordinary can accomplish.

Those who want to insert asterisks and clauses into the record books are purists that aren’t willing to let these players be ordinary.

An asterisk is supposed to tell the difference between good and bad? Ordinary and extraordinary?

Tony Budny (not seen here due to the fact he doesn’t have a picture on his computer to share) is a television producer for Voice of America in Washington, D.C.
Tony graduated from George Mason University in May with a Communication degree. He has worked at WAYZ in Greencastle, Pa. as well as at The Herald-Mail newspaper in his hometown of Hagerstown, Md. He did, in fact, survive the Professor Klein experience. He would also do it again if he had the chance.

Voice of America is a government-run news organization that focuses on international journalism. VOA is a branch of the State Department. VOA broadcasts abroad to nations all around the world with both radio and television programs to reach a broad audience, including some very remote areas like central Africa with shortwave radio. Some areas are so remote that the only news they receive is from VOA. To some, VOA serves as a calling to better serve the public.

Budny focuses primarily on sports at VOA. He recently produced a piece on the Mitchell Report (although it has not been posted online yet) as well as a profile of Cal Ripken Jr. after his trip to China as Special Sports Envoy for the State Department.

Budny hopes to contribute to this blog as frequently as time allows and looks forward to reading all the great insights from Professor Klein’s students, former students and guest speakers. Budny hopes you enjoy his insights, as well.
Budny also has his own all-purpose blog. Feel free to read it, post comments and make suggestions. He just started it in October.

He’ll be sure to post a picture when he gets one.