Review by Jordan Underwood in SRM 334 (section 2) Six and a half minutes before half time, of one of the biggest games left in March Madness, the game took a break, literally. Louisville’s sophomore guard, Kevin Ware, jumped up to defend a 3-point-shot and snapped his leg clean in 2 places, it was unlike any injury I have ever seen. The reactions of the other players on the field, on the bench, and all the fans were the same, shocked and worried. Within minutes, the video image of the injury from the game was on youtube, twitter, and other social medias across the web.
Why was this such big news so fast? Understood, that an injury like this is unlike most we see, but why was this worthy of being instant headlines? In the end, Louisville won the game, and in post game interviews, Louisville head coach, Rick Pitino said, “We won this for him.” If Louisville had lost though, would the loss have been blamed on the injury? Chances are that media would have made that assumption and chances are that over the next few days media will say that the injury was the reason Louisville won. “The Cardinals simply refused to lose, breaking open a game that was tied at 42. They dove on the floor for loose balls. They pounded the boards ferociously. They contested every shot and swarmed around the Blue Devils like they had an extra player on the court. In a sense, they did. During every timeout, Pitino reminded the players of their hospitalized teammate” (Fox Sports).
Injuries like this are also huge, motivational stories because they always demonstrate team support. If an athlete gets hurt, you always hear about their teammates supporting their recovery and playing in honor of them, and readers and sports followers love up lifting, feel good stories. “Russ Smith collapsed onto the floor, along with several players, and was crying as doctors attended to Ware. While Ware was loaded onto a stretcher, the Cardinals gathered at midcourt until Pitino called them over, saying the injured player wanted to talk to them before he left. The sophomore, who played his high school ball in suburban Atlanta, urged his teammates to complete the trip to the Georgia Dome. Pitino wiped his eyes as Ware was wheeled out, as did several Louisville players.” (Fox Sports). Though injuries are tragedies for athletes, teams, and fans, they also bring out amazing teamwork and perseverance which makes for great uplifting stories.
After reading this article, it makes sense for all of the NBA to make changes. This change will help socially, marketing, and also the entertainment of the game. I think it was a good idea the Hornets name should return to the city/community of Charlotte. First for all of this to happen, owner Tom Benson of the New Orleans Hornets has to change their name which they are doing; they will be called the New Orleans Pelicans by next season. This is going to be an interesting decision for the city of New Orleans. I’m not sure if they have an issue or not with changing their team name. Now it’s up to Charlotte Bobcat’s owner Michael Jordan to make a decision if he wants to bring the Hornets back to Charlotte. Even though, the Bobcats haven’t been doing well on the court, the fans will be happy just to have the name back in its original location. The only problem that the Bobcat franchise would have is that they just obtained new uniforms for this past season. That would mess up the stores around the city of Charlotte that is selling the Bobcats gear. In the article, there is a group/movement called, “Bring Back the Buzz” that attends the games in Charlotte that is trying to convince that franchise to change their name back and on an occasion that chant, “Charlotte Hornets” in the middle of the games. I think if everyone in the city supports this movement then owner Michael Jordan would automatically change the name back to the Charlotte Hornets.
From ESPN Review by Dre Coble in SRM 334 (section 2)
Our current event presentation will be on the 2013 World Baseball Classic and one major event that happen during the tournament that sent the media into frenzy. If you extreme baseball fan you know what this event is all about. The world baseball classic is something similar to the world cup but baseball style. It’s a baseball tournament with 16 different countries trying to win a championship. The teams are made up of individuals who are either living in that country now or from that country. In America we have the MLB (Major League Baseball) which is our own professional league. A lot of our professionals in the MLB are from different countries such as Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, China etc. With that being said players that play in America play for their native country in this tournament. The tournament is also similar to the Olympics when it comes to that aspect. The games are hosted in different locations around the world.
The world baseball is meant to bring together all these different countries in friendly competition to see who is considered the best in the world. Players take these games seriously because they aren’t only representing themselves they are representing their country. The world baseball classic is broadcasted on national TV in America but doesn’t receive a lot of media attention. This is a question that needs to be asked and answered. It seems like the tournament isn’t a big thing to America and a lot of Americans who aren’t baseball fanatics don’t even bother to watch it. This is where the tournament isn’t like the world cup or like the Olympics. Both of those events are highly talked about in media either on TV or social networks, constant stories are being released about them. The tournament wasn’t receiving barley any attention until the countries of Canada and Mexico played each other. In the ninth inning Mexico pitcher hit a Canadian batter and all hell broke loose as the batter charged the mound and the benches cleared starting an all-out brawl between the two teams. After the teams were separated no one was suspended for the fight but the media went crazy. The video of the fight was all over the news, ESPN, and internet. It took a fight to bring some attention to the tournament and the question is why did it take all that just for the tournament to receive all this coverage? In America do we love seeing violence especially when it comes to sports? --- Review by Reuben Alarico in SRM 334 (section 2)
Andre and I decided to do our current events presentation on the recent fight between Team Canada and Team Mexico during the opening rounds of the World Baseball Classic. The fight was caused because Canada decided to bunt in the top of the 9th inning while leading 9-3. This sparked Mexican 3rd baseman Luis Cruz to tell his pitcher, Arnold Leon, to hit the next batter. The first pitch was very inside but nothing was said of it. The next pitch would have hit the batter’s thigh had he not moved. This led to both teams getting warned by the umpire. The next and last pitch was the “finishing blow”. A fastball clocked at 93 mph hit Canadian Rene Tosoni in the back. After being hit, he started walking towards the mound which led to benches being cleared and a couple of fights breaking out. After everything settled, no one ended up getting suspended.
Viewing the fight from an analytical standpoint, I believe Luis Cruz felt like Canada should not have been bunting due to the run differential and also because of an “unwritten” which considers that to be disrespectful. But at the same time, what does hitting a batter prove to anyone? I think they should have stayed professional and tried to have been the “bigger men”. I’m sure sports bloggers and sports analysts would have talked about the lack of sportsmanship displayed by Team Canada had Mexico kept their composure. Lastly I wanted to include how this event is relevant to our class. It relates to our class because it involves sports media because this fight was a trending topic on twitter and it also involves event management because the World Baseball Classic is a tournament that takes place on an international stage and occurs only every four years.
