Need help please planning my class

[Moderator1]

I'll say it upfront - there's threads to goof around on and joke and jack and whatever. And threads not to do that stuff. This is one of them. Not trying to be an ass. I need some help and don't want to wade through a bunch of bull**** to get it. So thanks in advance for your help and your cooperation.

Rant done, let me 'splain.

My class this fall is The Media and You. My group of future coaches and administrators will learn a lot about what we (oops, you) do and how we (oops, you) do it. It will be three segments: The start (folks standing outside the newspaper in NY to get Series scores, **** Young going to get quotes), the new world order (this here Internet, talk radio, BLOGS!, etc.) and being the media (they will cover an event and turn in a story an hour after it ends, they will do a profile, they will offer up a column, etc.)

I want to use two books. One for fun, either Dan Jenkins' You Gotta Play Hurt or Woj's Pond Scum and Vultures. The other will be more educational - and there's where I need help. I don't want a how to be a sports writer book but what book best explains what we (oops, you) do?

Also, I want to hand out an "old" article at the beginning of class each week to show them that that era of writers had to take you there, be your eyes, since so little was on TV. Obviously Death of A Racehorse. Some Jim Murray. Something by Grantland Rice, Shirley Povich, the obvious choices. I figure they can read all the current people now. I want them exposed to some of the previous generation.

Who needs to be included that I wouldn't ordinarily think about, a lesser-known older era writer? If you have a link to an example all the better. Should I make Heinz' collection required reading?

Again, thanks in advance.

 

[Shark_Juumper]

My favorite book from my sports journalism class was No Cheering in the Press Box by Jerome Holtzman. Be sure to get the 1995 version.

 

[mustangj17]

Heywood Broun and Roger Angell should be included.

 

[hockeybeat]

What about Halberstam's new anthology, Everything They Had: Sports Writing From David Halberstam?

 

[Barsuk]

Christopher Walsh's "No Time Outs: What It's Really Like to Be a Sportswriter Today" is pretty good.

And Lewis Grizzard might be good required reading.

 

[Moderator1]

What about Halberstam's new anthology, Everything They Had: Sports Writing From David Halberstam?

I'll use 1-2 of his pieces but not his whole book. I'd prefer to stick to full-time sports writers but that may not work out.
Keep them coming and thanks again.

 

[93Devil]

500 level?

300 level?

100 level?

Do you meet three times, twice or once a week?

At the end of the course, the student will be able to...

Then for each time you meet,

At the end of the class, the student will be able to...

**** Moddy, is your wife helping you with the lesson plans? They will make your life so much easier.

 

[Moderator1]

Once a week - 500 level. Graduate course.
The student will be able to understand why those pesky ****ing reporters won't leave him or her alone and just what it is they want.

My wife teaches K-3. She doesn't know much about sports writing so I came to a place where some people do!

 

[Shark_Juumper]

Al Stump's Ty Cobb biography (the juicy one), if you really want to scare the kids.

 

[Clerk Typist]

For a col, Red Smith's on Bobby Thomson's pennant-winning homer. Superb. It's in one of his collections, "Red Smith on baseball."

 

[93Devil]

Once a week - 500 level. Graduate course.
The student will be able to understand why those pesky ****ing reporters won't leave him or her alone and just what it is they want.

My wife teaches K-3. She doesn't know much about sports writing so I came to a place where some people do!

But she can teach you how to organize your time in the class.

You have them for 2:40, right?

Nothing you do should last more than 25-30 minutes. Keep the class moving. Keep your students awake.

Give them scenarios. It's 10:30 and your paper's deadline is 11:15. What do you do? Who do you call first?

Give them one thing each class period that will get their asses fired. Give them real world advise.

What are the top things you want from a coach in high school?
1. Promptness.
2. Being prepared when they call you.
3. Giving you good quotes.
4. Making sure an idiot is not doing the book.
5. Call BEFORE you get home from a road game.
6. What if my AD is a moron?
7. How do I pub a good player?

For college coaches,
1. What should be in your media guide?
2. What is a good quote?
3. What do I do when my player beats the **** out of his mom or other emergencies?
4. What if my SID is an idiot?

Think of all the tools you would want a coach you covered have.

Think about the best coach you ever covered and worst, and then explain to the student why.

How do you talk to reporters? How do you teach your players to talk to reporters?

Do you want to be Charles Barkley or do you want to be Bill Belichick or Bill Parcells or Bob Knight?

I hate to say it, but the history of sports media might bore them to tears.

Play a game in a gym with a live book, and have a couple reporters come in to interview them about the game. Have them call the results in.

 

[Smash Williams]

Real Sports Reporting, edited by Abraham Aamidor. Publisher's ad here: http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=21851

It's cheaper here - http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/602-3895995-9976655?asin=0253216168&afid=yahoosspplp_bmvd&lnm=0253216168|Real_Sports_Reporting_:_Books&ref=tgt_adv_XSNG1060

I bought this book on a whim my senior year of college. Each section is written by a different journalist who specializes in the area the chapter is about. The front sections are about covering different beats (beats mentioned are football, hockey, soccer, basketball, auto racing, golf, Olympic sports, tennis, baseball and column writing) while the second half of the book is devoted to more encompassing issues.

I got a lot out of it, but it's fairly accessible to people who aren't in the business as well. I wish I'd had a class with it as a text in college.

 

[Moderator1]

Great stuff, thanks. We do a separate thing for high school coaches. Much of this I will use there.
As for the history *** you'd be amazed. I did a "mini" thing for four weeks a few years ago and they ate that up to the point where they were pissed when I switched gears.
Another thing I will do is "story or no?" I'll give them real scenarios that came up during my career, we'll discuss if it is or isn't a story and why and then I'll spill what we did. I've done that a time or two as well and it has been real popular.

Smash, you are the man. Thanks. Unless you are a woman but thanks anyway.

 

[MileHigh]

Gammons. In particular, Game 6 of the 1975 Series.

 

[Smash Williams]

No problem. I really enjoyed the book and still get things out of it when I re-read sections. The way it's sectioned makes it relatively easy to teach and read.

Plus it's cheap, especially for something that's technically a college textbook.

And just an idea - if you want to hand out older articles that are considered classics, how many of them are available in an anthology? I know SI has a very large anthology out there, and BASW of the Century would also have many of the classics. That might be easy to pull from, and if one of your students is really a fan of the writing, you can direct them to the books to get more. Or heck, make them optional books for the course.

 

[imjustagirl]

Two words, Moddy:

Guest. Speakers.

 

[pseudo]

Gammons. In particular, Game 6 of the 1975 Series.

Heck, yeah. In fact, that story's linked here somewhere -- the Edes thread from last year's playoffs, I think?
Yup, here it is: http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/48731/

For your "old" stories, why not pull stuff from "Best American Sports Writing of the Century" and SI's "Fifty Years of Great Writing"? Can't go wrong with anything out of either book.
(Edit: dammit, Smash. That'll teach me to answer the phone while typing a post.)

Oh, and how do I apply?

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Moddy, use Pond Scum and Vultures. I've loaned out my copy several times to friends who told me how cool my job had to be.

Should be required reading for anybody who wants to be a sports writer, as well as the people who have to deal with them.

 

[Birdscribe]

One key book on the history of sports writing is Stanley Woodward's "Sports Page" -- a chronicle of building a sports section by the guy who not only made Red Smith a household name, but was the linchpin between the Granny Rice slobberfest school and the **** Young's of the world.

I have an old copy, but I'm sure you could find one webside.

Murray's anthologies are always useful. I still correspond with his widow, Linda McCoy Murray, who sends me columns on behalf of his foundation.

 

[BrianGriffin]

Real Sports Reporting, edited by Abraham Aamidor. Publisher's ad here: http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=21851

It's cheaper here - http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/602-3895995-9976655?asin=0253216168&afid=yahoosspplp_bmvd&lnm=0253216168|Real_Sports_Reporting_:_Books&ref=tgt_adv_XSNG1060

I bought this book on a whim my senior year of college. Each section is written by a different journalist who specializes in the area the chapter is about. The front sections are about covering different beats (beats mentioned are football, hockey, soccer, basketball, auto racing, golf, Olympic sports, tennis, baseball and column writing) while the second half of the book is devoted to more encompassing issues.

I got a lot out of it, but it's fairly accessible to people who aren't in the business as well. I wish I'd had a class with it as a text in college.

Forget giving this to a coach... I WANT to read this. I'm going to head for BN right now...