The Dad Vail regatta, held in Philadelphia every year, is a premeir collegiate rowing race held in May- but it almost wasn't in Philadelphia this year.
Because of a lack of funds, organizers almost moved the event to New Jersey before Aberdeen stepped in and decided to sponsor it in November.
It caused a lot of controversy and confusion and a lot of schools were upset about the organization. My job was to exploit that this week - particularly by talking to the head coach of the University of Tulsa, Kevin Harris. Tulsa wasn't participating in the race this year, seemingly because of his displeasure with the organizers.
I called him and talked to him. It turns out he wasn't that upset, and he made it a point to say that he didn't hate Philadelphia numerous times. He was displeased at how things were handled, but he wasn't angry. The confusion just caused him to keep his team in Tulsa this week because it was too short notice to start making plans.
I also talked to the head coach of Grand Valley State, John Bancheri, who was unbelievably enthusiastic about the event. It was like night and day.
The story ended up being an advance of Friday's regatta with some of the controversy news mixed in. It should run Thursday.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Devlin and more
I had a busy week last week.
It started with a call late Saturday night. I saw that I had a missed call from five minutes ago at about 10 pm Saturday night from the Inquirer. I stepped outside of the party I was at to listen to the voicemail. Lou Rabito, the new high school editor, wanted me to cover a baseball game on Tuesday afternoon. I called him back immediately and said I would.
On Tuesday, I prepared myself to go to the baeball game. It was between Cardinal O'Hara and Monsignor Bonner at Cardinal O'Hara high school. First I called the high schools and asked them to send me rosters. I learned my lesson covering high school games in the fall that rosters are almost never provided at the game. And, when you're a reporter, it's important to have one. O'Hara emailed me a roster immediately, but Bonner was a little slow. I called them back and asked them again, and they sent me one on the spot. There was only one problem: the roster didn't have player numbers, so I had no way of telling who was who.
Oh well, I figured. I had to figure out numbers on my own but at least I'd be able to spell names right. Again, it served as proof that covering college and professional sports is much easier than covering any high school game. It's odd how the better, more experienced reporters end up with the easier job and higher salary.
Regardless, the game ended, I got m interviews and went back to the newsroom. I talked to the Bonner coach and the winning pitcher (on Bonner.) After I was done, O'Hara had already retreated to the locker room. I figured at least I had quotes from the winning side and that was alright. Lou, on the other hand, didn't agree. It was another rookie mistake - one that I knew would be an issue but I didn't think was a mistake that was all that bad. Next time I'll make sure to post up outside the other team's locker room to get the quotes.
On Wednesday, when I usually go into the office, I stayed in Newark last week. I stayed because I had an interview with Delaware quarterback Pat Devlin for the Inquirer. Delaware football coverage is something I'm used to, but this time I was taking on a different angle. John Quinn, the college editor, wanted me to ask him about his decision to leave Penn State and write a story from a Philadelphia-area/Penn State perspective.
I thought it went pretty well. Devlin is a good interview and generally gives you good answers. I wrote the story up that night and it ended up running on Friday.
It started with a call late Saturday night. I saw that I had a missed call from five minutes ago at about 10 pm Saturday night from the Inquirer. I stepped outside of the party I was at to listen to the voicemail. Lou Rabito, the new high school editor, wanted me to cover a baseball game on Tuesday afternoon. I called him back immediately and said I would.
On Tuesday, I prepared myself to go to the baeball game. It was between Cardinal O'Hara and Monsignor Bonner at Cardinal O'Hara high school. First I called the high schools and asked them to send me rosters. I learned my lesson covering high school games in the fall that rosters are almost never provided at the game. And, when you're a reporter, it's important to have one. O'Hara emailed me a roster immediately, but Bonner was a little slow. I called them back and asked them again, and they sent me one on the spot. There was only one problem: the roster didn't have player numbers, so I had no way of telling who was who.
Oh well, I figured. I had to figure out numbers on my own but at least I'd be able to spell names right. Again, it served as proof that covering college and professional sports is much easier than covering any high school game. It's odd how the better, more experienced reporters end up with the easier job and higher salary.
Regardless, the game ended, I got m interviews and went back to the newsroom. I talked to the Bonner coach and the winning pitcher (on Bonner.) After I was done, O'Hara had already retreated to the locker room. I figured at least I had quotes from the winning side and that was alright. Lou, on the other hand, didn't agree. It was another rookie mistake - one that I knew would be an issue but I didn't think was a mistake that was all that bad. Next time I'll make sure to post up outside the other team's locker room to get the quotes.
On Wednesday, when I usually go into the office, I stayed in Newark last week. I stayed because I had an interview with Delaware quarterback Pat Devlin for the Inquirer. Delaware football coverage is something I'm used to, but this time I was taking on a different angle. John Quinn, the college editor, wanted me to ask him about his decision to leave Penn State and write a story from a Philadelphia-area/Penn State perspective.
I thought it went pretty well. Devlin is a good interview and generally gives you good answers. I wrote the story up that night and it ended up running on Friday.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Draft Day
My focus over the last week has been on the NFL draft, which takes place between April 22 and April 24. I've been working with the NFL editor to help produce content for the papers next week previewing the draft. Most of what I've done is research. I went through mock drafts produced by the national media (CBS sports, NBC sports, ESPN etc.) to create a spreadsheet of where each media outlet thought players would be drafted. And, in the past few days, I've been working on side-bars relating to specific issues in the draft. For instance, yesterday I compared the top two quarterbacks, and today I'm working on analyzing the needs of each team in the NFC East.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Marco - Polo
Trying to get in touch with the five area swimmers who won state titles last week has been like a game of Marco Polo.
It's actually been quite beneficial to my people-finding skills and my on the spot interview skills. My editor told me to get in touch the five swimmers who won state titles so we could write a story about them - seemingly an easy task - just call their coaches, interview their coaches about them, then have the coaches give you their number.
It hasn't been that easy, though. Most swimming coaches aren't listed in our directory, which means I have to call the Athletic Director. And, most athletic director phone numbers listed in the directory go straight to their office. As I am in the Inquirer office at night, I can't get in touch with them unless I call them during the day.
So, the process has taken a lot of phone calls at different times in the day. So far, I've interviewed three coaches and one athlete. I'm waiting on two coaches/ADs to get back to me and point me in the right direction, and two athletes to get back to me - one of whom I have to call around 3:00 tomorrow.
But, calls are out, messages are recorded, and emails are sent. Now, it's just a waiting game. By tomorrow, I should have enough quotes and content to put together a story. The goal is to talk to AT LEAST one person per athlete. That could be the player her/himself (preferably), the coach, or the AD (preferably not). I think I'm on the right track.
It's actually been quite beneficial to my people-finding skills and my on the spot interview skills. My editor told me to get in touch the five swimmers who won state titles so we could write a story about them - seemingly an easy task - just call their coaches, interview their coaches about them, then have the coaches give you their number.
It hasn't been that easy, though. Most swimming coaches aren't listed in our directory, which means I have to call the Athletic Director. And, most athletic director phone numbers listed in the directory go straight to their office. As I am in the Inquirer office at night, I can't get in touch with them unless I call them during the day.
So, the process has taken a lot of phone calls at different times in the day. So far, I've interviewed three coaches and one athlete. I'm waiting on two coaches/ADs to get back to me and point me in the right direction, and two athletes to get back to me - one of whom I have to call around 3:00 tomorrow.
But, calls are out, messages are recorded, and emails are sent. Now, it's just a waiting game. By tomorrow, I should have enough quotes and content to put together a story. The goal is to talk to AT LEAST one person per athlete. That could be the player her/himself (preferably), the coach, or the AD (preferably not). I think I'm on the right track.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Capsules Galore
I've spent the past week working on two "capsule" assignments. One of which was the NCAA tournament capsules and the other was the Villanova 1985 basketball team "Where are they now."
For the NCAA capsules, I was given 12 teams to research, find stats and write analysis about. The end result was 13 pages of analysis and stats. It took up a good chunk of my time last week at the office, and carried over to time out of the office. On Sunday, the capsules ran, along with other capsules written by the entire sports staff.
For the "Where are they now" capsules, I just finished. I had information on almost every player of the 1985 team from when I went to the reception a few weeks ago. However, there were a few players who weren't there. I had to make some calls and find them online in order to figure out what they were up to. The process was a little tedious and frusterating, but I got through it. The end result should pay off.
Besides those two projects, there hasn't been anything breaking I've been working on in the past week. Who knows what's in store for next week.
For the NCAA capsules, I was given 12 teams to research, find stats and write analysis about. The end result was 13 pages of analysis and stats. It took up a good chunk of my time last week at the office, and carried over to time out of the office. On Sunday, the capsules ran, along with other capsules written by the entire sports staff.
For the "Where are they now" capsules, I just finished. I had information on almost every player of the 1985 team from when I went to the reception a few weeks ago. However, there were a few players who weren't there. I had to make some calls and find them online in order to figure out what they were up to. The process was a little tedious and frusterating, but I got through it. The end result should pay off.
Besides those two projects, there hasn't been anything breaking I've been working on in the past week. Who knows what's in store for next week.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Back and Busy
I'm back at the Inquirer for a new semester, and I'm busier than ever. Once again, I'm mostly working with Gary Miles - the high school sports editor. I've done a few advances for high school playoff basketball games, and a few small features for the section as well - one a girls basketball team, one on a record-breaking track athlete, and I've been working on one involving a Christian sports league starting up in May.
In addition, John Quinn, the college sports editor, has kept me busy beyond the times I've been in the office. On Saturday, John sent me and another intern to the Wachovia Center to cover Villanova's 1985 national champion team, which was being honored at halftime. Before halftime, however, they had a reception. It was my duty to not only write about what happened at halftime, but to also interview each player in order to put together a "Where are they now" section in the paper.
Everything went smoothly. We got access to the reception, even though we weren't supposed to originally. The players saw us standing outside and invited us in. Between me and the other intern, we talked to everyone there. We're now working on collaberating to put together the spread. The end result will turn out to be a great byline. I also wrote the story for Sunday's paper about the halftime presentation and got to sit through a thrilling overtime gaime between the current Villanova team and West Virginia.
John has also had me working on capsules for the NCAA tournament. He split up teams between the staff writers, and each of us were required to find certain facts regarding each team. It took much longer than expected - I ended up with 17 pages and nearly 3000 words of statistics and analysis. The capsules should be running on Sunday when they announce who gets a bid to the NCAA tournament.
In addition, John Quinn, the college sports editor, has kept me busy beyond the times I've been in the office. On Saturday, John sent me and another intern to the Wachovia Center to cover Villanova's 1985 national champion team, which was being honored at halftime. Before halftime, however, they had a reception. It was my duty to not only write about what happened at halftime, but to also interview each player in order to put together a "Where are they now" section in the paper.
Everything went smoothly. We got access to the reception, even though we weren't supposed to originally. The players saw us standing outside and invited us in. Between me and the other intern, we talked to everyone there. We're now working on collaberating to put together the spread. The end result will turn out to be a great byline. I also wrote the story for Sunday's paper about the halftime presentation and got to sit through a thrilling overtime gaime between the current Villanova team and West Virginia.
John has also had me working on capsules for the NCAA tournament. He split up teams between the staff writers, and each of us were required to find certain facts regarding each team. It took much longer than expected - I ended up with 17 pages and nearly 3000 words of statistics and analysis. The capsules should be running on Sunday when they announce who gets a bid to the NCAA tournament.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Pete Rose no-go
Friday afternoon I got a call from John Quinn - one of the editors at the Inquirer. He asked me if I was available Saturday to interview Pete Rose who was appearing at a sports memorabilia show in King of Prussia. Naturally, I was elated at the possibility to interview one of the greatest baseball players of all tme.
I called the show's PR rep to confirm everything. She didn't guarentee that Rose would be available to the media, but she said she'd set me up with his PR rep the next day.
Saturday rolled around and I called the show's PR rep again. She informed me that she had been in touch with Rose's representative, and that he "probably wouldn't talk." A little disappointed, I traveled to King of Prussia anyways to try my luck. Upon getting there, I found Rose's representative who immediately told me off.
Of course, Rose's career has been laced in controversy. After betting on baseball, he was banned from the sport and not admitted to the Hall of Fame. Since then, he's been trying to get reinstated so he can be admitted to the hall. Needless to say, his relationship with the media hasn't been all that friendly. The questions I had prepared that my editor had given me involved Tim Donaghy - the NBA ref who had bet on games, Michael Vick - who was reinstated into the NFL after serving jail time, and Bud Selig - the comissioner of Major League Baseball who has refused to reinstate Rose.
The PR rep's suspicions were right when she assumed it would be just another interview involving his tarnished past. She inherintly disliked me and immediately told me it wasn't worth me coming and that I should leave.
Disappointed, I called my editor and informed him that there would be no story. He wasn't surprised and told me that they thought that might be the case.
A hard-hitting interview with one of baseball's greats would have made a great story to tell - and probably would have resulted in a great clip, so it was disappointing that it didn't work out. I was happy that the editors had enough confidence in me to assign it to me, though.
I called the show's PR rep to confirm everything. She didn't guarentee that Rose would be available to the media, but she said she'd set me up with his PR rep the next day.
Saturday rolled around and I called the show's PR rep again. She informed me that she had been in touch with Rose's representative, and that he "probably wouldn't talk." A little disappointed, I traveled to King of Prussia anyways to try my luck. Upon getting there, I found Rose's representative who immediately told me off.
Of course, Rose's career has been laced in controversy. After betting on baseball, he was banned from the sport and not admitted to the Hall of Fame. Since then, he's been trying to get reinstated so he can be admitted to the hall. Needless to say, his relationship with the media hasn't been all that friendly. The questions I had prepared that my editor had given me involved Tim Donaghy - the NBA ref who had bet on games, Michael Vick - who was reinstated into the NFL after serving jail time, and Bud Selig - the comissioner of Major League Baseball who has refused to reinstate Rose.
The PR rep's suspicions were right when she assumed it would be just another interview involving his tarnished past. She inherintly disliked me and immediately told me it wasn't worth me coming and that I should leave.
Disappointed, I called my editor and informed him that there would be no story. He wasn't surprised and told me that they thought that might be the case.
A hard-hitting interview with one of baseball's greats would have made a great story to tell - and probably would have resulted in a great clip, so it was disappointing that it didn't work out. I was happy that the editors had enough confidence in me to assign it to me, though.
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