The new website for the OnSports journalism blog.

A new year and a new website.

OnSports, which has been a blog for three years, is now moving to a website in preparation for the publication of the ‘Field Guide To Covering Sports.’

This site will continue to house archives, but, starting next week, all future posts will be at www.sportsfieldguide.com. For now, you can access new posts (including one on college media bowl coverage) at www.sportsfieldguide.com/sports.

Hope you enjoy the new look and new features.

Tiger Woods

Seems like a lot of people are angered by how Tiger Woods has been treated in the media during the past month. Woods’ affairs have certainly been reported rather heavily. But I do not share Albom’s fears about sports reporting.

Unlike Albom, I do not believe this coverage is going to send sports journalism spiraling. We are not going to see stories about cheating offensive linemen, point guards and second basemen plastered across sports pages.

Why? Because they are not Tiger Woods.

So why is it okay to report on Woods’ affair?

Woods does make most of his money from public endorsements of products, thanks largely (of course) to the fact he plays golf like no one since Jack Nicklaus. He actively seeks the spotlight, making him a public figure. Like any other public figure, Woods’ personal affairs are going to get reported. (Although Woods was able to persuade the National Enquirer not to publish a story on his infidelities in 2007, according to the Wall Street Journal. Now that’s power.)

Back to Albom’s premise: That journalists will spend more time looking for juicy tidbits on athletes, much like the paparazzi does with Jennifer and Brad and Angelina. In some ways, he’s right.

Sex sells. Gossip sells. Bad behavior sells. The TMZ approach of capturing your worst moments and splashing them around the world will be a hard thing for more conservative news outlets to ignore. It’s a giant sucking force, a steamy, melting pot of celebrity where being the major league home run leader is the same as being a “real housewife” of Atlanta.

On the other hand, Albom goes nostalgic, saying old-time journalism is preferential:

Once upon a time, we looked away from the other stuff. Now we never stop staring, following, snapping and gossiping. Maybe the old method wasn’t telling the whole story. But at least we weren’t manufacturing it.

But the good old days were not always so good.

In the 1920s, during the alleged ‘Golden Age of Sports,’ sports writers like Grantland Rice and Fred Lieb sought to create heroes for a variety of reasons. Mostly, though, creating larger-than-life characters sold newspapers. So they did not report on Babe Ruth’s indiscretions.

Yet, the media did heavily report on Jack Johnson, the world’s first black heavyweight boxing champion a few decades before that. Why? Because, in 1909, you could sell an awful lot of newspapers by writing about a black man romping through houses of ‘ill repute’ and then keeping a white woman as a ‘companion.’ Babe Didrikson, arguably the greatest female athlete of all time, was also treated poorly for having the audacity to be a lesbian. She was used as a bogeyman by mothers who warned their tomboys: Play sports and you’ll be a masculine same-sex lover like Didrikson. “It would be much better if she and her ilk stayed at home, got themselves prettied up and waited for the phone to ring,” Joe Williams wrote in the New York World-Telegram.

Conflict sells – books, plays, movies, TV shows, sports events, short stories, newspapers and blogs. Conflict is at the heart of storytelling. So how could the media not write a story when the world’s most prominent, most successful athlete cheats on his wife? With, perhaps, a dozen or more women!

Albom wonders: where does this gossipfest end? With TMZ launching a sports website? That’s a start. Unlike Albom, I am not bothered by paparazzi coverage – mostly because I usually don’t read it. I really don’t care whether an actor is cheating on his wife, or whether a ‘personality’ is tramping around with several guys. I also won’t care if TMZ starts reporting on indiscretions by a middle infielder in Seattle or Pittsburgh. That’s not really where my sports tastes go. I’m pretty dull, like many sports fans who prefer to read a story dissecting the ‘Wildcat’ offense that’s now growing more popular in the NFL, or a story analyzing how stats like on base plus slugging (OPS) are growing more valuable to baseball general managers. Or even give me stories where athletes face difficult challenges.

Most sports journalism is going to revolve around game coverage – precedes, game stories, glogs and folos – and not on gossip. Instead, sports journalists are going to analyze performance, point out trends, describe key plays, offer quotes from those involve, and offer commentary.

I’m not bothered that some publications and websites may spend far more time checking into the personal lives of those who play these games because, as a reader, I can select those things I want to read and discard those I choose not to read. You know, the whole marketplace of ideas thing, where “the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out. That at any rate is the theory of our Constitution.” Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote that in 1919. This still rings true.

Arguing against public tastes is like screaming into the wind. Nobody really hears you and the wind doesn’t care.

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More than 70 sports reporters, bloggers, and editors, along with 20 coaches, contributed to the Field Guide.

Here’s the cover to the Field Guide To Covering Sports, a sports reporting book that will be published by CQ Press the first week in February. More than 70 sports journalists and 20 coaches contributed to the Field Guide. This book focuses on ways to prepare, observe, interview and write about 20 different sports – everything from auto racing to field hockey to rowing to wrestling. Besides these chapters, the book also offers chapters on writing game stories, writing sports features, covering high school sports, writing blogs, interviewing, and covering fantasy sports, among others.  Will Leitch wrote the foreward. I’ll post a Table of Contents in the next few weeks as the final pages are sent my way.

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The Crimson White produced a terrific publication previewing today's SEC title game.

So what are college newspapers saying about three big games set for kickoff today?

Florida vs. Alabama

The Independent Alligator offers a story that is filled mostly with overview and background. The ‘Gator also includes several columns along with a podcast where football writers preview the SEC Championship game. Decent content. But nothing spectacular for a game promoted as ‘the game of the millennium’ on the podcast. Columnist Mike McCall says he’s pulling for several teams (Texas Christian, Boise State and Cincinnati) to win so there will be added pressure on college football officials to create a playoff system. Good luck convincing those greedy, self-serving league officials to change the system, Mike, but keep trying.

The Crimson White produced a terrific GameDay magazine for today’s SEC championship game that can be viewed in full screen online. In addition, the Crimson White has comments from Friday’s press conference in Atlanta, along with a story outlining key news on the Gators. Plus, columnist Spenser White argues that ‘Bama needs this game to assert itself as the SEC’s top program. But a victory today won’t change that Florida has won two national titles in three years – and has beaten Alabama in four of six SEC title games. A victory today, really, will only validate the SEC as the toughest conference, where the top programs continually beat one another.

Texas vs. Nebraska

You can get matchups, a story on two Longhorns receivers who have emerged as potent targets, a history of Big 12 championship upsets, a Heisman watch, and an admission by a sportswriter that he used to ‘hate’ Colt McCoy in the Daily Texan. The newspaper offers several more items for another informative Double Coverage issue.

The Daily Nebraskan does a mediocre job previewing today’s title game, publishing a column that serves as an analysis piece – and little else. The newspaper offers a story that is not updated (and, apparently, not edited, because the following note was left in the copy from Thursday afternoon.)

“Oregon/Oregon State….DON’T CHANGE COPY DESK, we’ll change this once we know who wins this game tonight) will play Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.”

And the Big Red Blog, ostensibly ‘the place for all things Husker football,’ has not been updated since Nov. 27. Looks like it serves primarily as a place for live-game blogging. The newspaper does offer a story on the team’s evolving offensive line that now helps plow ahead for 150-plus rushing yards a game, a feature published a few days ago. Couldn’t tell the Cornhuskers were playing for a spot in a BCS bowl, though. Looks more like coverage one would see before a game against Florida Atlantic.

Cincinnati vs. Pittsburgh

Thousands of Pitt fans plan to rush the field if the Panthers defeat Cincy in today’s unofficial Big East championship game, according to the Pitt News. (Thanks Facebook groups.) The winner of today’s regular-season game earns a BCS berth, but the News spent little effort previewing the game. No match-ups nor features nor in-depth analysis. Instead, the newspaper offers a bowl overview and a story on the offensive line to go with the traditional overview story.

The News Record does not produce much coverage either, offering an analysis story on the front page. Beyond that, the News Record ran another general preview story on Wednesday. But there are no match-ups, analysis or features on the opposing team, nor pre-game assessments, comments or updates. To make matters worse, the Bearcats blog has not been updated since Oct. 13, when the writer focused on the Baltimore Ravens. If your newspaper is going to produce a sports blog, cover your university teams. That’s your beat. Leave the NFL to the national media. And update the blog regularly, or readers won’t return.

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Check out the multimedia package 'The Girl' at latimes.com.

I’ve written about this terrific story by the Los Angeles Times’ Kurt Streeter before. But I’ve never really talked about the multimedia package that accompanied the piece. Streeter tells the story behind this story of a young female boxer, narrating as a slide show reveals the girl and her father in East Los Angeles. In addition, you can watch interviews with Seniesa and Joe Estrada. As a result, readers can literally see and hear more about a story already told so well in print. This is a great model to use for your own reporting.

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Sally Jenkins, Washington Post columnist

Tiger Woods’ statement about last weekend’s auto accident yields more questions than answers.  The ever-reclusive Woods, though, refuses to speak with state police investigators.

Fortunately, Sally Jenkins, the Washington Post’s talented sports columnist, offers Tiger’s ‘side’ of a story that is growing more bizarre by the minute. (Somebody who knows public relations, please, please speak to Tiger before he completely destroys his public image.)

In the column, ostensibly written by Tiger, Jenkins is able to mock Woods, sports fans, and society all at the same time.

Nevertheless, I understand the relentless curiosity about me, given my sacrosanct greatness and all I do for the good of humanity, and so I have decided to release a statement, on the advice of my agent, media consultant, personal blogger, sponsor liaison and attorneys. But rather than give this statement to the authorities, who somehow think they have real authority over me, I have decided to post it on my Web site, where the little men with badges can also find news, biographical info, statistics, audio and video clips, photos, and signature merchandise such as $75 drop needle polo shirts and washable wool sweater vests, as well as framed art, naturally of me.

Posting this statement is a grand concession, given my unique status, which let’s face it amounts to almost a kind of separate state power. That’s how different I am from the common people. I am really more like Cuba. Or the Vatican.

Like any journalist, Jenkins also seeks the truth – but she does so by allowing Tiger to ‘talk.’

Among the questions I will not be addressing, when I next appear in public, after my face heals:

Make sure what never happens again?

Why would someone need to smash the two back windows of an SUV with a golf club to get me out of the front seat?

Jenkins elevates several serious issues related to sports, media, celebrity and society (like how someone is allowed to circumvent the law just because they can hit a golf ball fairly well) in a very, very funny piece. Check it out.

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Class blog created for Sports & Media course here at Eastern Illinois University.

I just completed a class blog that will be used for Sports and the Media, an upper-level class here at Eastern Illinois University. On the blog, I have included about eight to 10 Power Point presentations that students can review before, or after, these respective lectures.

In addition, I included links to assigned articles, although our library has a great eReserve system that allows students to click and read selected articles from reserved journals. I have yet to find the definitive sports media textbook – at least, one that covers subject areas I assign – so I have also placed several texts on regular reserve. Students can read an assigned chapter from these books for up to three hours.

I also included a PDF to my Spring 2010 class syllabus on the blog site, along with other student resources under ‘Class Info.’  You can read the rest for yourself, of course.

If you create a class blog for a sports-related course, let me know so I can check it out. In the meantime, use the sports media blog to your heart’s content. Hope it helps.

I’ll add information on my sports reporting course sometime during the next two weeks.

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According to MLB: “Applicants should submit a resume, 5 to 10 published articles, a list of references and a 750-word essay on why MLB.com should select you? Your clips ideally will show a variety of work, including game stories, previews and features.”

Good luck.

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Even assistant coaches get paid more than head coaches at the biggest football schools. At Alabama, assistants are paid up to $390,00 per season. Assistants at Arkansas ($378,238), Clemson ($350,000), Florida State ($629,000). Louisiana State ($429,000), Maryland ($468,000), Oklahoma ($406,000), and Washington ($600,000) are also paid exceptionally well. But nobody beats Tennessee, where an assistant coach reportedly earns $1.2 million.

Check out this terrific data base created by USA Today. You might also want to develop one for your own school, outlining how much each head and assistant coach makes. (Compare these figures to the salaries paid to teachers and administrators and see where the story takes you.)

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