Monthly Archives: August 2009
SMJ Live Event- ESPN Media Workshop
I am pleased to announce that this Thursday and Friday (August 27th & 28th) I will be joining other sports media columnists in Bristol, for the 2-day media workshop at ESPN.
The event is a look behind-the-scenes at the WWL in conjunction with the celebration of it’s 30th Anniversary on September 7th.
Here is a look at the workshop schedule:
| Thursday, Aug. 27 | |
| Time (ET) | Topics |
| 9:15 a.m. | Digital Media |
| 10:55 a.m. | ESPN’s 30th Anniversary |
| 12:30 p.m. | Lunch with ESPN President George Bodenheimer |
| 2 p.m. | Event Production (U.S. Open tennis, NASCAR, 2010 FIFA World Cup, etc.) |
| 3:30 p.m. | Campus Tour |
| 4:45 p.m. | ESPN International / Writing Time / One-on-One’s |
| 6 p.m. | ESPN Films “30 for 30” |
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| Friday, Aug. 28 | |
| 8:30 a.m. | Monday Night Football / NFL studio shows |
| 10 a.m. | ESPN Research |
| 11:15 p.m. | College Football / ESPNU |
| 12:15 p.m. | SportsCenter / Journalism |
I have been assured that I will be able to live blog and videotape some of the workshops.
I will not be live blogging the entire event as I am a one man show and I also want to videotape and interview as many participants as possible.
Tentatively I will begin blogging shortly after 9am Thursday morning. Check back here for updates on the live blogging schedule.
I will also rely on Twitter to provide updates on when to check-in with the live blog. Make sure you follow us for any updates. For those of you who want to chime in through Twitter, or for those who will also want to be at the event and are sharing your thoughts through Twitter, I propose we all use #espnworkshop as a hashtag for the event. Those at the workshop who are tweeting using that hashtag may have their content cross posted on our live blog.
Possible road blocks to our plans…
- The ESPN Wi-Fi is not reliable.
- If I am suddenly asked not to live blog by ESPN staff. I will respect their request and will tell you when I’ll return.
- I run into issues of laptop power drain…
- Any other factors I may run into.
Along with live blogging and video production I hope to provide periodic blog posts relating my experiences at the event.
I look forward to sharing with you what I learn about the ESPN operation. If you can join me for the live blog, please do so and chime in with your comments and questions.
Talk to you from Bristol tomorrow!
SMJ Interview- Ted Robinson, S.F. 49′ers Announcer
Here is next in our series of interviews with the radio play-by-play voices from across the NFL
Ted Robinson is beginning his first year as voice of the San Francisco 49′ers. Ted has a well established career, having been the voice of four Major League Baseball clubs and as well as covering a multitude of sports for multiple networks.
In our interview Ted talks about adapting to his new role with the 49′ers, the 2009 squad, and his favorite sports announcing memories.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Photo Courtesy TBS
What They’re Saying- August 21, 2009
The dog days of summer are winidng down. Let’s see what some of the nation’s sports media columnists are writing this week…
Michael Hiestand at USA Today tells us how the networks will benefit from the return of Brett Favre and Michael Vick.
Bob Raissman at the NY Daily News says the media should get over feeling slighted by the Favre saga…
Neil Best at Newsday reports on what’s next for former Giant Jason Sehorn…
Bob Raissman at the NY Post takes a local sports radio host to task for his poistive spin on the Oakland Raiders’ coaches scuffle earlier this week…
Justin Terranova at the Post talks Sox/Yanks with TBS’ Buck Martinez… The paper also has 5 questions for Jason Sehorn…
Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business News has some media entities listed as “winners and losers”…
David Barron at the Houston Chronicle says talk of sports talk always seems to be a robust conversation.
Chad Finn at the Boston Globe talks to former Red Sox and now MLB analyst Sean Casey…
Mel Bracht at the Oklahoman sits down with ESPN analyst Andre Ware who predicts a 8-4 season for the Oklahoma Sooners…
Diane Pucin at the LA Times says the Dodgers will have one of their games’ telecasts done in English and Spanish, with legendary announcers…
Jay Posner at the San Diego Union Tribune talks with local media legend Ted Leitner…
John Mafei at the North County Times also reports on Leitner…
Dan Ceasar at the St. Louis Post Dispatch writes on the results of a newspaper poll on the future of Cardinals radio broadcasts…
Tom Hoffarth at the LA Daily News answers some questions…
Ray Buck at the Fort Worth Star Telegram talks with the man charged with marketing Super Bowl XLV in Dallas…..
Jim Carlisle at the Ventura County Star piles on in the ESPN/Favre lovefest..Jim also reports on a local high school team’s appearance on ESPNU’s high school football schedule.
Michael Zuidema at the Grand Rapids Press reports how a local station’s move to the FM dial will greatly enhance coverage of local high school football..
All the way from Memphis
Memphis’ 2008 trip to the Final Four has been “vacated,” the NCAA has ruled. So it’s as if it never happened. Wipe it from your memory. The NCAA says it’s all a blank. If they could get one of those mind eraser thingees from Men in Black, NCAA officials might be going coast to coast right now and knocking on the doors of everyone who watched the men’s basketball final two seasons ago.
But short of that occurrence, fans aren’t going to forget Derrick Rose and Co., regardless whether any of the victories officially count. So I wouldn’t bet on the media pretending as if the team never existed. Yes, Memphis must give money back, so that is a real penalty. However, in the real world beyond the NCAA offices, everyone is going to count Memphis’ Final Four appearance.
Let’s say the Tigers reach the national semifinals this coming season. Do you believe media reports will say it’s Memphis first trip to the Final Four since 1985? Well, no. How can we be sure? For one thing, when the Tigers reached in 2008, the stories said it was their first appearance in 23 years, but that 1985 Final Four also was vacated for rules violations, so we should have heard it was actually their first appearance since 1973.
We’ll sooner forget the Mott the Hoople classic from which this entry gets its title than anything the NCAA says we’re supposed to forget.
Is The Minnesota Press Drinking the Kool-Aid?
I’ve always been a proponent of adapting the adage of Tip O’Neil when it comes to the media. O’Neil believed “all politics is local”. I belive that sometimes “the best media is local”.
You can find out so much more about a team or an athlete by taking time to read what the local journalists are writing. Case in point is the Vikings signing of Brett Favre.
Take a look at the sports sections at the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Full blown coverage of the signing is not a surprise. An event of this magnitude is expected to be huge in any media market.
Examining the columns, it appears the media in Minnesota is not yet asking the questions that many outside of the Twin Cities seem to be asking. Never mind what the readers of these papers think.
I have hope that the Minnesota press will begin asking tough questions of the Vikings and Favre once the season gets underway. But for one day, the media in the Land of 10,000 Lakes appears to have a little purple ink in its pens…
