Journalism 320 has been an interesting experience. I have learned new people, and learned new things. One thing I have learned is that journalism is a lot harder that people have ever expected. It is a lot of work and can cause some irritation.
Looking for the right lead, finding the right theme and people to talk to, writing the right story and writing the proper view of each story. Before this class I wanted to be a sports journalist covering teams and other things like that. After this class I still would like for a pro or college team but I don't want to cover anything but that. I know what I'm good at and that's all I want to do. I would like to write game summaries, and other breaking news for the teams.
I have come to respect the profession even more than I have in the past, some aspects of it just aren't for me.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Life after Football
I wake up every morning and there isn't one inch on my body that doesn't hurt. But that is the price I payed when I decided to play football.
I have broke my wrist, tore my MCL, had concussions, and most recently tore my labrum in my right shoulder. These things bother me every day and don't get me wrong I love football but I am afraid for my future. I want to be able to walk or exercise when I'm older or even be able to move. I want to be able to be active with my kids and not have my brain turn to mush and forget past events. When I think about it, it is crazy what I sacrifice for the game of football, and it's only Division 3. The time I have put into it, what I've put my body through, and the sacrifice I've made being away from my family. But with all these sacrifices come great payments. I have won two conference championships, which many people won't ever have or even know the feeling. But most importantly I have adopted hundreds of family members with the Tiger football family. Alumni, and my present team mates that I have now. And I am grateful for them and the opportunities that they have presented to me or will in the future. I just hope my health doesn't get in the way of it.
I have broke my wrist, tore my MCL, had concussions, and most recently tore my labrum in my right shoulder. These things bother me every day and don't get me wrong I love football but I am afraid for my future. I want to be able to walk or exercise when I'm older or even be able to move. I want to be able to be active with my kids and not have my brain turn to mush and forget past events. When I think about it, it is crazy what I sacrifice for the game of football, and it's only Division 3. The time I have put into it, what I've put my body through, and the sacrifice I've made being away from my family. But with all these sacrifices come great payments. I have won two conference championships, which many people won't ever have or even know the feeling. But most importantly I have adopted hundreds of family members with the Tiger football family. Alumni, and my present team mates that I have now. And I am grateful for them and the opportunities that they have presented to me or will in the future. I just hope my health doesn't get in the way of it.
Nut Cutting Time
I'm sure everyone is aware that Wittenberg is trying to cut various departments in order for the school to save money and avoid even worse economic issues. To put it bluntly Wittenberg has to cut something and it is not gonna be athletics.
And here is why, every sport no matter if it is football or if it is cross country it brings in students which in turn gives the school money. So take for example the football team, they have at least 60 recruits a year, and that may be a low number. That equated to how many thousands of dollars for the school, and even if those students transfer they are still getting some money from those kids still. Then you take a look at the Dance major, and no offense to the dance majors but there may be 4 dance majors. Now look at events how many home games to athletic teams have and how many dance recitals to we have? Huge revenue difference there. Also with sports, with our teams being as good as they are they host additional playoff tournaments too, so there is even more money there. So don't blame Wittenberg athletics for Witt losing money, that is just not fair. It is just that those departments are making enough money and when push comes to shove, someone has gotta go.
And here is why, every sport no matter if it is football or if it is cross country it brings in students which in turn gives the school money. So take for example the football team, they have at least 60 recruits a year, and that may be a low number. That equated to how many thousands of dollars for the school, and even if those students transfer they are still getting some money from those kids still. Then you take a look at the Dance major, and no offense to the dance majors but there may be 4 dance majors. Now look at events how many home games to athletic teams have and how many dance recitals to we have? Huge revenue difference there. Also with sports, with our teams being as good as they are they host additional playoff tournaments too, so there is even more money there. So don't blame Wittenberg athletics for Witt losing money, that is just not fair. It is just that those departments are making enough money and when push comes to shove, someone has gotta go.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Election Hangover
So now that all of the annoying commercials on TV and on your YouTube videos will now disappear, what will happen next?
President Obama's reelection Tuesday night happened rather quickly ending around 11:30 PM and soon after that we learned of other changes around the nation. Marijuana was legalized in two states and gay marriage was legalized in four more. But that may be all the significant change we see. Republicans retained the House and the democrats won the Senate. So they key question now will be can the President create poilicies that both sides agree or will he become more moderate in order to get anything done. More political stalemates can really hurt our country. But after this election and after seeing things on Twitter and talking to others, I don't ever remember seeing people opinions so divided. We need to come together as a nation and figure some things out before we get ourself too deep into some shit.
President Obama's reelection Tuesday night happened rather quickly ending around 11:30 PM and soon after that we learned of other changes around the nation. Marijuana was legalized in two states and gay marriage was legalized in four more. But that may be all the significant change we see. Republicans retained the House and the democrats won the Senate. So they key question now will be can the President create poilicies that both sides agree or will he become more moderate in order to get anything done. More political stalemates can really hurt our country. But after this election and after seeing things on Twitter and talking to others, I don't ever remember seeing people opinions so divided. We need to come together as a nation and figure some things out before we get ourself too deep into some shit.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
The Loss of Royalty
Early Wednesday morning reports flooded in of the passing of legendary football coach Darrel K. Royal at the age of 88.
Royals most significant years were spent in Austin coaching the University of Texas Longhorns. He paved the road for what the Longhorn program is today. In 20 season he won three National Championships (1963, 1969-1970) and 11 Southwest Conference titles, now the Big 12. He compiled a record of 167-47-5 making him the the winningest coach in Longhorn football history. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and in 1996 University of Texas renamed their stadium to Darrell K Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium.
Royal also patented the wishbone offense. The wishbone offense put less stress on the offensive line by inserting a fullback into the backfield. The wishbone eventually led to the invention of the option offense. Which the Longhorns used to win 2 of the 3 national championships in Royals tenure.
The Longhorns will honor Coach Royal by wear decals on their helmets with the initials DKR on it and will line up in the patented wishbone offense in their first offensive play. The Longhorns will take on Iowa State at noon on Saturday.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
My Type of Party
Now that I'm a junior I have seen my fair share of things around campus and especially on campus. One observation is Wittenberg students really really really like to party. And I've noticed different occasions and trends.
No matter if its the senior celebrating the end of their thesis celebration with their friends at the bar or if it is that sheltered freshman finally letting loose and getting so drunk they throw up all over themselves in public.
It starts off pre-gaming in dorms for the underclassmen and pre-gaming in houses for the junior and seniors, which for some may actually be the game, if you know what I mean... but then you go to house parties with either a team, club, or frat/sorority you're affiliated with or if you're feeling frisky you go to a house out of your comfort zone to meet some new people. After that the night ends for the ones under 19 but for others the ball keeps rolling.
McMurrays, an upperclassman's Wednesday, Friday and maybe Saturday night. Mc's summed up in a few words would be dancing, singing, drinking, and sweating. And of course before you leave you order a Chicken Bacon Ranch in the midst of your drunkenness to take home. And as you scarf down the piping hot pizza you barely feel the temperature let alone taste it.
Many people party up to 4 nights a week at least. Some peoples motivation to finish school work is so they can go out and drink. Wittenberg never has a bad night of partying, it just comes down to which nights are better than others.
Administration
Wittenberg's administrations recent handling of the sexual assaults have been, well questionable. Erin couldn't have said it any better in class the other day. We would get the same email about a sexual assault or if there was a cat loose in an academic building. It seems like Wittenberg is trying to either protect us from the truth or they are just keeping the truth from us. It seems that they are trying to preserve the non-existant Wittenberg bubble, even though all this chaos is happening inside of our bubble.
The administration keeping us in the dark about the french professor situation is not fair to us as adults and students. We deserve to know what is going wrong in our community so we can protect ourselves in order to avoid situations like these so they don't happen again. The emails we receive seem to be very vague and uninformative. This doesn't help us grow as a community, it doesn't help us, it doesn't protect us, it does just the opposite of these.
I would like to think that the administration thinks a bit more highly of us and our maturity and intellect. It is a bit of a slap to the face with the way they have treated us with presenting us with the campus alerts.
The administration keeping us in the dark about the french professor situation is not fair to us as adults and students. We deserve to know what is going wrong in our community so we can protect ourselves in order to avoid situations like these so they don't happen again. The emails we receive seem to be very vague and uninformative. This doesn't help us grow as a community, it doesn't help us, it doesn't protect us, it does just the opposite of these.
I would like to think that the administration thinks a bit more highly of us and our maturity and intellect. It is a bit of a slap to the face with the way they have treated us with presenting us with the campus alerts.
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