Again, posting from a mile high

Woah, woah, woah!

I don’t know about you guys, but my internship is going way too fast.

I only have three weeks left? Are you serious?

I am in love with Denver. This city has everything: sports, women and ______ <------ You name it. Every event that I have been assigned is an event that I have never covered in the past. Tennis tournaments. MLS. Motocross. Drag Racing. And while these sports aren’t my forte, I appreciate what I have been able to learn en route to becoming a better writer. Enough about me…I really want to know how my SJI Family is doing! How ya’ll doin!?

Special thanks to Alex on the chap stick suggestion. I chose blue (as seen below) over the other three colors, and I haven’t had a day of chapped lips since. I will get those suggestions to Woody whenever I can catch a break from my schedule to sit in on a show.

Aaron and Malik – This year at Hampton is going to be CRAZY once we get back. Shout out to Scripps!

Shout out to Tariq, turning 21-years old this weekend. You're grown now. Who saw the flyer advertising this weekend’s birthday bash at Ibiza? I see you trying to Looking like a star. Be safe bro! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you.

Isis ICE Boogie Roberts – We need to get in the studio soon. I’ll drop the beat. That is all. (I know you look nothing like Mary J, but its the most respectable photo I could find. )

KG - How is Utah treating you? I need a good laugh, man.

Amelia, Cheng and Aaron – all of who did not post the last time around – I hope you guys are alive and well.

That’s all I got. Enjoy the weekend!

Pittsburgh Chillin...

What's going on everybody? So far my time in Pittsburgh has been pretty cool as far as work goes. There is actually more that goes on aside from Roethlisbeger getting wild at bars. I've mostly been covering high schools and colleges, but I have a bigger story coming pretty soon.

Obviously being at SJI with you guys was literally the best thing ever, but Pittsburgh is a close second.

Some highlights:
-Went to PNC park, which has an great view of the city skyline. (Much better than watching the Pirates)
-Went to a theme park on the company's dime.
-Went to Pitt's prospect camp. (Their facility is amazing...I felt like Cheng at ESPN Wild World of Sports)

I'm sure there will be more to come, but for now I'm just trying to treat everything like the Super Bowl and eventually I'll get that Woodward & Bernstein story.

EXTRA POINTS:
Shemar and Isis congrats on LA winning. I am still not a hater and I stand by my statements about Kobe.

Shout out to Amelia who's doing big things on paper and on camera.

Too Tall that Knicks picture was funny, but I've got something better for you:
http://timsonlinebetting.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Oakland-Raiders-NFL-betting-www.casinoguidecanada.ca-online-betting-winning-streak.jpg

Empire State of Mind

What's going on SJI fam??? It's great to hear about some of your updates about your adventures in your new spots. Unlike all of you, I'm working an hour away from home in NYC. But I decided to live in the city anyway because I wanted to be flexible for my internship and really get the experience of living in the fast-paced environment of the Big Apple.

So far, it's been a great experience. The MLB offices are only a 30 minute subway ride from my apartment, so that's been convenient. As for my assignments, I've had some success and some failure with those.

On my second day there, my editors assigned me to cover this gala where Bill Walton, Dick Enberg, and Eddie Einhorn (chairman of the White Sox) were supposed to be in attendance. All of them had ties to John Wooden, so my job was to interview them and write a story about Wooden's legacy in baseball.

Looking my freshest, I went to the gala and immediately ran to some problems. The media relations person told me that Dick Enberg and Eddie Einhorn weren't in attendance and, in fact, weren't actually invited. Unfortunately, my editors received the wrong information on that one, so they told me just to rely on Walton. The problem, however, was that MLB learned about the gala late and requested Walton the night before the event, so we were denied by media relations because he was apparently "booked for the night". At the gala, I still approached him to try to do a quick interview, but he politely declined because he wanted to interact with the kids at the event. I managed to interview other sources, but my editors decided to axe the story because they knew the situation was out of our control.

The one success was that I volunteered to go to an all-Spanish press conference for Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli and write a story about his development during Jorge Posada's time on the DL. I'm currently working on it, but I definitely enjoyed doing my first interview in Spanish.

So that's all for me right now. Good luck to everyone and I want to keep hearing about your adventures!

As Promised ...

It's the rodeo photo. Enjoy that one -- it's on me.

Santa Cruz Checking In!!

My SJI loves!! It has been too long since we have spoken. Just think. Exactly one month ago, we were just finishing school and getting ready for our trip to Florida. Doesn't it seem like a year has gone by?!! Everything has happened so fast. This last month is like a blur to me! A very good blur, at that.

Well, since you've been gone (Kelly Clarkson voice), I went to LA for a week to gather my stuff and prepare for my move to Santa Cruz. I also enjoyed my LAKERS win ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP. It was just so special to me because I believe BIG SEXY, GOON, GREG, MALIK & CHENG doubted them. Silly rabbits! Just for that, take this face!

Now that that's off my chest, let me tell you about my experience here in Santa Cruz. I've been here for a week and it's... different. Not in a bad way. I actually like it here. I'm a city girl 100% and now I'm here in Santa Cruz where everything is chill and everyone is friendly. Santa Cruz definitely has a good vibe. Unfortunately, I have also been very sick. Since I got off the plane from Florida, I've lost my voice and caught a cold. Then when I got here, I've got real bad allergies. None the less, I'm finally starting to get better. I'm glad to here that Goon is doing well too.

Since I've been in Santa Cruz, I have written a story about scholar-athletes, a little league team and a football camp. BUT the biggest thing that I've gotten to do was cover the U.S. OPEN with Tiger, Tiger Woods yall!

Since I'm not as knowledgeable in golf as in other sports, I got permission to be in charge of the multimedia aspect of the Open. I tweeted (even did a bubble tweet) and they also gave me a flip cam, in which I recorded interviews with. Tiger Woods looked like the old Tiger again. He finished in the top five. Funny quote I got from him at the end of round 2 was:

"I was able to control my balls," Tiger said.

Well, I'm so happy that we are all Facebooking and Twitter, Glittering each other. Make sure we always keep in touch! I'm glad everyone is doing well.

And not to toot my own horn or anything, BUT I believe my old roommate Amelia is doing it the biggest out of all of us! She's covering Vikings stories, doing NFL features and even doing some broadcast. I'm proud of you MOM!!

I never thought I would join a fraternity, but I'm glad I'm in SJI

Welcome to the Fraternity (Morgan Freeman voice) EASY!!

-Isis AKA Ice Boogie

Greetings from Sacramento!

Forgive me SJI for I have sinned, it has been nearly a month since my last blog post. I have certainly missed the comradery that we've developed in our time at Poynter, especially the jokes. Being out here in Sacramento, California has been quite the experience; I've only been here for one week and I am already in love with the left coast. The women are beautiful and the scenery isn't too shabby either; I could definitely get used to this. But this blog is about you guys, my classmates...

Shemar: I honestly can say that I wouldn't have any of this if it wasn't for your help. You have been looking out since my sophomore year at HU and your help has not gone unnoticed. Needless to say, neither has your uncanny resemblance to a few stand up comedians, so if your journalism career gets too monotonous you can always try stand up comedy.

Tariq: 'Reporting live from outside a Mexican Restaurant in Orlando, Florida...Tariq Lee, in the eye of the storm.' Don't sweat the hate that we're receiving from fellow SJI grads--who shall remain nameless--they're just jealous that they ain't get the scoop on the hurricane. However, I

think everyone will know you from your world famous hair commercials. If not, there's always Dru Hill...

Malik (aka Shabazz): You have been the strongest out of all of us, simply by being a Knicks fan...in public...even after drafting Reynaldo Balkman. I applaud your courage and I only hope that one day the Knicks can get to .500 in the regular season. Go Pants! Salami, eggs and bacon my brotha...

Mama and Isis: I miss you guys too. Mama, good looking out on the sports checks. It took us a few days, but we finally got on the same page and were even making some of the same guesses--go figure. Ice Boogy, u got bars and can write your butt off...nuff said. We gotta link up while your out in Santa Cruz though.

KG: Needless to say, you're my favorite KG. That other guy gives you a bad name. You definitely provided a lot of comedic moments at SJI. Still waiting for your autograph on my copy of Up.

Alex: I now understand things that were totally unclear to me when class first started at SJI...certain, behavioral patterns. Thanks for clearing that up buddy. Gotta catch 'em all...

Didier: I'm just gonna put it out there, you look exactly like the dude from He Got Game. End of story, now that I got that off my chest, it's been a pleasure getting to know you while at Poynter. You're like Barry Bonds of sports checks--minus the whole steroids thing.

Martinez and Cheng: Don't think I forgot about you guys. Martinez, you can take a joke like none other, but you can also be funny when you do actually grace us with your input. Cheng, it's been an adventure but not one I'll soon forget. I look forward to hearing more from you in the future. If your ability to spell Dontrelle Willis is any indication of what's yet to come, you should have an awfully bright future ahead of you.

I look forward to hearing from each of you very soon. Sorry if I took up the whole page, but I had a lot to say. Until next time...

P.S. - To finally answer Leon's age old question: It always was Snoop Doggy Dog.

The Worldwide Leader in SNOOP DOGGY DOGG

Greetings from the Worldwide Leader in Sports,

Let me address Shemar first. This one's for you buddy:

OK. Now that I got that out of the way, let me say hi to all of the SJI family from ESPN in Bristol, Conn. Waking up at 7:45 every morning is, quite honestly, not the same without a trip to Poynter and a sports check looming. Unlike the rest of you, I'm at a purely desk job, working nine-hour days at the ESPN.com copy desk. Basically, I get to read ESPN.com all day before stuff actually goes on ESPN.com, so it's pretty cool to see all of the content before it comes out on the website. Sometimes I wish that I could be out, traversing the mountains of Denver or drinking the salty lakes of Utah in hopes that the one big scoop will come my way, but this isn't a bad alternative. It took alot of transitioning, though, especially since I had to learn all of the new computer programs pretty quickly in order to not fall back too behind.

ESPN, by the way, is massive. I'm talking like a 250-question sports check massive (were it converted into cubic feet and man power, of course). When I thought about ESPN in the past, usually it was from a strictly editorial sense, because that was what I wanted to do. I saw the anchors, the editors and the writers. But the majority of the interns here aren't on that side. Most are on the production side of things, like splicing video clips and preparing them for SportsCenter. Two of my roommates are on the research side of things and other interns are dealing with human resources, internal communications, technology or even sales. The sheer manpower that goes into this company is absolutely insane.

But the perk is that famous people just casually walk by my desk every day. Jamal Mashburn was a frequent visitor to my building on the first day and Chad Ford recorded his personal voicemail greeting just in front of my cubicle today. Want to get some food? Sure, sit next to Adam Schefter. (Incidentally, they're called "The Talent" here at ESPN.) Exciting right? Cookies for Prewitt!

By far the highlight of my first week, though, was going into an editorial meeting on my first day. There, all of the assignment editors went through their stuff to alert dot-com and the front page staff about the day's big news. And, of course, representatives from all of the ESPN local sites were present (via phone).

Need I say anymore? I e-mailed him later in the day telling him that I was present in that meeting, and Mr. Carter sent me back a response saying "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY HI?" But with 14 exclamation points instead of one. I think he misses us. Why else would he keep telling us to vote on the back page headlines? To drive up traffic? No...

Keep informing the world, friends. I know you're all killing it across the country.

Posting from a mile high

Despite shortness of breath every morning during my walk downtown and chapped lips every 20 minutes, I am enjoying my time in the Mile High City.

Waking up to the Rockies in the morning is "AMAZING" and riding past Invesco Field on my way to work is "AMAZING". (Who did I just quote?)

Much like the man (Kyle) who sat to my right during our sessions at Poynter, in the wake of big happenings within my coverage area, I was assigned to a story of lesser degree. My first published piece in the paper was a 140-word brief on this summer’s Youth Olympics. Unlike Kyle, I can’t even post an online link to the story because it was so, for lack of a better word, brief.

Let me sum it up for you, if at all possible:
Three Coloradans (as they refer to them here), ages 14-18, were selected to compete for the USA volleyball and swimming team.

Not nearly as cool as, let’s say, Colorado going to Pac –10, or our experiences on "press row" covering the Finals and the Belmont Stakes.

But have no fear for I see more eventful days in the weeks ahead.

In other news, I’m sure you all will be glad to know that I have been doing my daily preperation for sports checks. By habit (no joke), I frequently check out espn.com, espnnewyork.com and si.com just in case we all get another e-mail from Mr. Carter with a REAL sports check.

I will leave with this, a few distant observations since we went our separate ways on June 6:

1. Nice to see SJI 2010’s hottest couple is still going strong:

(I will keep last names out for Google search purposes)

In a recent Twitter post: Tariq said of his SJI roommate Aaron
“What can I say. That's my man. Yall just mad we so close.”

I’ll leave it at that.

2. A special thanks to Alex getting us ready for this Thursday’s NBA draft with his new blog, created at Poynter. http://livefrommudville.blogspot.com/2010/06/nba-draft-preview-part-5.html <------Be sure to check it out. Good stuff.

3. And lastly, shout out to mom (Amelia) for her on-camera appearance at Vikings mini-camp: http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/96225899.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU

One day, I hope to be just like my mom.

Everyone, continue doing your thing on the internships!

Greetings from Utah

Hey all, I'm bringing the blog back.

So you guys may have heard about my health. I'm ailing more or less. But that's for another time. I'm in Salt Lake City, Utah, and I'm working for Utah's leading newspaper, The Salt Lake Tribune.

You might have heard we had a big week last week. In same issue, we covered the state's first firing squad death penalty sentence since 1996 and also Utah joining the Pac-10. And what was my big story of the week? The rodeo kid.

On my first day, I went out an hour to interview the high school state champion in bareback riding (trying to stay on a bucking bronco without a saddle). I had a great interview, and I even got a little riding time on the bucking machine. That photo will come later.

I've been trying this week to be a good volunteer for stories. Sometimes it can be confusing when I'm coming on to a story without prior knowledge of the situation, but it seems to be par for the course, at least for the first few weeks. I'm trying not to ask questions when I can look things up myself, but the problem is that sometimes people forget I don't know to do certain things -- like file a photo request for a story. Oof.

It was also frustrating to be sick as I'm adjusting to life in Salt Lake City. I had to take a day off to see the doctor (I'll leave out details). I've been waiting to jump into this internship so long, and finally I had assignments only to have to push them off another day. I'm a person who enjoys being busy, and not knowing many people in Salt Lake means that work is one of the few outlets I have where I can be social. I'm hoping that as I heal, I'll gain some steam and eventually feel a degree of command over my assigned tasks.

So I think this week, I'll be more open to asking questions about the systems and procedures we use, and I'll try to be more diligent with my background research. Things fly a little loose around here, and I can tell at the professional level, people want to see your results, even if you're new. I think last week I didn't want to stick out and be the one asking questions every two seconds. But if I want to do my job well, I need to learn it better.

Looking forward to hearing how the rest of you are doing. Keep up the good fight.

- KG

SJI Class of 2010 Video

The memories, the laughs, the friendships, the knowledge, the sports checks, the Leonisms, the early mornings and late nights. It's all here in the 2010 Sports Journalism Institute Class of 2010 recap video. Enjoy!

Imagine

Outside on the back patio of the Poynter Institute lies a stone with the word “imagine” written on it.

A stone with that simple word on it is so fitting in a place like this. The Poynter Institute is a place students come to so they can enhance their knowledge of journalism and prepare for anything the future will throw at them.

As we have trained all week long to prepare for our futures in the field of journalism, all the 2010 SJI class can do now is imagine what our futures hold for us.

As I have stated in my pervious blogs, journalism is an evolving field with an unclear future. Newspapers are struggling to survive and online media is expanding, we, as future journalist, must be prepared to make the necessary changes to be successful.

Our time at the Poynter Institute is quickly coming to an end. While we may be leaving this place of learning, the knowledge we have gained here will forever be with us.

As we dream about what may come for us in the next few years, we know that we now have the knowledge to succeed.

Smooth Criminal

From the musical stylings of New Orleans rapper Mystikal to the
sweet sounds of pop icon Brittney Spears, Greg Lee has it all. Don't let the slight frame and young face fool you, Lee has been around the block and has the most diverse iPod here at the Sports Journalism Institute.
It's not just his iPod playlist that's turning heads here at Poynter either; his 365 ringtones have been a popular topic of discussion. Most of his ringtones seem to be centered around the 'King of Pop'--Michael Jackson. I dare not even get into his dancing prowess; however, I will say that Lee has been known to 'cut some rug' on the dancefloor.

High School Sports: the challenge of covering these events

Having no stat sheets or box scores provided for you are just two of the many challenges that face reporters covering high school sports. Today, some of our fellow classmates and St. Petersburg Times reporter Eduardo Encina told us some of their tips they have used to cover high school events.

As we talked about some of the methods that are used to keep track of everything happening out on the field, I could only think of how difficult it was going to be at first. But I am sure once you do it enough times it become second nature to you.

The sports we talked about covering were football, basketball and baseball. Baseball seemed the easiest to cover, while football and basketball are going to be the most challenging ones to keep track of everything that is going on out on the field.

But like everything else we have learned here at SJI, knowing these methods are going to be vital if we are going to be successful in our careers. It just one more thing my time at Poynter has taught me to make sure I succeed in this crazy but fun world of journalism.

From Poynter to the streets: SJI finds the pulse of the Rays

After lengthy days of studying and writing away within the friendly confines of the Poynter Institute, SJI's Malik Smith and Alex Prewitt decided to hit the streets of St. Petersburg to capture the spirit of the Tampa Bay Rays' fans. Enjoy!

Farmville You Saved My Life

An anonymous source said today, "Farmville changed my life."

Please check it out to get a better grip on your life.

Oops...Greg Did It Again!

St. Petersburg, Fl. --- Greg Lee is a slave for Britney Spears. The revelation came as a complete shock to the Sports Journalism Class of 2010 - a group that's hung on the deputy assistant sports editor of The Boston Globe's every word since landing in St. Petersburg.

But that may no longer be the case. As the president of the Michael Jackson fan club, Lee may already be looking to take his administration over to Spears' supporting group. Driving five students back to the Hilton Hotel last night, Lee stunningly showcased this hidden affection and appreciation for Kevin Federline's ex-chick in his car by playing Spears' 2005 hit single "Toxic".

"I was shocked and in awe," said Tariq Lee, one of the stuents that overheard the music in Lee's car. "I said 'Aren't you from the 9th ward in New Orleans?' They don't play this nonsense down there."

But Greg didn't appear to be fazed by his passenger's outspoken attitude. In fact, he displayed more flamboyant behavior after Tariq's comments and continued to chant Spears' catch chorus.

"With a taste of a poison paradise," Greg Lee sang as he turned his car onto Third Street South. "I'm addicted to you. Don't you know that you're toxic."

The five students didn't know how to respond. Throughout the entire week, they grew accustomed to hearing the King of Pop's music coming from Lee's tracklist. Instead, the former MJ aficionado traded in his Billy Jean and P.Y.T. song collection for I'm A Slave 4 U and Womanizer.

"I would have never thought Greg would like Britney," Malik Smith said. "I was pretty shocked last night."

Lee's erratic behavior worsened once he started shifting his shoulders to the beat. Following that sequence, it didn't take too long for him to break out into a full-blown, one-man show dance party. Unfortunately, Lee's dance moves annihilated the swag of Shemar Woods, a student who sat in the passenger seat. Woods is day-to-day with a case of dented confidence.

Woods, however, was the only casualty - for now. It should be interesting to see how Lee's obsession with the former Mickey Mouse club princess unfolds over the next three days.

UPDATE ---- Ed Encina, a staff writer for the St. Petersburg Times and an SJI instructor, is also on the Spears bandwagon. According to an anonymous tip, Encina attended a Spears' concert with his fiancee nearly two years, as part of the Toxic tour. He apparently had "pretty good" seats and called the performance "hype". If Lee is the new president of the Britney Spears fan club, then Encina is the Joe Biden equivalent on his administration.

The Sweetest Swing

Upon Ken Griffey Jr.'s retirement from baseball yesterday it made me think back to how I started watching the sport.
Growing up as a kid in Washington, DC the only sports I found interest in were basketball, football, and soccer. My favorite was basketball but me and my cousin were very good soccer players in elementary school so we pretty much were known around the city for that. I think I was like five years old and my entire family saw my interest in sports and how I could remember tons of stats while my cousins would only want to watch cartoons.
In the 3rd grade my mom would always say to me if you ever want to make it in sports reporting you need to learn about other sports, especially baseball. I brushed her off and continued watching basketball and ignoring baseball. Later in the year Ken Griffey's Nike Air Griffey Max 2 released and my mom bought me a pair. I didn't know who Griffey was but i loved that shoe. They were teal had the bubbles on the bottom and just were amazing. I wore those shoes every single day. I put those shoes to rest, it was crazy.


After I got the shoe I started following Ken Griffey Jr. I made sure I found about everything he did in his games. Hits, home runs, catches, walks, stolen bases. In 98 when everyone was cheering for Mark McGwire and Sammy Sossa I was only going for Ken Griffey. Although he fell out of the race when they starting hitting into the 60's I thought Griffey was going to bounce back and catch up to those guys. But he didn't. He came out the next season and got 48 but his game wasn't the same, everyone could see that. But I didn't care he was my favorite player so I was always paying attention to what he did.
I owe my enthusiasm for baseball now to Ken Griffey and his shoes. The more I watched him the more I learned about the sport and its history and I just kept on watching. Now I can go to a Rays game and not be lost. I also kept collecting his shoes and I would only let my mom buy me Griffeys.

I got her to to get me the Nike Ken Griffey Max I two years after their release.

She bought me the Nike Air Max Griffey GD II



This past year Nike re-released his Nike Air Max I shoe and I got them for a second time.



Thank you Ken Griffey Jr. for giving me the sport of baseball through your sweet swing, cool shoes, and crazy catches.

A Very Suspect Suspect

I don't know quite what to call what I encountered this evening, but it falls under a category of a slang word that I like to use: Sus. Sus is short for suspect and suspect is what Alex Prewitt and I saw as we walked the streets of St. Petersburg.

We were interviewing locals for a blog post (Which will air soon) and stumbled upon an interesting situation. A man named Kyle, who looked a bit disheveled and disoriented, asked if he could use a phone because he had just been beaten up by two men for "no apparent reason." As he struggled to put his sweaty t-shirt back on, I declined because my New York instincts told me there was something sus about this guy. My good Samaritan friend Alex offered to call the police for the gentleman who said the men who beat hi up were sitting across the street.

While Alex called the authorities, I kept my eyes on the man and the people across the street at the same time. What really struck me was that the man said he wanted to press charges and that the men had drugs on them. Hold on, I thought they attacked you for no reason? I though you didn't know them? How do you know all of this about them? Something was definitely sus about this guy and the shady dudes across the street.

After about 15 min on the phone with the police (which I'm sure was no coincidence) Alex and I spoke to a hotel attendant who said he was also recently in a physical altercation in the area. he also mentioned that there was a bit of drug activity in the area which mad me believe Kyle's spontaneous beat down story a lot less.

After the police arrived, Alex and I left the area and walked back to our hotel talking about the situation that had just occurred. Alex wasn't sure that guy was telling the truth or not and gave him the benefit of the doubt. Alex is a good person. As for me, I didn't believe a word he said from the time he opened his mouth to us. However, it did make for an interesting night tour of the city.

Meet Steve: Making the World Safer For All of Us

When we were learning from Poynter instructor Al Tompkins today about various technologies and electronic possibilities that were making our heads spin, he said something that struck a chord with me: Don't be afraid to do stories about the average person. After all, most of our readers are average people, and who doesn't like the everyman? The Joe Blue-collars of the world?

It is in this spirit -- and in the spirit of doing something a little different -- that I present to you Mr. Steve Swafford.

Steve (pardon the informal address, but we're talking about Mr. Everyman here) is the evening security guard at The Poynter Institute. Monday through Friday, 4:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., Steve is responsible for maintaining the physical integrity of this beloved journalism institution. In layman's terms, he makes sure the people who are there are supposed to be there.

When he has some down time, he watches the Tampa Bay Rays games and shakes his head at the lousy officiating. You can bet some umpires would make the right calls if Steve got in their ear about it (Yes, that's a warning, Jim Joyce).

We've seen Steve most days we've been here, but no one's really gotten to know much about him. For my classmates, I'm laying the cards out on the table.

NAME: Steve "Sweetness" Swafford

OCCUPATION: Evening sheriff and lawman at the Poynter Institute; He'll have been there a year in July

INTERESTS: He likes fishing. He used to go trout fishing all the time, but there isn't any opportunities for that in Florida. Now he's learning saltwater fishing ("I have some tutors for that"). He doesn't own his own boat, but his brothers and some of his friends do. "Other than that, just relaxing and kicking back," he says. Steve is a chill guy.

FAVORITE BANDS: Steve has a lot of favorite bands -- too many to choose one. His favorite genre of music is classic rock, and he cites Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd as two groups he would jam out to. He's never been much of a Rolling Stones guy, though. I might dig into why that is later.

FAVORITE FOOD: He loves Mexican, but where does a guy like Steve go for his grub? "Oh, Los Mariachis," he says without hesitation. "Their chimichangas are the best I've ever had."

WHAT HE LOVES ABOUT HIS JOB: "I like it all," Steve says.

"The people here are all great, the atmosphere is good, the working conditions are good, I have a good crew working under me -- there's a lot of things I love about this job," he says. "But I like the people the most though. I meet people from all over the world."

Me? I'm just glad I finally got to meet Steve.

The ten video commandments

One key aspect of journalism that is becoming more and more of a staple of any successful newspaper or web site is multimedia.

Today at the Poynter Institute, we heard two lectures from Al Tompkins. In his first lecture, he spoke about new programs that can help make our careers in journalism easier and more successful.

The one lecture I found the most interesting was Tompkins’ last one on shooting videos. The lecture was titled “10 video commandments,” and taught us ten tips for producing great videos and photographs.

The first commandment was “thou shalt not pan or zoom,” which Tompkins told us was a sure way people could tell the video was done by an amateur. He said that constantly panning or zooming in makes the video look more like a home movie rather than a professional multimedia project from a media outlet.

Other commandments that focused on making videos look professional were “thou shalt hold thy shot for at least 10 seconds,” “thou shalt shoot cutaways and sequences,” “thou shalt honor great lighting,” “thou shalt keep thy camera on the shadow side of the interview,” “thou shalt always wear thy headphones” and “thou shalt seek great natural sounds.”

The other commandments dealt with what content need to be in the video to make it informative and entertainment. These commandments were “thou shalt seek subjective soundbites,” “thou shalt focus thy story into three words” and “thou shalt seek a strong ending.”

As intimidating as it may seem to produce a great video, Mr. Tompkins’ lecture and advice will aid us all on our way to becoming an all-around good journalist.

My opinion doesn't count...

But Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was robbed of a perfect game! It also would have been the first perfect game in Tigers history!

Replays show first baseman Miguel Cabrera's throw beat Cleveland Indians shortstop Jason Donald by at least a step with two outs in the top of the ninth inning. First base umpire Jim Joyce missed the call. And the worst part, Galarraga was on the other end of the throw. All he could do was crack a smile.

In the Associated Press report, Joyce said he regretted his error.

"It was the biggest call of my career, and I kicked the [stuff] out of it," Joyce said, looking and sounding distraught as he paced in the umpires' locker room. "I just cost that kid a perfect game.

"I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay."

What did Galarraga think after he had a chance to see the replays in the clubhouse?

"I feel sad," Galarraga said. "I just watched the replay 20 times and there's no way you can call him safe. I wish I could talk to the guy that took a perfect game away from me.

"He needs to do a better job in that situation. It wasn't even close," he said.

According to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick source, Joyce went inside the Tigers clubhouse following the game and apologized to Galarraga and Leyland personally. However, John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press said Galarraga was asked to visit Joyce in the umpire's dressing room at Comerica Park.

Galarraga replayed the conversation for Lowe.

Galarraga said Joyce told him, "I'm so sorry in my heart. I don't know what to tell you.

"I told him, 'Nobody's perfect.' What am I going to say?"

Galarraga said Joyce felt so bad, he was still in his uniform.

On ESPN, the headline has changed from "Blown call costs Tigers' Galarraga perfect game" to "Umpire: 'I just cost that kid a perfect game'"

On the Detroit Free Press, its headline went from "Tigers' Galarraga denied perfect game on blown call" to "Umpire Jim Joyce apologizes to Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga for blown call, denying perfect game"

On the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the headline is still long despite its change from "Umpire's missed call spoils Armando Galarraga's bid for a perfect game as Tigers post 3-0 victory" to "A most imperfect finish: Ump's blown call costs Detroit's Armando Galarraga perfect masterpiece against Indians"

Iphone May Be In Order and a Mac

Today was definitely the most interesting day since I’ve been in St. Pete this past week. I saw some things that most don’t see in their entire lifetime. I’m not going to speak on the specifics because that’s not what I do at all but I learned a bunch of new stuff.
Al Tompkins talked to us three times today and engaged us to the point that I thought my brain was going to explode. The SJI team of writers learned several apps for smart phones but I think the best one was Vlingo.
With Vlingo you can say a place that you are interested in going to and the phone will give u directions. Also you can tweet while your driving you simply say into the “Twitter Updates” and you can say what you want to tweet and the phone will update your twitter at that moment. I didn’t even know there was software available like that but I always wanted to tweet while I’m doing something else.

Another app that Tompkins showed us was a teleprompter app that I won’t disclose at this time because I don’t want anyone stealing the idea and taking it to places that I want to take it. Just now you can act like Anchorman on the go with it which is unheard of.
Later on in the day we met with Mr. Irby and Mr. Clark and they showed us pictures and we had to voice our opinions in what we saw. It was a fun exercise, I truly enjoy when I’m asked questions on pictures or videos instead of being lectured to.
I think this entire week has been good teaching wise I wish my teachers at Temple would practice stuff like this instead of lecturing us for 2 hours every other day.

Day 6 from St. Petersburg

This blog post may be coming way too early, but I have to honestly say that I am grateful for the SJI experience and the talented journalists in this year’s class.

It’s only Day 6 of 9 in Saint Petersburg, Fla. and once again, my perspective on the sports journalism industry has taken a complete shift for the better.

I have this program and the people in it to thank.

Despite the long days and warm classrooms, I have already acquired a wealth of knowledge from established media professionals. Regardless of our educational backgrounds, every student selected to the program is personable, entertaining and a pleasure to collaborate with on the daily basis.

I have never encountered such a life-changing experience during my three-year journey to one day becoming a sports journalist.

Greg Lee Jr. wrote in an e-mail dated, May 25, “Consider this the key to a successful start for the rest of your life.”

We still have three days left. What an amazing beginning.

NBA Finals Game One Credential Application (URGENT)

Part of Thursday’s assignment will be to cover Game One of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. All SJI writers must submit a credential form at least 24 hours before the start of Game One.

If you do not submit a credential application, you will not have a seat to cover the game. Also, if your application is not filled out accurately and correctly, you will not be approved.

Cut and paste the application text below, place it in a new document file and email the completed information to SJI NBA Finals Game One press contact Eduardo A. Encina at encina76@gmail.com. No late credential applications will be processed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

NBA FINALS GAME ONE CREDENTIAL APPLICATION

Fill out ALL of the following and submit your application to encina76@gmail.com

Name:

Affiliation (The publication you are interning at):

Email:

Office Address:

Office Phone Number:

Editor’s Name:

Check one

__ Press Row (Print media)

__ Baseline (Photojournalists)

Thanks

It's all I want to say to our speakers today, Kenny Irby, Roy Peter Clark, Malcolm Moran and Al Tompkins. Would blog in detail about, but got other items to take care of.

But thank you for your sage wisdom.

A Whole New World!!

This morning, we had a mind-boggling session with Al Tompkins, who showed us new technological programs and software that would be beneficial to our journalism career. Before we expand on that topic, however, one of the most valuable aspects of his lecture was when he taught us how to manipulate eBay.

In order to purchase expensive items at cheap value, Tompkins advised us to misspell the name/brand of the item in the search engine since some sellers typically make that mistake and take advantage of the lack of bids. For example, if I wanted to purchase an Xbox 360, I would type in Xbox 36. Since some people can't spell or simply make an unforeseen error, there's a high probability that results - which subsequently haven't been bid on - will pop up for Xbox 36. Thus, I can potentially purchase an expensive item at cheap value. BOSSSSSS

Aside from that advice, Tompkins provided us with some technological tools to assist us with our journalism careers. He showed us an iPhone/iTouch application that edits video and audio, which I thought was completely fascinating. Other impressive applications were Vlingo, which updates Facebook and Twitter status straight from a person's voice; Snapz Pro, which essentially allows you to pull videos off YouTube, and Soundtrack Pro, an audio restoration program that eliminates bad audio.

My favorite program of the morning was BubbleTweet. Instead of strictly updating my tweets with words, I can now update it with a video. Along with Shemar, Aaron, and a few other classmates, we created a hilarious BubbleTweet that's actually on the site's homepage. Yes, we're that good.

The "Night Life" of St. Petersburg

Last night, the students of SJI went out to eat together because Mr. Lee, Mr. Carter, Mr. Squires and Mr. Encina went out to dinner with one of the guest speakers of the class. We end up finding a spot not too far from the Hilton Hotel named Midtown Sundries.

The restaurant was okay. None of the tables were taken, but the bar was pretty active, with about five guys sitting down watching the Rays Vs. Jays game. The dinner was a great bonding experience for SJI, but we end up going $20 over our limit because an unidentified member calculated the bill wrong.

As we finished dinner and headed back to the hotel, we couldn't help but notice how quiet the streets of St. Pete were. Granted it was ten o'clock and it was a Tuesday, but there was ABSOLUTELY no sign of life. The St. Petersburg streets depicted a scene from I am Legend.

The SJI members had all heard rumors that St. Pete was an 'old people's town,' but they thought the rumors were just silly exaggerations. The students quickly found out otherwise.

"It's a ghost town," Shemar Woods said.

One of the students felt the streets were as quiet as a classroom during finals week.

"We were all still standing awquardly as if we should get out our pens and pads and prepare for a sports check," said Amelia Rayno as she exited the restaurant.

The only sign of life was the sighting of a tow truck racing through the streets at speeds that Tyreke Evans might be seen driving.

The empty streets sparked conversation on how dead the night life of St. Pete must be.

"There is none," said Didier Morais as he noticed the lack of night life. "The streets were barren."

Maybe we will go to Tampa Bay one night so we can actually see what people look like. Stay tuned to see if we ever see people, other than us, at night.

Best Day Ever

Other than that ugly sports check earlier today, this has to have been one of the better days here at SJI. The AC is finally working in the class room here at Poynter, we got to see a new wave in multimedia technology from Al Tompkins that had every one of us in utter amazement, and we also learned a lot about the little things that make sports journalism great.
Roy Clark and Kenny Irby showed us the beauty of photo journalism in the sports field and the stories that these photos tell. It really put into perspective the historic significance of sport and the captivating stories that can be told in one 8x10 photo snapped at just the right time.


This is why we do what we choose to do. Journalism is not easy--as we all have learned the hard way this past week--but, the rewards are limitless when you finally break that great story. These photos shown on my blog entry are timeless, no matter how you analyze them, history will never forget that single moment in time, and the photographers that took these photos are now a part of that history.
For the first time in a few days, we forgot that our opinions didn't count; we didn't care that we weren't shit and ain't did shit. We had a chance to, not only see, but feel the rush of seeing the unknown. We finally understood why Greg, Ed, Leon and Squires were so hard on us, and so blunt in their message.
This is why 'our opinions don't count', this is why 'we ain't shit', this is the 'shit' we ain't done. For most of us, it was an epiphany; but to all of us, it was prodigious. It was what we all wanted and were willing to sacrifice our petty egos to have. We ain't shit, don't know shit, and don't got shit. . .yet.

Al-ectronics

It's Wednesday, June 3. We have five classes and three will be taught by Al Tompkins, who's been at Poynter Institute for 12 years. Tompkins has a column called "Al's Morning Meeting," which he writes to stimulate 2 to 3 story ideas for readers. Some are and some aren't sports related, but he said it does have sports implications.

But so far today, he's already taught us what many students, and people for that matter, like -- how to buy cheap stuff.

Apparently, he was once on eBay looking to expand his coin collection, but he misspelled the name of the coin he was looking for. How fortuitous.

"People will put things on eBay, misspell it and wonder why no one is bidding on it," Tompkins said.

He said he buys flip cameras for less than $60 and he recently bought a motorcycle for less than 65 percent retail.

Sounds like I might have more money this summer to pay off student loans.

UPDATE (10:41 a.m.): Tompkins is now teaching us about the various software one can buy for a smartphone to record video and audio, and edit on-site. For audio, he recommend the Poddio, which cut the average amount of editing by about 12 minutes. In this day-and-age, it's invaluable.

"It's mind boggling," said Tariq Lee, fellow 2010 SJI student.

Agreed -- except I can't stand using a smartphone with a software keyboard.

UPDATE (11:07 a.m.): I'm just gonna quickly go down the list of what other cool gadgets Tompkins showed us.

1. Vlingo - Tell your phone to send text and e-mail, make calls, search Web, and update Facebook and Twitter.
2. Posterous
3. BubbleTweet - Twitter took a new step as you can add video to your Twitter page.
4. LiveU - Streaming live videos with the "hardware" the size of a laptop inside a backpack. It has six wireless cards to get the best phone signals. It's used in war zones and floods.
5. DSLr - A camera where you can shoot high-definition video. A movie was shot with such equipment and it's very discreet too. You can find this at a Best Buy or stores of that nature.

"Hollywood is really starting to catch on to these," Tompkins said.

Now, we're on break, but fellow SJI members were impressed with these tools.

"This is the future and it's easy to get," Isis Roberts said. "For students like us, it's easy to get clips and show it off. It's easy, cheap and dependable."

UPDATE (11:24 a.m.): Go to http://www.twitter.com/sdotwoods1. We created out first BubbleTweet!

UPDATE (11:43 a.m.): After a nice break, Tompkins showed us what augmented reality is. It's taking what's real and augmenting it with digital. For example, notice the yellow first down line when watching an NFL game? That's it. Now, it's available on a smartphone.

"Sports, by far, is the easiest implication," Tompkins said.

Then, it was Soundtrack Pro, which cleans audio quickly. No more background noise.

Remember Ron Artest and Paul Pierce claiming their Twitter pages were hacked after controversial Tweets? They probably took the Tweet pronto when they realized what they said. But did anyone see it? Is there a record? With http://html-pdf-converter.com/, it can turn a webpage into a handout with no software needed. Oh, and it's free.

UPDATE (12:27 p.m.): At the risk of sounding lazy, I'm not going to divulge what we were taught the final 40 minutes. It was THAT cool. But before we left Tompkins the first time, he had a piece of advice for us.

"Don't allow people who are afraid of the future to do that to you too," he said.

If you saw our BubbleTweet earlier, we did say we are the future...

Halfway done

As we reach our sixth day at the Sports Journalism Institute, our class has experienced a lot. We have covered soccer and a Major League Baseball game, we have heard from some of the key players in the world of journalism and we have taken dozens and dozens of sports check. What we have learned so far has been a valuable experience that will help us in our careers.

With four days remaining here at the Poynter Institute, I can even imagine how much more we still are going to and need to learn. Today, we will have four more speakers, along with four more tomorrow. The topics they will be discussing will revolve around the world of sports journalism and what we can expect once we begin to cover a beat.

From covering a little league soccer game to the Tampa Bay Rays game to all the lectures, I can honest say that I have learned more here than I have in all of my journalism class at UTEP. Getting real world experience has been a tough and great experience, and I now am more confident in covering major and minor sporting events.

I am excited and can’t wait to begin my internship at the Houston Chronicle, because I know what I have learned here at SJI will help me succeed at the paper.

Sports Checkmate

A little piece of us died today. Greg Lee brought out the big guns with today's sports check. We almost knew it was coming eventually, we just didn't know how soon.
Every morning it has been a scramble to get to news stands, pop open computers, make phone calls, pray, send notes to Santa Clause, absolutely anything to get as much knowledge about sports news as possible before the cross examination.
Today, I probably would have had a better chance at making the cut for the Masters and marrying Alicia Keys than passing the sports check. If my self esteem was the Dow Jones (a subject covered in today's interrogation), my stock would have dropped about 150 points already.
I peeked over to my left as fellow SJI intern, Amelia Rayno, put 'x' after 'x' next to my answers. My paper looked like a schizophrenic treasure map. It got ugly, very fast.
The best part about rock bottom, that there's nowhere to go but up...

Winner of the 12U Championship Game

According to Alicia Mitchell of the Disney Sports Public Relations, the Miami Elite USA beat FC Tampa Alliance 5-0 in the 12U Danimal's Nation Cup. The Miami Elite will represent Team USA in Johannesburg, South Africa at the end of September in the Danone Nations Cup.

"Danone is doing this world-wide in 40 different countries and they're all qualifying into the World Finals after the World Cup," said Channing Sayers, Senior Sales Manager of the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

The Danone Nations Cup is a international tournament that has been organized every year since 2000. Supported by French soccer star Zinedine Zidane, the Nations Cup gathers forty teams of 10 to 12-year-old children to represent their country in the Nations Cup.

A follow up on ultra local newspapers

The whole issue of newspapers becoming "ultra local" in order to better appeal to subscribers is an interesting one, but it can be very difficult for major newspapers to gain local advertisers, when such advertisers can just as easily go to local newspapers for more centralized readership. And therein lies the solution of flexible online advertising.

Say, for instance, that print subscriptions go by the wayside. No one reads the print newspaper anymore, so it's no longer financially viable for major newspapers to keep printing. So every revenue stream that comes with print (subscriptions and advertising) disappears. Now, the only way to make money is through stuff online. The paradox is, however, why would local advertisers in, say, Tampa Bay, want to advertise at a national newspaper? They need assurance that these advertisements will reach the right people, the people within the identified market.

I think that the only way major newspapers can attract advertising money online is through flexible online advertising, ones that change based on the IP address of the user. If I log on from Falls Church, Virginia, I will see advertisements of local businesses in addition to the major companies that such a large newspaper attracts. Having these local advertisements would attract further local businesses. The content wouldn't have to change. Only certain advertisement slots would based on who is logging onto the website. I don't really know anything about the internet or what's possible, but from speaking to Mr. Jenks after yesterday's class, it definitely seems viable.

"QUESTION NUMBER ONE!!!"

There's been a little chatter about the infamous "sports checks" at SJI. Let's talk about them for a second.

Sports check is basically a current events quiz about sports news and other trivia that takes place whenever Greg Lee and Leon Carter feel like shouting "SPORTS CHECK" or raining punishment on us for being too smart for our own good. Sometimes, we know when the quiz is going to be (every morning after or during breakfast), but sometimes, the quiz is to knock us down a peg and show us we aren't as clever as we think we are. Sometimes even when we are prepared, we discover we aren't as clever as we think we are.

However ...

The thing I've noticed as time goes on is that we are all prepared for a sports check at anytime. Sometimes Leon yells, "QUESTION NUMBER ONE" just to throw us off, but everyone moves for their notepad and a pen. We treat most of Leon's threats seriously, at least for a minute.

And the preparation is the most important thing. We've all been watching ESPN at night and in the morning. We read the St. Petersburg Times and typically either USA Today or the New York Times sports sections. We know scores and stats, records and rankings, names and numbers. We may not know every answer, but just about everyone is ready for the softballs.

And our sessions and this preparation has kept us sharper and more observant of the industry. The other day, I read an ESPN.com story about Randy Moss firing a new agent and saying he was available for the taking. Normally, this would have passed by my mind. However, this time I notice it was attributed to a Boston Herald story.

I went to the Herald story and noticed Moss had called the reporter directly (not the other way around), signifying a good relationship with the source. I went to the Boston.com story, and to Greg's eternal chagrin, found no mention of Moss' quotes from the interview.

I'm not trying to make judgements on the journalists involved (note the lack of names), but I noticed that someone had inside access to an athlete that the competition did not. This is something that happens everyday in a variety of publications, but it's something I would have never have noticed if SJI had not forced me to:

a) read these sources

b) be aware of who breaks news

c) be aware of the information competing stories provide (or miss)

d) be aware of how reporters break news

I definitely acknowledge that SJI sports checks, irritating though they can be, have been one of the most helpful tools we've had in our quest to become better informed journalists. Information is indeed what the business is about, whether it's knowing inside information on a story or knowing what you have to do to keep up or beat your competition. And we have to be constantly vigilant, because we won't know when we'll need to be able to keep our wits about us.

Sorry Greg. But thanks for the checks.

Learning from Jim Jenks

Today was definitely an excellent learning experience because we had Kenneth Irby, Ellyn Angelotti, Roy Peter Clark, and Jim Jenks lecture us today on various aspects of journalism. Jenks is currently Vice President and Executive Producer of MLB.com - the publication that I'm interning with this summer - so his presence this afternoon prompted me to be "extra-attentive" as he shared his wisdom.

After listening to his lecture, it's clear he is really dedicated and passionate about his multimedia responsibilities for MLB.com. I mean this guy had an iPad, iPhone and BlackBerry and boasted comprehensive knowledge of their applications, so he undoubtedly is a technology guru.

Following his talk, I spoke with him and asked for advice as an incoming intern at MLB.com. He reminded me to volunteer for assignments, take risks, and never decline assignment opportunities. In addition, he gave me some insight on my boss' personality and expectations for interns, so I'm definitely preparing myself for an exciting summer.

False alarm

Despite earlier reports, Mr. Carter did not give the class a 100-question sports check, but a 25-question general knowledge assessment.

Now, we are preparing for a routine sports check before heading to dinner. We will get back to work bright and early tomorrow morning.

Blog to you soon!

(Running sports check count: 4, 675, 896)