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Category: sports writing (Page 3 of 3)

If Saponari’s Rejection is News, Who Should Have Been the Source?

Vinny Saponari in a March 2010 game against Merrimack College. Photo: Flickr user seriouslysilly

Vinny Saponari in a March 2010 game against Merrimack College. Photo: Flickr user seriouslysilly (Some Rights Reserved)

The story of the day amongst BU hockey fans was the reported Boston College transfer application rejection by dismissed Terrier forward Vinny Saponari. The rumor had been lurking amongst those close to Boston area college hockey for a few weeks, and the story broke for good when US Hockey Report (aka, USHR, a subscription site that reports on junior, youth and college hockey) posted a piece this morning quoting Saponari’s USHL head coach.

Saponari’s current coach with the USHL Dubuque Fighting Saints, Jim Montgomery, is the only interview in USHR’s brief report, which then spurred on reports by the Eagle Tribune’s Mike McMahon, BostonSportsU18 and the Daily Free Press’s Boston Hockey Blog. The Boston Hockey Blog tried to get a quote with Saponari, but “a call and text were not returned.” Word had spread outside of the USHR report – two individuals mentioned to me that area coaches had just started being open about the news last evening, and the news spread like wild fire through the expanding, but still very small, world of hockey.

As the news was circulating on Twitter, a few folks asked within social media, “Well, who are we all to be talking about a pretty embarrassing and private matter for this hockey player? Why is Saponari’s rejection news?”

There is no question to me that this is news – Saponari’s initial dismissal from BU was very public, as the Terrier program had to give reason for his absence in the then upcoming season, and he decided to engage on interviews on the subject. His decision to subsequently transfer to BC, BU’s biggest hockey rival, was made public on his own Facebook page and a few media sources.

So Saponari’s rejection by BC was going to become public whether he liked it or not. For better or worse, his own statements on the matter earlier this fall made us all expect to see him on the Conte Forum ice come next September. Because of the level of expectation already prepared, the college hockey watching public would find out about the rejection eventually. In hindsight, Saponari, his family and his “family advisors” should have kept word of his desire to transfer down Comm Ave quiet until all the i’s were dotted, t’s were crossed, and transcripts approved.

But where the critics of the publicity of Saponari’s denial may have a legitimate point is that the only on-the-record source through this entire story has been the player’s own USHL coach. Was it really appropriate for Montgomery to be so forthcoming with this news with USHR in the first place? Was it his place to do so? Was he representing the family, and if so, should he or the USHR author been more explicit in saying so?

On a much larger level, if a coach is part educator, part advisor, part mentor, and part counselor, shouldn’t he uphold a certain level of confidentiality?

I’m not defending Saponari in any way (if I don’t have anything nice to say, I’m not going to say anything at all), but didn’t he deserve a tad more from Montgomery? Should USHR have looked for a quote from Saponari or his family? If Montgomery was acting on their behalf, shouldn’t that have been more explicit?

What do you think?

The USCHO Pay Wall: Why Putting Today’s Dave Starman Piece Behind It Is a Giant Mistake

Update: Within minutes of my posting this, Todd from USCHO Tweeted at me, said he saw the point and made today’s Starman column free. He also responded in the comments. Class act! Thank you!

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I have had thoughts swimming around in my head over the past week regarding the Wall Street Journal article surrounding the growth of college hockey, as well as national hockey commentator and CBS College Sports on-air personality Dave Starman’s USCHO “rebuttal” (to an article that was overwhelmingly positive, I might add.) As my Twitter followers know, my month long battle with bronchitis came to a head as both articles were posted – I ended up in the hospital with a far worse infection – and thus, I wasn’t able to write a response in a timely manner. I was going to leave the issue be.

Then on Wednesday morning, USCHO posted a further Starman commentary where he responds to the many comments he received on his rebuttal. But I, and many other college hockey fans couldn’t read it. It is posted behind USCHO‘s pay wall, called “USCHO Extra”, which costs $14.99 a year.

Isn’t the fact that USCHO hid this rebuttal-of-a-rebuttal behind a pay wall essentially one of the things inhibiting the growth of college hockey? College hockey is a growing sport with a feverous fan base, with message board posters and lurkers galore, with hundreds of Twitter users wanting to be the next Starman or Jim Connolly or Adam Wodon or Bernie Corbett. How can you inhibit this fan base from reading your pieces? Isn’t hiding your content, especially content about an important conversation about the future of the game, behind a pay wall almost an oxymoron?

That a prominent online media source is making their readers pay to access an author’s response to comments, is both traditional and online journalisticly misguided. A good journalist should respond to his or her critics, as long as they are not personally attacking them, in the same forum in which he or she posted the original piece and/or an easily accessible, preferably free, forum. Starman’s original piece last week was free for all to read on USCHO.com. His response to the comments and emails is behind a pay wall, thereby reducing his readership on a popular topic, and shutting out most likely over half of his original readers. I am not saying he had to respond to every commenter or emailer, or even do so on USCHO itself. His feedback just needs to be accessible to the majority of his readers. Take Sports Illustrated’s Peter King or the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle’s Sal Marjorana – they are two polarizing football journalists who respond to their critics via Twitter, a free-of-charge social media tool. It may not be in the original comment section of their pieces, but you can easily find the two and challenge their controversial sentiments (even if their response may be snarky or not you wanted to hear.)

I am not blind to the costs of hosting and maintaining a large-scale website – frankly, it is becoming more than half of my full-time job in higher education and is what I do for various other sites on my home computer after dinner every evening. I understand that ad revenue alone rarely covers the payment of journalists, the hosting, the design, the forum moderation – all the tools that make USCHO one of the big three sites in college hockey. But is college hockey in a place within the American sports landscape that any site can justify having a pay wall?

Isn’t that, after all, the larger question that Starman – and the Wall Street Journal before him – asking with last week’s pieces? Is college hockey a sport that can sustain past the gimmicky nature of the annual outdoor game? And if both the WSJ and Starman are correct and the sport is still growing in popularity with a much higher future ahead of it, why cut off access to any information, discussion or features that may grow the fan base?

Get Out There! Two Blogging Networking Events and Tips For Success

I’m embarking on a month full of fun events, both personally, professionally and writing wise, and I wanted to share two of them with you. In addition, I wanted to share some of my own networking tips for socially-tentative sports writers like myself.

The Events

On October 21st, I will be attending Boston Blogtoberfest for the first time. The event is sold out, otherwise I would urge you all to join me. Blogtoberfest is a gathering assembled by the past few years by Boston based social media specialist Jenny Frazier, and draws a wide-range of bloggers and social media types.

On November 6th, I will be attending the second Boston Sports Blogapalooza at The Baseball Tavern. Boston Sports Then and Now’s Joe Gill has put together a second edition of his sports writing bonanza, which will include panel discussions this go-around. No matter your level of experience within sports media (new blogger to a writer with a major site), the event is a must attend – the networking I did at the first edition is still paying dividends for my writing. Registration is still open, and I think Joe is even looking for some Sox and Celtics panelists – check out their registration page or their Facebook fan page.

SportsGirlKat’s Tips for Overcoming Networking Shyness

As an introvert, going to events like Blogtoberfest and Blogapalooza can be extremely intimidating. Having to speak to absolute strangers? Not my fortay. (Part of the reason why I became a writer in the first place.) However, if you ever want to parlay your blogging to a freelance writing career (which I am working towards), you must put yourself out there and break through the shyness. Here is what I’ll be doing to prepare for both events:

1) Stock up on business cards. They need not be fancy – just clean, clear and easy to read. I’ve seen great work done by UPrinting.com, which is one of the many online printing companies offering professional looking print goods at discount prices. Even if you go to an office supply store and buy print-your-own business card sets, it’s imperative to have them on you when you attend one of these events.

2) Practice a 20 second hook of what you are all about. While I write about a wide variety of sports, at the first Blogapalooza I knew I would have to stand out among the masses of Red Sox bloggers and Patriots writers. Therefore, I emphasized my lacrosse writing. I rehearsed how I would introduce myself, “Hi, I’m Kat. I write about professional and college lacrosse for several publications.” Don’t sound fake, and don’t recite the introduction verbatim every single introduction. Think of this 20 second hook as your angle – how are you going to stand out – and keep it in mind when having these discussions.

3) Be willing to listen. I am an adviser/mentor by training, so I genuinely enjoy listening to what others have to say. Being willing to actively listen to others thoughts, pitches, and what have you at networking events – even if you aren’t interested – earns you a ton of social currency. By being willing to listen to others, I earned introductions I would not have normally.

4) You are never too “big” to network. At the first Blogapalooza, several writers and editors from NESN and other larger media sources were in attendance, and this go-around, Comcast Sports Net New England is sponsoring the event. They understand the exposure their brand receives by attending an event with a hundred sports fans, and know how worthwhile it is. Your site might receive a 1,000 hits a day, or you might be a columnist with a bigger site, but there’s never a time to slow down the hustle. Keep telling people what you do, keep meeting people with similar interests, and stay hungry. Keep the exposure of your own brand high, just like the bigger media outlets are doing.

If you are attending either event, tell me in the comments! I would love to connect with you there!

The Olympics of Slacking

Photo: tkellyphoto from Flickr

For the fourth Olympics in a row, I intended on blogging the Olympics. I’ve been an Olympic junkie since age two, thus writing about the Olympics for my blog or others seems like a no-brainer. I have Winter Olympic encyclopedias on my bookshelf, and my parents currently hold my collection of taped from TV Olympic coverage VHS tapes.

Athens came and went. I was in grad school and was not able to watch until the last night of gymnastics. Turin, I was in a blogging hiatus, with lack of inspiration and an arena of writer’s block. Beijing, I was on a two week trip for my full-time job.

Vancouver was going to change this. I was going to blog. Maybe not every night, maybe not every event, but I was going to blog. My encyclopedic knowledge of figure skating would be on display. My endless search for blog topics would be over.

I settled onto the couch each night to watch the Vancouver Olympics, computer fired up, notebook next to me. Despite NBC’s lacking coverage, I was memorized as only a lifelong Olympics junkie could be. Turn to MSNBC, there’s hockey. Turn to CNBC, there’s curling. Then all of the skiing aerial events, which are just enough on the edge to be exciting, but don’t feature those hoodlum snowboarders with the long hair and iPods. Then, although the coverage couldn’t touch the hours upon hours I remember from my CBS Olympics childhood, there was the figure skating.

The Olympics are just one of those events where you can’t look away, no matter how magnificently manicured the coverage is, how sweetly sappy the fluff profiles are, or how unethically un-amateur the athletes are. It’s a spectacle of sport, the two weeks every two years where sitcoms that have overstayed their welcome and seventeen versions of the same dramatic series are replaced with hours upon prime-time hours of sports. Weird sports. Popular sports. Unpopular sports. Fallen sports. Growing sports. Sports that only Scandinavian nations play. Sports that Russians rule. Sports that only the US and Canada can compete in. Sports that you have to be under five-foot-three to be successful in. Sports that combine two sports into one. Sports that are just competitive, greased up versions of sledding in Uncle Eddie’s backyard in Ontario.

Writing didn’t happen. I sat, dazed at the television screen, and when the delayed late evening news finally began, I would immediately fall asleep wherever I was. The 7 News logo provoked an a Pavlovian response – when it appeared on screen, my eyes shut without effort and asleep I was. I would wake up in the morning, and realize for yet another night, I didn’t blog. I would resolve that that night would be the night when I finally did.

And through two weeks of the Olympics, that never happened. While I didn’t blog, and thus was a gold medal example of how not to grow or maintain your blog readership, I enjoyed. If you don’t take that time to sit back and enjoy a sporting event every once and a while, without the blogging, Tweeting and analysis, you begin to lose why you even love sports in the first place.

Vancouver, thanks for the refresh.

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