"Eagles receiver Riley Cooper uses racial slur at a Kenny Chesney concert"

(Disclaimer: this video contains a sensitive subject matter)

From USA Today

Analysis by Sean Wheeler in SRM 334 (section 2)

On June 9th, 2013, Riley Cooper, Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver, alone with his coach and some of his teammates attended a Kenny Chesney concert in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Cooper, teammate Jason Kelch, and coach Chip Kelly were invited on stage by Kenny Chesney to perform his song, “Boys of Fall.” Cooper then, after a security guard did not allow him to go backstage, said a racial slur regarding African-Americans. On top of that, Cooper also got into a verbal altercation with people outside of the concert. After all of this hit the fan, Cooper released a serious of tweets apologizes for the incident, as well as, personally apologizing to his black teammates. He was eventually fined and sentenced to three days of sensitivity training.

From a media standpoint, this was blown way out of proportion. The media has the power to “blow-up” stories and this was exactly the case. The media made it seem like Cooper committed a serious crime and even publically viewed him as someone like Aaron Hernandez, New England Patriots wide receiver who was recently charged with murder. Cooper understandably did and said a horrible thing, but he did not commit a crime and, therefore, should not have made national news.

Another point to be made, regarding the media, is that everything is documented now-a-days. Because of the advancement in technology this past decade, not so important stories like this are being viewed and taken to levels they should not be taken to. For example, without cell phones and cameras this incident never would have been made publically like it did. People in this generation care more about taking a picture or video of something rather than fully enjoying the experience firsthand and not through a lens. Sure, people would talk and a good amount would have found out about it, but it would not have been talked about around the entire world (twitter). Furthermore, because of twitter, it allowed anyone to voice their opinions on Cooper to millions of people, which they absolutely did. Other athletes, like Marcus Vick, and many non-athletes showed their anger and attacked Cooper via twitter. This would have never happened ten years ago before twitter and all of this advanced technology was created. The Riley Cooper incident is relevant to this course because this is a textbook situation that we could be in and might have to deal with in the future. Whether it be working in PR or being an SID, you never know what you might have to deal with or the decisions regarding players’ actions that you are going to have to make, especially due to the fact that athletes are constantly acting as they should not be and doing “stupid” things. Furthermore, this is relevant because we learned about the advancement in technology and how it took over the media; one little slip-up can make national news and really turn someone’s life around.

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Analysis by Brooks Shyman in SRM 334 (section 2)

For our current event Sean and I chose the topic of Riley Cooper and we chose the article “Eagles Receiver Riley Cooper Uses Racial Slur at Kenny Chesney Concert.” The article starts by giving you background on what happened before the event. It tells you that Cooper and some of his teammates were even invited on stage to perform the song “Boys of Fall” with Chesney. Then the article goes on to explain the event behind Cooper using the racial slur. It also tells you that Cooper got into another verbal altercation with a group of people outside the concert, and has videos of both incidents. The article concludes by telling you how the Eagles organization feels about the article and tells whether or not they think the NFL will discipline Cooper.

The media took this story and ran with it. It was major news the second the video became public. This happened in large part to technology improving. Think about it, would this have even been a story 10 years ago in a time before cell phones and cell phone cameras? Now a day for athletes everything you do is documented and can be out in the media within 10 seconds of you doing it. Another media aspect to this story is twitter. Many athletes and celebrities were able to tweet out there opinions to millions of people in an instant. Even Cooper’s teammates were going out on twitter and criticizing him. But not only were people able to tweet their opinions; they could tweet directly to Riley Cooper themselves. And while I did not tweet to him, I can only imagine the kind of messages he was receiving. This story also shows you the power the media holds. This Riley Cooper incident in the media was about as big a story as Aaron Hernandez; and Aaron Hernandez is accused of murder. And of course, what Riley Cooper did was terrible, but to be held on virtually the same level as someone who’s accused and likely guilty of murder really shows you the power the media has over public opinion.

This article/incident is very relevant to us as a class. We all want to go into different jobs in this field, and some of us are bound to end up working in media. Whether its being in PR and having to clean up an incident in, or being a journalist and writing an article; it’s a predicament any one of us can be caught in the middle of. Also the media is changing, and it’s something that we will all have to adjust to. With all different kinds of social media out there, there are a lot more ways to break a story.

"Special Report on Oklahoma State Football: Part 5 -- The Fallout"

From Sports Illustrated

Analysis by Lindsay Butler in SRM 334 (section 2)

The Oklahoma State scandal is something we have seen time and time again in the world of college level sports. Players receiving payments or benefits of some sort as an incentive to push them to do their best and win is not a dirty secret kept by few, but instead a major issue on the rise, specifically in football. Although, Sports Illustrated shocks its audience when in a five-section spread they expose not only cash rewards but also drug use, female hostesses used for sex, and the falsifying of grades. With numerous players coming forward with allegations and accusations made against boosters, professors, and coaches the media became the number one information source for curious readers. 

Sports Illustrated broke the story in a way that would draw reader’s attention and keep them wanting more. Disguising an over talked on issue as something much more they released the story in sections with each headliner completely different from the last and never giving readers a conclusion telling them to wait for the next section. A cleaver marketing strategy that worked just how the SI team planned. Whether you believed the stories being released or thought it was a load of junk you would still read the story upon it being released to judge the information provided. After the fifth section finally hit the public, media sources of every kind began examining the content and looking to interview any party associated with the scandal.

ESPN reacted immediately with an article that questioned the credibility of those quoted in the SI release and pulled facts that disproved multiple claims made within it. With two of the largest sports outlets in the nation touching on the issue Oklahoma all of a sudden became a hot commodity and was receiving media coverage from every angle. If you hadn’t had the opportunity to read the full story on Sports Illustrated you could easily gain access to it through a link posted at the end of the article released in response to it by ESPN. In the modern world we live in today the internet is a powerful source and this scandal was not going to escape from it. Looking toward social outlets such as Twitter we see not only the accused players responding to the article but news sources tweeting quotes from interviews with those affected by its accusations. Potentially one of the most impacting articles in response to SI’s was from Kansas City Sports where they finally said what no one else had, “who cares”. Quotes from this particular article spread like wildfire through short clips posted on YouTube, and once again Twitter. As fans and spectators we crave the most up to date news on our favorite teams and wait for bad exposure for our least. It is the job of members of the media to exploit stories such as the scandal in Oklahoma State. The media touches the lives of nearly every citizen daily and it is their responsibility to find a way to make us stop and look at the stories they provide us with. The headlines chosen by Sports Illustrated were short and to the point so readers knew exactly what that portion of the article would be about before reading the first sentence. By breaking their story into sections SI also ensured that the interest level of readers would stay high until they had all the dirty details and could make a firm opinion of their own. Within the world of sports, communications is critical for the reason that it can either benefit you or you can become victim to its wrath but you can’t escape it. As a student with intentions of working in the field of sports I believe having the knowledge of dealing with media is extremely important for a successful career.

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Analysis by John Boitnott in SRM 334 (section 2)

The five parts series of Sports Illustrated’s investigation into Oklahoma State’s football program included over 60 interviews of former players who talked about their experience while at the school. The five series addressed the money, the academics, the drugs, the sex, and then the fallout faced by many players after they were no longer on the team.

This story was investigated and reported by Sports Illustrated, arguably the nation’s most popular sports magazine. Whether through television channels, websites, social media, or in this case print media, the sports stories we talk about and discuss with the people around us are all influenced by the media and help shape our views of the issue. While these days ESPN seems to always be the ones that come out with the breaking news of what is going on in the sports world, it was interesting that Sports Illustrated (SI) was the first one to reveal the story. Most everyone in our class seemed to think that print media will completely die off within 10-15 years and is becoming less relevant to how we find out information. But with SI being the first to find out and tell us the information on such a huge story it showed that print media may not be as far behind digital and social media as some think. Because of a media source breaking the story the NCAA will most likely conduct their own investigation in the matter soon, and if SI didn’t shed light on the matter it is very possible the NCAA would not have found out about all the infractions and violations.This article was relevant to the course because it focuses on things we have discussed during class, such as how the players were interviewed and also how media loses trust when coaches or administrators do not communicate with the media. Both coaches Miles and Gundy would not talk about the subject when SI asked to interview them about what they knew, which led to the tone of the article having a lack of trust in the coaches due to their non-compliance when asked about the possible infractions their players may have committed.

"How Twitter Amplify May Change Sports And Social Media As We Know It"

From SportsBusiness Journal, USA Today, and Forbes

Analysis by Griffin Waugh in SRM 334 (section 1)

Recently, Twitter hired former Professional Bowlers Association CEO Geoff Reiss to be the head of sports partnership. This comes at the same time as Twitter filling its initial public offering. As a publicly tradable company, Twitter is estimated to be worth $12 Billion and wants continue grow its connections with other entities. Reiss will now help Twitter to gain a larger hold on various media companies. They already have deals with media outlets like ESPN and Fox Sports. Reiss has an experienced background with creating major sporting deals, such as when he convinced ESPN to extend its contract with the PBA as well as to show more bowling telecasts on the ESPN family of networks throughout the year.

The second article I read dealt with how Twitter has set itself up for success. Twitter has based its profitability off of its advertising revenue and its connections with other entities. So far Twitter has already begun partnering with content providers like ESPN, Turner Sports, MLB Advanced Media and many more. By creating this partnership with these companies, Twitter can then help to readjust the way these providers deliver their material. We have seen this already with ESPN on college football game days. Instead of just posting game casts, drive summaries and stats on their main website. They now post short clips of all the big plays going in the football games on that particular day. 

This growth of Twitter has changed the media and the way we receive content forever. We now live in an information driven society that constantly is looking for the fastest and easiest to get what we want. These two articles provide us with another example of just that. As Twitter continues to grow and partner with content providers they will help change the way we receive this information. Geoff Reiss may be a key cog in helping to create this shift in the way content providers get their information out quickly and in short bits. This is similar to what we have seen in class with other forms of media. Radio at one time was the primary way in which people heard about sports. That slowly changed with the rise of the television and society becoming more image driven. As Twitter continues to grow its capabilities and connections, we should see a change in the way media provide their content. Not to different from a short 140 character tweet, the information we receive on sports will become shorter and more highlight driven. In order to satisfy the needs of sports fans.

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Analysis by David Hoye in SRM 334 (section 1)

Twitter has become one of the most popular websites visited today, with over 550 million users. In the sports world, millions of fans follow their favorite athletes, coaches and reporters, to receive up to date information and entertainment throughout the day. Just like any social media site, not all good comes from using the account. Many athletes, college specifically, have gotten into trouble with their tweets. Dealing with criticism has been difficult as student-athletes receive more recognition and stardom. Any fan can tweet at these college athletes, expressing brutal opinions on their performance.

An article in USA Today focuses on Willie Cauley-Stein, a University of Kentucky basketball star that ended up deleting his twitter account, resulting from the negative tweets directed towards him during an underachieving freshman season (Auerbach). This happens all the time in college athletics. Some coaches at major programs don’t even allow players to tweet during season. This is done in a way to protect them from any distraction or emotional and mental harm they’d receive from fans. Assistant Professor Blair Browning from Baylor said, “(Twitter) can be a really constructive, positive tool but we need to train and educate our student-athletes instead of putting all this money toward being watchdogs." 

This really questions the fact if athletes should have Twitter at all. It can bring a lot of negativity to a player, team, and even university with the things that are said on timelines across the globe. It will be interesting to see if Twitter will be used continuously in the future if such controversy keeps occurring.