Need help please planning my class

Show them how difficult it is to write a story when they are stiff-armed by a coach.

Those inches need filled by hook or by crook.

I would suggest trying have them write a game story on their own with shitty quotes and with good quotes, but that lesson could blow up because you would assume that they know how to write a gamer.

I dunno. Just show them how much easier a writers job can be with a good coach.

Just be sure to show how much accessibility is too much.

 

As for your guest speakers, I presume you'll take the opportunity to have them show your students that a beat writer is not a columnist is not a radio talk-show host. Too many people on my side of the pressbox door -- fans and players alike -- seem to have trouble understanding the difference.

And I'm making my own list of the books mentioned here. Thanks for asking the question.

 

Include the basics of newspapering 101. The person who writes the story isn't who picks the picture or who writes the caption or who writes the headline.

Let them know that a professional relationship with their media contacts can lead to things going a lot smoother than an adversarial one.

 

You should show them the Mike Gundy rant and say, "Um, don't do that. Class dismissed."

EDIT: Seriously, you could do a breakdown of some of the more famous rants in sports, and particularly highlight how thanks to YouTube, everyone is going to know when you've gone off your rocker, and it's going to follow you to your grave, if it doesn't cause your career to go there first. For that matter, you could show them the Hillary Clinton clip from Sioux Falls as a reminder that even if you're only in a room with the Podunk Times, you have to treat every encounter as if you have the potential to become the next Lee Elia.

 

i agree with bob cook. it's stunning that so many people still don't grasp that everything they say or do can, and probably will be, filmed and/or distributed around the globe eventually.

even the interview the coach graciously offers to johnny junior high school kid's blog for a class project is subject to being picked up by ESPN, AP et al.

the message isn't not to do these interviews, but to be cognizant of the ramifications.

 

As I've noted here, before, Sports Page has been reprinted, and readily available on Amazon, if memory serves.

PSAV is out of print. You can scoop up multiple used copies on Amazon, but it's a slog.

 

I'm not sure there's a link to an online version, Moddy. I believe it's from the April '97 edition of GQ if that helps. If not, it's collected here:

http://www.amazon.com/Sports-Guy-Corkball-Warroad-Hooters/dp/0306810050

 

I'll echo IJAG's suggestion of guest speakers. My alma mater is a small college in a major metropolitan area and one of the great things about studying journalism there was that we had pros as guest speakers on a regular basis. We also had them as instructors, but that's a different discussion.

Talk to VCU's beat guy and see if he'd be willing to do one day. If you have a TV or radio guy in town who is worth a shit bring him/her in as well. Even the guy who runs the VCU fan site might be worth while if he's a pro. They might as well learn about dealing with the "new" media.

 

There's a book called "The View From Here" which is a collection of Canadian sportswriting edited/selected by Globe and Mail reporter Stephen Brunt.

Obviously, I'm not sure about availability there, but his forward is a great account of what we do and why and there are a lot of good reads in the collection.

 

I know it's on the Van McKenzie thread that was brought back up the other day.