FLAMED OUT

The Flames got doused tonight in front of a "crowd" of 27, including all 14 of us from "Sports and Social Media" (#sasm) class.

The Youngstown State Penguins' (Penguins, really?) tall guys were too tall for the UIC Flames and hit shots from outside too. The Youngstown State guards were too quick and created too many turnovers for coach Howard Moore's host team (5-11, 0-2 Horizon League).

The Flames fell behind by 1 point on a 3-point buzzer-beater at halftime and never recovered after leading scorer (prospectively only scorer?) Kelsey Barlow got hurt and sat out and by the time he came back it was out of reach and he was playing like someone who resembled Kelsey Barlow but wasn't Kelsey Barlow because of his injury, whatever it was. UIC scored 7 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half and went bye-bye, ultimately by a final of 75-62.

Meanwhile, mascot Sparky flirted with the girls, played around with the kids and kept smiles on people's faces, to his credit, considering the size of the crowd and the temperature outside.

A few blocks away, the Luol Deng-less Bulls were surprising the Phoenix Suns. Much further away, Creighton was handling DePaul.

And if Northwestern played, they lost. Or will lose. Probably.

Tonight was about finding out what the Sports for Social Media kids (#sasm) could do online and in class, what they could write, coherently, and spell and punctuate and tweet. Like what I see so far but much reading to do the next few days.

Tomorrow we'll find out if they can blog. If they can't, they'll learn how, a lot how, next Monday when they blog away 5 hours (hint, hint, kids, write well, write carefully, proofread, spelling and grammar count and I've got the abacus out).

I'd suggest to my kids they study some other Twitter trails and blogs (Columbia grad Graham Couch at the Lansing, Mich., State Journal on Michigan State's game versus Ohio State last night) and my Juice This blog at thesportspost.com and David Haugh on anything and everything at the Chicago Tribune and Daily Herald sports beat writers like Tim Sassone (Blackhawks) and Mike McGraw (Bulls).

Oh, I work there too.

See you kids at a prep game, well some of you. Remember, grades for J-Term are due the last Saturday in January, so get's get to work. The sooner you write your blog, the better and the more you remember (like tonight or tomorrow, preferably).

Hugs,

HS

I Get Around...

I have ignored this URL long enough, busy focusing on my "Juice This" blog at thefootballjuice.com, the latest edition of which is coming later today (check it out). That's fun, but can't leave this one alone. My students are all over it, for God's sake, and it's getting linked, along with their blogs, to Beyond the Game, their self-produced, online magazine.

Besides, gotta' dis on the Bulls (yeah, I know they beat Miami, so?). Gotta' see who's gonna' be wrong again about MLB predictions. And one last shout out to an athlete who coulda' been a star but wound up outshining the rest of us anyway...

BULLS LOVE:

What is up with the all the love for the Chicago Bulls? Beat the Miami Heat. Ended the Heat's 27-game winning streak. Fan tried to steal LeBron's headband. Beat the crap out of the Heat physically and got away with a Flagrant Foul or two. Did it all without Joakim Noah, without Derrick Rose, without Marco Belinelli, without Rip Hamilton.

Let's see, lost to Sacramento earlier this month, 121-79. Got the crap beat out of them. With Joakim Noah. With Marco Belinelli. And the Kings without DeMarcus Cousins. Lost to Sacramento by 42. Same team that beat Miami.

The Bulls, despite all their injuries, are pretty good. When they feel like it.

RIGHTS OF WRONG:

They call March the rites of spring for Major League Baseball teams. Everyone has an opinion too on what team will finish where. Perform all the metrics and analytics you like, but mostly it's based on last year's finish and a key acquisition or two to patch a weak spot or shore up a pitching rotation.

So I'm reading predictions everywhere that the Detroit Tigers already have the AL Central wrapped up. That the St. Louis Cardinals will find a way in the NL Central. That the Los Angeles Dodgers have spent too much money to not make the playoffs. That the New York Yankees will spend their way through their hospital ward and make the postseason.

And the Boston Red Sox are back, the Washington Nationals will repeat and the Cincinnati Reds are the class of the NL Central.

Somewhere in all of that is the surprise team, the one that comes out of nowhere and wins everywhere, makes the playoffs despite itself and every pundit says, oh yeah, we knew all along they could do it.

Yeah, right.

Everyone who picked the Oakland A's last year, please stand up. They're the same people who had the Texas Rangers in the World Series a third straight year.

And still misses the days of smoking crack with the manager.

But Terry Francona is back and in Cleveland. Watch out.

FAREWELL TO ARMS, LEGS, BUT NOT SPIRIT:

Rob Komosa passed away. He wasn't the best football player, but he was the bravest. Paralyzed after a practice accident at Rolling Meadows High School, where he played, he carried on like no other, with enough spirit for us all.

No one deserves this. And I especially feel for the kids who hit him on the practice play on which he lost everything.

But his heart.

It beat strong for another 13 years.

So long, Rob. But not good-bye.

***

Howard Schlossberg is editor of the Journal of Sports Media. He's an associate professor of journalism at Columbia College Chicago, where creativity and learning are embraced hand-in-hand. And he still writes sports for the award-recognized Daily Herald in Chicago's northwest suburbs. @hschlossberg

Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

I thought of it - again - while reading a column in Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal - why is there a disconnect between those in academia and those in practice?

Those who do groundbreaking research in sports journalism are not likely connecting with those who practice sports journalism. Sports journalists are not going out into the field to cover major events with the lingering thoughts of challenges and questions raised in research papers they sat and dragged themselves through.

And why not? Well, most journalists don't write their game wraps, features and sidebars with "Abstracts," "Literature Reviews," "Introductions," "Discussions," and "Conclusions," let alone "Bibliographies." Most beat reporters cut to the chase, get right to the winning goal, game-winning kick, clinching basket or game-breaking home run.

OK, with a little bit about PED users and abusers, athletes who are cheating spouses, labor-negotiation updates and "Sausage Race Highlights" thrown in. But nowhere in a sports story or broadcast are there any of the aforementioned sections cited in the previous paragraph.

And, dare I cliche it, therein lies the rub. Academics don't write the way reporters and editors do, let alone the way reporters and editors absorb information, usually on the fly, off an app, Facebook, a team web site or more likely Twitter.

So, when I read and review submissions to the Journal of Sports Media, which I edit, I know that the quality of the work will be offset by the fact that a whole 14 people will read it, including the authors, their parents and their tenure-review committee members. The sports editor of the New York Post and the on-duty producer at ESPN SportsCenter are not waiting for this with baited breath, regardless of its groundbreaking value, and many of the papers we publish have just that quality.

Authors Rick Burton and Norm O'Reilly of Syracuse University and the University of Ottawa, respectively, who both specialize in sports business management, made just that point in their joint article in Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal's Jan. 21-27, 2013 edition. In discussing the divide between academia and practitioners, they noted, "Is it because the academics who write papers for these journals have made their work so hard to understand (or so nuanced in what was researched) that the average practitioner can't see any value? Is the writing so dense that the key points are obscured?"

Truer words never spoken. OK, written. Having worked both sides of the fence now, and still working both sides actively, in fact, I can relate. I cover games and events for the Chicago suburban   Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Ill.) and write stories on deadline with no "Abstract," no "Introduction," no "Discussion," no "Methodology," no "Conclusion" and no "Bibliography."

I love both of my roles as sports correspondent, now in my 37th year, and educator, now in my 18th, all concurrent. Yes, I'm tenured faculty. But the next time I write a story in the Daily Herald about a game I covered that includes an "abstract," an "introduction" and a "conclusion," will be the first time.

It just ain't gonna' happen.

Keep plugging academia. But get real. It's time to get real. As in relevant. Not in your topics. But how you tell those stories.

***

I have a new motto, at least for now: "If you're not doing something crazy, you're doing the wrong things." That's courtesy Google CEO Larry Page, in the February 2013 WIRED Magazine, discussing how thinking big can produce big ideas.

Too many people play it safe, including me. Way too many with whom I work, who think that minimal change is "good enough." Except "good enough" isn't. They need to grow a pair and buckle down or die with the very industry they're trying to save.

Thanks, Larry Page. And thanks to all the people who waited patiently and worked tirelessly to cover for me while I recovered. That won't be forgotten. Xoxoxo...

***

Howard Schlossberg is editor of the Journal of Sports Media. He's an associate professor of journalism at Columbia College Chicago, where creativity and learning are embraced hand-in-hand. And he still writes sports for the award-recognized Daily Herald in Chicago's northwest suburbs.

TRANSITIONS

TRANSITIONS

     It’s a period of transition for me and the Journal of Sports Media which I edit. I’m leaving as editor and will turn over the duties soon.

     I need to thank everyone who helped me get through reams of research each edition for two years. And the capable guys at UNL Press. A special thanks to Brad Schultz.

     I’m a sports writer, not a Ph.D., so I like to think I brought a different perspective to the journal. I’m a risk-taker, but with a dose of practicality. Maybe I published a paper or two others might not have. And maybe I didn’t.

     I like new frontiers. I like pioneering them. I like fellow risk-takers. Blazing new paths is fun. It’s not always fun for the guys at UNL, but it’s fun.

     I’ve learned a lot because I've read so much. So much great research. So many great discussions. So many groundbreaking survey results. So many people who we helped, I hope, earn their doctorates and tenure as well. Credentials aren’t everything in sports or academia. They’re the only thing.

     I got into a debate, on these pages and in my blog, over the value of sports reporting and teaching it (I won). Sports competes for the entertainment dollar, for the movie-theater dollar, for the recreational dollar, for the leisure-time dollar. When Disney owns and is essentially running and overseeing the largest, most-influential sports media outlet worldwide, you know that the ‘E’ in ESPN, which stands for “Entertainment,” is the most-important letter in those initials.

     Chris Berman gets that. SportsCenter anchors get that. ESPN producers, directors and writers get that.

     It’s why I subscribe to and read Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal right alongside my ESPN the Magazine and Sports Illustrated.

     It’s why my students in my Sports Reporting and Advanced Sports Reporting classes at Columbia College Chicago must display knowledge of sports as an entertainment business entity in their weekly media reviews, blogs and feature stories. And in their game-coverage assignments, when they accompany me on my professional trips into the field.

     For those of you who will edit this journal someday, don’t lose sight of that. Same goes for the many of you who will submit papers for publication consideration here. I don’t want Framing How the Weather Impacts Sports Writers Perceptions in their respective coverages of major events. I do want, Framing Perceptions of How Disney Promotes Itself When it Places its Movie Stars on ESPN Talk Shows.

     I can only imagine what the ESPN true-grit, on-air, sports-talkers think when Brandy, Kevin James, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and others of their ilk show up on set, ostensibly to talk sports but really to promote their next Disney-produced CD or movie. Then again, I’d love to see research on how real pro football and golf analysts feel when Chris "Boomer" Berman goes on one of his nickname, pop-culture rants while the real insiders wait to make their insightful contributions.

     Still waiting for research on that. Still waiting for research on how the media gave a pass to $640 million worth of “remodeled” Soldier Field in Chicago and how its exterior wound up looking like a UFO landed on Lake Shore Drive. It’s so out of place with anything else along Chicago’s beautiful lakefront.

     And ever notice how on games televised from there, you always get the camera angle of the stands that doesn’t show the side with all the glass of the suites to avoid the perception to the audience that the stadium is a super-suite money mecca. No, wait, that’s exactly what it is. Which is exactly why we never see that perspective on TV. And our media never discuss that either. Hello academicians, where are you?

     Anyway, I’m still waiting on research about the media going unscathed for its love affair with Notre Dame football. The next time someone writes anything bad or critical about coach Brian Kelly will be the first time, despite two student deaths attached to the program the last two years.

     Where are you media? And where are you in academia to call out the media?

     It’s time to transition back to what the media is supposed to do and it’s time for those of us in academia to hold them accountable.

     Thanks for reading. Keep those submissions coming to the journal too.
     As long as I'm not doing that professional editorship thing anymore, I'm gonna' go get a Snoop Dogg tattoo.

     Sincerely,
     Howard Schlossberg

     Columbia College Chicago, hschlossberg@colum.edu

     312-369-8904.

Howard Schlossberg is editor of the Journal of Sports Media. He's an associate professor of journalism at Columbia College Chicago, where creativity and learning are embraced hand-in-hand. And he still writes sports for the award-recognized Daily Herald in Chicago's northwest suburbs.

I Love Football But...

I love football but...

It doesn't take replacement refs to lose 1 minute, 12 seconds in a game does it? We have incompetent, full-time, regular refs who can do that.

Six weeks ago, the Bears were 4-1 and Packers were 2-3. Now, if the Bears lose at San Francisco tomorrow night (excuse me, when they lose), the Packers will be tied with them for first place in the NFC North. Oh yeah, go Bears! And take your arrogant fans with you.

Baseball pitchers get "dead" arms that sideline them. Looks like NFL quarterbacks get "tired" arms, a la Eli Manning. No, Eli,  it's called hitting your receivers, even against Cincinnati. Especially against Cincinnati, you dork.

Did you know that in bars now outside Chicago, you can play video poker? That ought to generate enough tax revenue to wipe out all state-wide deficits. Uh, not. And the mob has to take its share, don't forget. And that's just the state legislature and Cook County board. After that, the mafia too. States and municipalities that rely on tax revenue generated from people's gambling losses to erase their mountainous deficits are states and municipalities that will always have mountainous deficits.

Jay Cutler can't play this week for the Bears because he hasn't cleared concussion standards, according to the league. Pardon me, but didn't he play concussed against Houston? Green Bay? Detroit? And Carolina for that matter? Amazingly, he embarrasses tackle J'Marcus Webb on national TV with that little nudge of disapproval, and then he gets sacked like a potato against Carolina and concussed against Houston. Hmmm...anyone see a connection? You embarrass your offensive line and your offensive line pays you back. By not protecting you.

I still can't tell the difference between NFL games and the violent video games that advertise during them.

Did a Texas high school really ban Bible banners at its football games? Separation of church and state still exists after all. How about that! Now all we need to do is separate Texas from the rest of the states.

Ryan Lochte says he believes competitive swimming can become as mainstream as football, basketball, baseball and hockey. Well, maybe hockey.

Better late than never: Kudos and thanks to Sports Illustrated for its Sept. 24 football sidebar on Homer Jones, one of the NFL's all-time great and original speedsters. Growing up in NY, we always would repeat on the street what then-Giant quarterback Fran Tarkenton would say about Jones: can't overthrow him.

Or his memory. Thanks, S.I.

I want to retire: No, really, and move to Tempe. Or Knoxville. Sports towns. College towns. Year-round weather. Teach a little, Write a little. Golf a little. Get my body back totally healthy. Can't do it yet though. Not enough of my students can spell/write/punctuate or use grammar adequately enough for me to even think about it.

Come to think of it, some of my colleagues can't either. Think about it, that is.

And I have one more issue of Journal of Sports Media to put out.

Howard Schlossberg is editor of the Journal of Sports Media. He's an associate professor of journalism at Columbia College Chicago, where creativity and learning are embraced hand-in-hand. And he still writes sports for the award-recognized Daily Herald in Chicago's northwest suburbs.

Sports Business Boston: Developments May Come Soon About Breakers' New U.S...

Once the city of champions, now the city of loozahs! Sorry, Boston, don't feel sorry for you. Your arrogance showed when you had a few winners. How about those Red Sawx!

Sports Business Boston: Developments May Come Soon About Breakers' New U.S...: By Zachary Baru Promising news came earlier this evening about the status of a new U.S. women's soccer league.  The Boston Breakers alread...

Shame and Blame The Name of the Game

For every mistake
  Turn...turn...turn
There is a reason
  Turn...turn...turn

But all we ever get
  Are excuses.

For instance...

BYE BYE STEPHEN STRASBURG: The Washington Nationals say they're gonna' shut down Stephen Strasburg. Protect that "Tommy John'd," surgically repaired arm. They're also preparing the press release that says even though they didn't make it to the World Series this year without him, they're confident they can also miss the World Series in years to come with him.

HOCKEY LOCKOUT: The National Hockey League is no doubt bracing for yet another work stoppage when it fails to reach a collective bargaining agreement with its players. The official deadline is Sept. 15. As if you cared, right? Will you really miss those goons making believe they're playing hockey? And look at it this way: Patrick Kane is available for party appearances.

MINOR LEAGUE BLUES: The independent, Class A Schaumburg Boomers in suburban Chicago issued a press release in mid-August announcing they'd won as many games this season as the Cubs. Yeah, sure, but call me about that again in 108 years.

DEAR ESPN: Is it really smart to use Mark Schlereth to analyze the Denver Broncos and Matt Millen to comment on Penn State's situation? What's next? How about using Mike Golic to comment about Notre Dame being the only school without a conference membership to be unfairly seated at the BCS table?

No, wait...

MY CUB RUNNETH OVER: So the Chicago Tribune reported that Cubs' baseball head Theo Epstein has spent $49 million so far trying to clean up the Cubs mess. In less than a year.

Who does he think he is, Magic Johnson?

THE PRINCE IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE PRINCE: Which came first, the hot-tub hazing or the high ankle sprain for NY Giants defensive back and former No. 1 draft pick Prince Amukamara? Or were they simultaneous?

Grown men, still hazing. It's a harmless prank. But when high school and college kids do it, it's a suspension, a penalty, a dismissal, an expulsion, a bootlegged You Tube video and a branding for life.

Seems fair.

BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? for Bears fans who still blame last year's collapse on backup quarterback Caleb Hanie, think again. Obviously, he was going to have problems running an offense he rarely got to run in games, especially one designed by Mike Martz. So what did the Bears do to help him out?

Did they simplify things? Didn't appear so. Did they shorten the playbook? Didn't appear so. Did they have a respectable running back to go with him after Matt Forte went down? Not.

What they could've done was charge up the defense. A few more blitzes. A few more gambles. A few more turnovers would've made life easier for Hanie and an offense that suffered, expectedly so, after its No. 1 QB went down. Nope, the Bears did nothing above and beyond with the defense to help make up for the many offensive shortcomings caused by the injuries.

The old Tampa 2 became the Chicago 5 - 5-game losing streak, that is. Anyone looking to Hanie to imitate Jay Cutler was sadly disappointed and overly expectant to begin with.

So this year, the two words Bears fans should fear most are: Jason Campbell.

JUVENILE INTEREST: Congratulations to Dane Claussen, editor of the Journalism and Mass Communication Educator publication of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (aejmc.org). He published an article in his latest edition about sports, which by his own words in an essay in the previous edition is a "juvenile interest" for those who write about it and still call themselves journalists.

Hypocrisy is a beautiful thing.

###

Howard Schlossberg is editor of the Journal of Sports Media. He's an associate professor of journalism at Columbia College Chicago, where creativity and learning are embraced hand-in-hand. And he still writes sports for the award-recognized Daily Herald in Chicago's northwest suburbs.