Any SRM student planning to enroll in a Spring ’14 or Summer ’14 practicum or internship should attend one of the following mandatory meetings: Tuesday, September 24; 7:00 AM in Godwin 384
Tuesday, September 24; 4:30 PM in Godwin 354
Wednesday, September 25; 7:00 AM in Godwin 354
Students interested in a practicum or internship with JMU Athletics should attend the session on Tuesday, September 24 at 4:30 p.m.
From Fox Sports and Bleacher Report
Review Kyle Clarke in SRM 334 (section 2)
The buzz around Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel has reached a high to the point where anything he says or does gets reported and from there, his remarks or actions are critiqued to the max. In these articles, Clay Travis and James Sullivan try to dive inside the minds of audience opinions on Johnny Manziel and point out unfair critiques of Johnny Manziel.
Since beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa last year and winning the Heisman trophy award, Johnny Manziel has been under the microscope of the media across the nation. Every thing he says or does, someone has an opinion on it. Most recently Johnny Manziel played in his first game of his redshirt sophomore season against Rice University. During the game Johnny Manziel did a lot of taunting, “money” gestures after scoring touchdowns, and drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which caused his coach to pull him from the game. Clay Travis wrote on the reactions from the media. “ESPN reacted like Manziel was the Unabomber” (Travis, 2013). He also wrote how Tim Tebow received a taunting penalty however no one really reacted in a way they did towards Johnny Manziel. Clay Travis believed that how someone felt about Johnny Manziel could tell a lot about how that person. For an example, if someone were not in favor of the way Johnny Manziel played the position of quarterback, that person is most likely someone who is a rules follower. “You believe Johnny’s a showboat, and you are rooting for Nick Saban and Alabama, the ultimate rule-following-team, to teach Johnny a lesson” (Travis, 2013).
James Sullivan took the same position as Clay Travis but went into a little different direction. Presented a timeline of what transpired throughout the game. He displayed “The National Response” which was the opinions and thoughts of the media who reacted negatively towards the antics of Johnny Manziel. For the most part, James Sullivan thought Manziel is being crucified for acting like a confident 20-year-old who happens to be the reigning Heisman award winner. Everyone is going to have an opinion on Johnny Manziel. Some feel that he is very immature and that he does not handle his high status among college football well at all. Others feel that he is just your average college student athlete he just happens to receive more attention then others. Because of his success on the football field last season combined with his personality, everything Manziel says or does will draw millions of opinions and analysis. One has to wonder where did this spotlight come from. Was it his performance against Alabama last season that led to an upset of the number one team in the nation, was it being awarded the Heisman trophy season for dominating the opposition last year, or is it a combination of both. His status has elevated beyond Texas A&M and possibly college football in general. No matter how people may feel about him, Johnny Football is the face of college football. Whether he likes it or not, everyone will be watching his every move and it will draw headlines, even if it is him attending a party.
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Review by Patrick Boling in SRM 334 (section 2)
The article “Manziel opinions say a lot about us” (Travis, 2013) is an insightful analysis regarding the recent controversies surrounding 2012 Heisman Trophy winner, Johnny Manziel. Manziel has recently been involved in a number of incidents that have circulating the national media. These incidents include: Manziel partying with Drake, getting into a bar fight, unexpectedly leaving the Manning Passing Academy allegedly due to heavy drinking, partying at a rival school at Texas University, and then was accused of accepting $7,500 in exchange for signing autographs. Clay Travis quickly comes to the defense of Johnny Manziel with respect to the national exposure and criticism, particularly by ESPN. Yet, Travis does not directly address the controversial behavior by Manziel. Travis goes as far as saying Manziel is, “the most scrutinized athlete in college sports history.” It is my opinion that Clay Travis is correct in saying that, whether Manziel is deserving of the scrutiny or not. Travis was surprised that ESPN made such a big deal out of Manziel taunting the opposition Rice and celebrating by pretending to rub money in his hand after scoring a touchdown. But to me, the thorough coverage of Manziel is not surprising given the advanced evolution of social media and technology. In fact, Manziel was video recorded with someone’s personal cell phone signing dozens of autographs in a hotel, but there was no evidence of Manziel receiving payments for them and thus breaking NCAA rules. ESPN and the most of sports media rely on advertisements for revenue and it is athletes like “Johnny Football” that will make people tune into ESPN for constant coverage of Manziel’s every move on and off the field. Another polarizing attribute about Manziel is he is either loved or hated, but even those who dislike him will still watch Sportscenter story on him or read articles about him online.
The article then goes into depth about how one feels about Johnny Manziel can be a reflection of your personality and values. Travis uses examples of this both on and off the field. For example, if you do not like Johnny’s unorthodox style as a quarterback then you are probably someone that is traditional and a rules follower, but if you embrace Johnny Football’s unorthodox style then you are more likely to be a free spirit and, “prefer heroes to be rebels.” Another point Travis makes is that he sparked a social and cultural debate regarding his party lifestyle off the field. For example, is it wrong for him to be out partying and drinking even though he is underage? If not, what about the fact that every other college student drinks while they are underage and is it fair to hold him to a higher or different standard? No matter how you feel about Johnny Football, odds are you are at least intrigued by him and intrigued enough to keep using sports media to see what Johnny Football will do next.
From ESPN.com
Analysis by Chris Vittorio in SRM 334 (section 2)
In late August, ESPN announced that they were expanding their NFL Nation Network by hiring 21 new writers in order to cover every NFL team. A press release on ESPN’s Media Zone announced that each team would have its own website staffed by experienced reporters. Many of the new writers have been pulled from local newspapers and sports blogs who have been writing about their respective teams for years. The past five seasons, ESPN has used only eight writers to cover eight divisional blogs. ESPN’s NFL Nation is aiming to be the prime location for all football fans with the expansion. Each reporter is responsible for providing relevant info about their team several times a day through various forms of media. ESPN.com Editor-in-Chief Patrick Stiegman stated in the press release, “The expansion of NFL Nation represents one of ESPN Digital’s most ambitious projects in our continuing effort to provide the ultimate personalized experience for fans.” The press release article ends by explaining where the information will be hosted along with the names and previous affiliations of the new reporters.
This new move by ESPN is aiming to dominate coverage on the NFL and has many implications for our class. Now that there is a designated reporter for each team, coverage will be expanded for niche audiences and across all forms of media. Because ESPN is such a sports powerhouse, it was able to easily pull beat writers from many local newspapers and blogs. I think because of this, print media will take another hit. I am from the Philadelphia area and ESPN managed to take one of our well known sports writers, Phil Sheridan from my local newspaper; the Philadelphia Inquirer. I really enjoy Phil’s take on my team, so now I may find myself following him through ESPN. My interest in my local newspaper, especially in the sports section has greatly decreased now that he is no longer reporting. As well as stealing local writers, while I was researching I found that many reporters are very biased towards their own teams. Every reporter predicted their team’s record and the combined total was 283-229. This means that by their predictions, only eight teams will have a losing record. Team bias is okay for the niche audiences but when they expect to share coverage on national TV broadcasts, the bias may provide bad coverage. This topic is relevant to our class because it affects almost every area of media. We will find this new coverage on ESPN.com, SportsCenter, Twitter, Vine, Facebook, Instagram, ESPN Magazine and many others. We are only two weeks into our class and we have already debated about print media and whether or not it can last in our technological age. It looks like ESPN’s move is contributing to the extinction of print media. Hiring 21 new writers to cover all 32 NFL teams is a bold move by ESPN and throughout the 2013-2014 season we will see what implications it has for NFL media coverage, bias and print media.
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Analysis by Casey Hart in SRM 334 (section 2)
ESPN recently published a press release detailing a massive expansion of their NFL coverage called NFL Nation. Up until a few weeks ago, ESPN had a writer for each division, and only the largest markets had team specific writers. This new expanded NFL coverage provides the largest such network of its kind, and provides local coverage for each individual team. Each team now has a beat writer that communicates with fans across multiple different platforms, including, among others, social media, ESPN.com (written stories and video blogs), and ESPN’s televised programming.
This new step for ESPN carries several very important implications. On the surface, it’s a fantastic new way for ESPN to capture the attention of niche audiences, or fans that are more interested in their own teams than the national stories, and provide them with team specific coverage. However, the amount of coverage, in some instances, doesn’t always directly relate to the quality of the coverage. For example, Eric Edholm of Y! Sports recently noted that these beat writers, each guessing only the record of the team they cover, predicted that all teams would combine for a record of 54 games over .500, which is obviously impossible. This is important to note because when ESPN had only one writer per division, it forced the writers to take a less biased look at a wider range of teams, causing predictions to be a little more realistic. So while the coverage has expanded, fans may no longer be getting the unbiased viewpoints that were previously demonstrated.
It also carries several important implications for local newspaper media, at least in terms of their NFL coverage. First of all, many of the beat writers that ESPN hired worked for these newspapers, and were some of the best at their profession. Second, and perhaps more importantly (and relating more to what we have discussed in class), ESPN now offers the same service that these newspapers provide (in terms of NFL coverage), but with a more trusted name -- and for free. Most newspapers, online or print, cost money to access. So why would I, as a fan, pay money for local NFL coverage when ESPN is providing all of the same local scoops for free? NFL Nation poses a huge threat for local newspapers, and they will likely have to change their business model, at least in terms of NFL coverage, in order to compete.
It’s clear that NFL nation provides huge implications for the nature and quality of NFL coverage provided to fans, both in terms of what ESPN actually provides, and its effect on other local forms of NFL coverage. Whether it is overall a positive or negative remains to be seen.
