Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
R. Alex Friedman
Independent Study
Prof. L. Beery
Introduction
Newspapers, radios, and magazines were once the most popular means of getting sports
news. Today, there are much easier ways of following sports stories, such as 24 hour TV shows,
as well as several mainstream internet sites that have instant score updates and articles. Due to
the rapidly expanding social networks, which closely monitor the personal lives of athletes both
on and off the field in hope of finding a shocking new story that will promote their site, this new
manner of sports communications has led to the media becoming an even bigger facet of
American society.
For example, in the summer of 2010, Brett Favre was constantly mentioned in the media.
He was criticized for his interception that cost the Minnesota Vikings a shot at the Super Bowl
and for dragging on his decision as to whether or not he was going to play another season.
However, the story that got the single most attention, were the sports blogs posts about Favre
apparently sending naked pictures of his genitals to a female side line reporter (not his wife).
This story was picked up by a popular sports blog, Deadspin, and the site received four times the
number of viewers than before the story. By offering different perspectives from the mainstream
journalists, sports blogs have found increased popularity while simultaneously raising some
The history of Sports Illustrated, shows how the internet has effected mainstream media.
Sports Illustrated is considered one of the most predominant publishers of sports journalism. At
the time the magazines was first published in 1930, there was little fan base for SI. This changed
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forty years later when Sports Illustrated began publishing sports predictions and color photos
(Collins, 2010).
Personally, finding a Sports Illustrated in the mailbox as a kid always excited me. I liked
to look at the cover, taking into account whether the athlete was an applicable choice for being
the next SI cover jinx. After viewing the cover, I’d usually turn to the predictions section. SI
was, in fact, the first main stream media outlet to publish sports predictions. The magazine
would predict college basketball, football, NBA, NFL, and all the other major sports. I
absolutely loved this about SI. Nonetheless, SI had some drawbacks, first being that the
magazine only came out once a week. Also, our family had to pay for a subscription. Yet as the
internet expanded to what it is today, everything that SI was known for, namely excellent sports
My family has made it a ritual of reading the newspaper every Sunday morning. The Ann
Arbor News was the popular choice because they covered all news, particularly local issues.
After 174 years of publication, the newspaper shut down in 2008 (Karoub, 2009). Although the
U.S. population is increasing, the number of readers has fallen (Steep, 2004). As a result, The
Ann Arbor News and 105 other newspapers around the country, closed down in 2008 (Dumpala,
2009). When The Ann Arbor News stopped daily publication, my parents opted for The New
York Times. Forgoing a newspaper subscription was not an option because both of them enjoy
and rely on getting information from newspapers. A study conducted by John McIntyre
determined that some of the reasons why older people continued to read the newspaper was
because they couldn’t find the same information elsewhere and reading the newspaper was a
habit. Because of the increasing demand for wired information, The Ann Arbor News, was
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replaced by Annarbor.com. AnnArbor.com still prints editions on Thursday and Sunday, but the
As a result of the print media losing viewership, mass media has focused on the newer
ways of communication. Television, which still plays an integral role in sports and out society in
general, draws millions of viewers for sporting events. Since people less frequently look in print
media for yesterdays breaking sports news, sites like ESPN and CBS are continually pushing the
latest and most breaking sports through their websites. If I want to check on the game being
played between the New England Patriots and the New York Jets, I could either turn on the
television or go to popular websites and find the score and any other information desired. If I
missed the Patriot-Jets game, these mediums have journalists writing about the biggest plays and
reporting some the most important statistics, rendering watching game itself almost unnecessary.
“The internet has revolutionized the way we access information and is ever-increasing
importance to our everyday lives” (Kloh, 2010). In my family, each member incorporates a form
of social network into our daily lives, such as Facebook, which boasts 500 million users from
individuals into specific groups, such as friendship, interests, or education. My Mom created a
Facebook account after initial skepticism, yet now she goes on it every day. She always talks
about how amazing it is to communicate with people she had lost touch with, while stressing that
she would no longer go to any high school reunion because now she can talk to the people she
actually wants to talk with. She can send a friend request, look at someone’s pictures, remarking
to me how old a person looked, then write a greeting on that person’s wall.
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Although my Dad would never join Facebook, he frequently looks at blogs. According to
Technorati, a blog tracking site, there are currently over 120 million blogs with thousands being
created every day. A blog is an easy way of sharing information to a global and digitally
checks out Michigan sports blogs following a basketball game. He would prefer to read a
newspaper, but since it no longer comes every morning, he checks, umhoops.com, a popular
Michigan basketball blog, for game recaps. Both my parents like many older people, struggle
with change. However, with the developments of communications through the internet, these
examples show how even older generations have adapted and become active users of social
networks.
My sister, on the other hand, is a very artistic person and showcases this through a
fashion blog. Almost every day, she posts a different drawing of a different outfit. Included is a
description of where the clothes came from (which oddly enough is usually from my Mom or
Grandmother). Her blog attracts a large following because of its originality. She says that when
she links her sketches to Facebook or Twitter, she can get anywhere between 50 and 150 viewers.
Her blog has been shown on The PBS New Hour, linked by other blogs, and published in fashion
magazines. Notably, her viewers are from around the country and even the world. A blogger
from Australia commented on August 20th post about how “cute her blog was.” Sociologist,
Zenep Tufecki, says that “the current generation is never unconnected. They’re never losing
touch with their friends. So we’re going back to a more normal place, historically. If you look at
human history, the idea that you would drift through life, going from new relation to new
relation, that’s very new. It’s just the 20th century.” By creating a blog through which she can
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express her creativity, my sister generates daily connections with people she would never have
Like my sister, I created a blog, which covers a variety of sports topics including; college
basketball, college football, and professional sports. It’s easy to notify my friends on Facebook
and Twitter because all I have to do is put up a link and tell people where to look. Once my
target audience has been notified, there is a ripple effect. The friend I’ve informed sends the link
to their friends and so on. Similarly, chat rooms are another tool that enables me to connect with
a large number of people. During a recent Michigan basketball game versus Harvard, I
simultaneously was watching on the television and in a chat while in a chat with other Michigan
fans from around the country through the blog, umhoops.com. These type of speedy
communications increase a blogs viewership drastically, and as is the case with mine, gives me
Since there are so many different sports blogs, and because of the fragmentation within
them, certain types of blogs can be more or less appealing to specific demographic group. After
the Michigan basketball game, I chose to get a recap of the game from Umhoop.com because
they offer the best insight and analysis. I could have got a recap of the game from a popular
website, like ESPN, or from one of the several other Michigan related blogs. However, because
umhoops.com is specifically directed to Michigan basketball, I can dialogue with other fans who
have a similar understanding of the team while simultaneously avoiding Ohio State fans who
would just like to ump on the program. Ruth Harper calls this a “democratic movement where
people can chose what they read” (2009). As a result of these increased options that sports fans
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have with sports blogs, it has led to complications for mainstream media and traditional sports
journalism.
undergo a long training process. This includes either an undergraduate or graduate degree in
journalism, an internship, perhaps at the school newspaper, and then a job with one of the
traditional media outlets (newspaper, magazine, radio, or TV). Traditional sports journalists have
high ethical standards because of their training and the fact that they represent the organization
they work for. As a result, sports journalists rarely cross boundaries and offer opinionated
stories. You may find the occasional story that criticizes a couple coaching decisions or player
mistakes, but for the most part, sports journalism focuses on a “reliable daily accounting of
results (scores and winners) and reasons why teams succeeded, or disappointed their devoted
fans” (Covering Sports). At the end of the day, the goal of a sports writer is for the reader to
“kicks off his shoes and be entertained more than informed and informed more than infuriated.
(Broeg, 1980).
A sports blogger on the other hand, really only needs a computer and an opinion. A blog
doesn’t require a great deal of experience. From a study done by Penn State University, sixty-two
percent of sports bloggers have graduated from college, twenty- nine percent have graduate
degrees, and about twenty percent have earned a journalism degree or worked for campus media.
Because sports bloggers are not journalists, they are faced with challenges regarding access.
They aren’t on the same level as Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribute journalists, because
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they aren’t “sitting in the press boxes, going in the locker rooms, interviewing players, coaches,
executives, trainers” (Whitchurch, 2009). Without this means of approach, the goal of a sports
blog, therefore, is to get “hits” by writing interesting commentary that can be viewed by other
fans.
On December 10, 2010, The New York Times published an article on the Michigan and
Michigan State hockey game that was played in the Big House. The major focus of the article
was that the game was going to break the all time attendance record for a hockey game. The
article featured quotes from the two opposing coaches and several of the players about how
exciting the atmosphere would be. The article, however, did not offer much detail about the two
teams, nor what a fan should look for during the game. Additionally, the printed version of most
of The New York Times didn’t offer the potential for discussion through reader comments, only
for its editorials. As a sports fan, I expected to learn from the article the key players, each team’s
chance of winning, as well as other fan’s opinion. Yet this article fell way short of my
expectations. The only thing I learned was that each team was excited to play a game in the Big
House and to be a part of breaking the attendance record for a hockey game. On the other hand,
if I had looked at a sports blog that was covered the game I would have seen the key players
from both teams, what the chances were for Michigan to win the game, and other interesting fans
Several sports writers today have their own sports blogs. Although most did not start
covering sports with a blog, the form has become a good way of building ones reputation. Bill
Simmons, for instance, is one of the most well respected and liked sports journalists today.
Simmons is not a typical sports journalist. He has a different style which dates back to the blog
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he created in 1998. This blog was through AOL, and Simmons actually had to forward the
column to his friends (Simmons, 2006). Soon enough, he was receiving emails from people he
didn’t even know, wanting him to be on the mailing list (Simmons, 2006). As Simmons
popularity grew, it eventually led to a sports journalism job with ESPN. He had already coined
the phrase “The Sports Guy,” so his columns on ESPN were called “The Sports Guy.” What
makes Bill Simmons original in the sports journalism world is that his perspective is truly
different from most that cover the topic. Here is the blog “Between the Headset” likes about Bill
Simmons:
“He watches games on television or in the stands, just like every other sports fan,
rather than the press box. He derives insights of athletes based on interviews and
performance that he sees from afar, rather than talking to them in the locker room.
His goal is to voice his opinion through the eyes of an average Joe sports fan,
In a similar vein, one of the writers for umhoops.com, Joe Stapleton, has become a respected
Michigan basketball writer through his blog. He went to the same high school as me and we
have come to know each other through playing basketball together. I think Joe Stapleton is very
similar to Simmons. He writes from the Michigan fan’s perspective and gives his analysis and
insight as a player rather than a reporter, a standpoint, that many Michigan basketball fans want
to read. His coverage allows the site to become a discussion board within Michigan basketball.
When an article is posted, there are instantly several comments. This type of commentary shows
the popularity of the blog, allows for instantaneous feedback on the subject, and provides a more
in-depth analysis.
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Results from the Penn State study showed that only seventy- nine percent of sports
bloggers believe that they should practice high ethical standards when. Ethics in journalism are
very important and include such standards as checking references, accuracy in reporting, and
writing as to limiting any personal harm or slander considerations. Further, the internet has
enabled a mass of information including gossip and celebrities culture stories to spread widely
and quickly. Although many sports blogs become popular by writing good insightful stories,
bloggers have the freedom to publish whatever they want. For example, a blog Deadspin, which
was created without “access, favor, or discretion,” in response to the fact that the “media that
reports on sports have gotten in bed with the sports teams they cover” has become one of the top
Deadspin was the first ones to publish the Brett Favre story, which resulted in a huge
viewership. They published other stories, like Raul Ibanez and his steroid use, which were later
proven to be untrue. These stories while not accurate, harmed Raul Ibanez’s image. The example
of Deadspin, has raised a lot of criticism from sports journalists like Buzz Bissinger. Bissinger
and the writer of the Brett Favre article, A.J. Dealerio went head to head in a heated discussion
about the issue. The creator of Mgoblog, Brain Cook developed ethical guidelines in response to
the criticism that was directed at Deadspin. The ethics go as follow, “ the factual typos and
errors will be corrected, assertions that can be damaging to a person or group will be done
carefully, rumors will be reported as such, and comments being left as they are.” Although all
sports blogs do not follow by these same ethical standards, the criticism from Bissinger for
Deadspin’s reporting is well deserving. Here is Brian’s hard remarks for the writer of Deadspin.
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“Daulerio's an embarrassment. As someone who runs a sports blog for a living his
wanton flouting of common decency makes me look like an asshole by proxy, and
I don't appreciate it. Buzz Bissinger wasn't totally wrong. If he blew up again
today, he'd be mostly right. Deadspin is sleaze, and little else. The overtanned
true nature.”
Conclusion
Because of the internet and the development of social networks, sports writers like
Simmons and Stapleton, have benefited greatly. They have developed popular sports blogs that
allow for a new type of sports communication, including increased access to information,
discussion, and general connectedness to a team. Although not every sports blog presents the
same type of stories and information as Simmons and Stapleton, the internet allows for “layman”
sports journalists to have the freedom to post on whatever topic they choose. This can result in a
deluge of stories that sometimes may not be factually true. No one knows what the impact of
this will be. All we can do at this point is keep reading the stuff that interests us and hope that
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