Miami Heat First Practice

The Paper champion Miami Heat held their first practice of training camp Tuesday as sited in an Associated Press article on ESPN.com. Miami decided to hold the practice at an Air Force base in Florida. Personally I can not wait for this NBA season to begin. It is the most anticipated season in any of the major sports that I can remember thus far in my lifetime. I am eager to see if this team comprised of 3 all-stars and a few spare parts can gel not only their egos, but also their talents. It seems like it is a foregone conclusion to everyone in the media that Lebron James and Dwayne Wade's game's will both work together without a hitch (See 2004 Lakers vs. Pistons). Granted with that much talent on one team it is likely that they'll figure it out for at a minimum a long playoff run. But there's more to winning in the NBA then just collecting a few all-stars especially when the top 2 have very similar styles of play. At some point, there will be a crossroads for this Miami Heat team. There will be a situation that calls for an "alpha dog" to step up and take charge. This is a key moment that occurs for nearly every championship team. When that moment comes, there are a few possible scenarios that may be played out. Dwayne Wade steps up, taking ownership of the team he's already led to a championship, and Lebron accepts it. Or, Lebron could step up being that he is widely regarded as the best player in the league (Durant supporters check back in about 5 months and I'll edit that), and Wade will accept taking the "Robin" role to Lebron's Batman. Whichever of these scenarios plays out, it would probably be positive for the team as a whole. The trouble could come if these two both attempt to be alpha dogs, and neither backs down. Kobe and Shaq could attest to this being a troublesome dynamic. This Heat team should be many things, the most of which will be interesting. It has always been my belief that teams win, not a collection of all-stars, but I may be swimming upstream come June 2011.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/trainingcamp10/news/story?id=5626101

Yankee Yacker

http://www.mvpgotham.com/mlb/968-yankees-clinch-playoff-berth.html

To see the yankees clinch a playoff berth to me is ..well...relieving. How they won the game is what makes me have beef. Not one hit with runners in scoring position. All sacrifices or blunders by the Blue Jays that put the Yanks in the postseason. They have looked anything but a World Series contender down the stretch with their collapsing pitching staff overall including the bullpen. And their lack of hitting the god damn baseball. You almost see every game now where the yankees will be down o i dont know 6 runs and curtis granderson hits a solo shot. Followed by a solo shot by cano. Even the great Mariano Rivera cant seem to close things out without having me bite my shirt to cope with the anxiety he puts on us yankee fans. They cant keep beating up on the twins each postseason. If they dont steal home field advantage, beware minnesOHda.

Carmello Not Going to the Nets

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/2010/09/28/2010-09-28_carmelo_anthony_trade_likely_to_happen_or_die_wednesday_as_new_jersey_nets_nugge.html

After all the attempted hype Mikhail Prokhorov put into the Nets this offsesason by making outlandish claims or NBA, reality is starting to set in. Mello isn't going to the Nets and the Nets have nobody to blame but themselves. They didn't want to give up the players necessary to get Mello in town and they lost out. This article does a great job of detailing what needed to be done for the trade to happen and what did not get done. It also gives insight with quotes from Mello stating how he is staying in Denver "at least for now." It was written well and provides all the information the reader would want to know in the article.

Former World Cup Referee Arrested in NYC

Posted By:
Ramiro S. Funez


Article URL:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/09/21/sports/soccer/AP-SOC-Referee-Byron-Moreno-Arrest.html?_r=1&ref=soccer


Response:

This article, published by the Associated Press and displayed on the New York Times website, is basically about a famous referee named Byron Moreno who was arrested for possessing heroin.

Although the article focused more on sports news and didn't mention any games or tournaments, it was excellently written and provided a lot of straight facts that were direct and objective.

The writer of the article gave a lot of background on the referee and described the scene of the crime perfectly. The writer also have some good scenery and imagery of previous games that the referee participated in.

Overall, the reporter did an excellent job and was very objective.

where are the fans

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5625055

Tampa is on the verge of clinching and had the chance monday night but only in front of a small attendance of 12,446 fans! For a team that has been good as it is I can relate to the frustrations and disappointment Evan Longoria is expressing. In any other city like new york the stadiums would have been packed. i thought Olney did a good job writing the article covering Longoria's point of view and highlighting facts that certain key players wont be returning next year because of payroll cuts, which would hopefully make the tampa fans more aware of how disheartning it can be for thier hometown team. I noticed that piece incorporated a lot of good quotes

Mir is Back

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Mir-Knee-KOs-Cro-Cop-at-UFC-119-27115 : I am primarily going to talk about the main event of theUFC 119. Reason being because the main event really did not live up to the hype except for the last seconds of the fight, the crowd got restless, it might mark the end of Cro Cop's career and might set Mir up for a title shot with Lesnar if he wins one or two more fights. The story is centered on Mir knocking out veteran Pride fighter Cro Cop with just 58 seconds left in the fight . Mir capitalized on a knee strike with punches and resulted in a referee stoppage. I am guessing Knapp was at the fight and I find it would be difficult to write about mma fights in part due to the fast paced action, maybe gathering notes between rounds.

Reggie Bush Injury

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/2010/09/21/2010-09-21_reggie_bush_injury_latest_blow_for_new_orleans_saints_rb_after_losing_heisman_tr.html

I absolutely love the irony in this article. Reggie Bush just returned his Heisman Trophy that he won in 2005 with USC and in the following game he breaks his leg (awfully hard to make that Heisman pose now). James Parziale tied in the broken leg to the Heisman Trophy resignation right at the beginning of the article. He then went on to mention how USC is facing major sanctions and seems to be trying to influence the reading audience to think that Bush almost deserves to break his leg as punishment. It's always talked about whenever the NCAA comes down on a school because 95% of the time the players or coaches that were the cause of the sanctions are no longer attending the school. The person which causes the school years of sanctions faces no consequences for what he has done (John Calipari). I love the timing and direction of this article

Jet Check?

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/dolphins/braylon-edwards-dwi-arrest-makes-his-status-for-930193.html

Once again, the Jets seem to find themselves in the tabloids. For all the wrong reasons.

WR Braylon Edwards, who showed his sportsmanship by taunting the cornerback who was 5 feet shorter than he was for the patriots in last sundays game, was arrested for DWI. In which he blew a .16 why driving in manhattan.

I dont know about you. BUT I AM SICK AND TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT THE JETS. Not because they are this super team that everyone keeps talking about how their a legitimate super bowl team. But because they always seem to find themselves in the middle of trouble.

Sure, lets trade for a guy who already has a 4 game suspension to start the season off. 'Hard Knock' lifestyle. If the Wide Receivers coach would have thrown the ball to the Wide Receivers. Hence Wide Receivers coach. Then they wouldnt have Ines Sainz up there ass. Sans ..Miss. Universe. No pun intended haha.

This so called superbowl team sure isnt acting like it. Talk all the shit in the world and they end up digging themselves in deeper sheeet.

Again, Not trying to give them a 'hard knock' on the head. But seriously, if you want to be considered a super bowl team. Then at least act like a super bowl team. Not getting on there play. Just their stupidity by the way they carry out themselves.

But what do i know im just a raiders fan haha

Cost of Injuries

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/sports/football/22vecsey.html?ref=sports

Most of the story is centered on the opinion of Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. For example, his opinion on the high level of injuries in the NFL so far, the change in concern for players and trainers tending to those injuries(concussions, etc..). He is serious about his facts as he has played football and so have his children. He addresses saftey of players in realtion to the cost of that safety and why it is even an issue. Hence, the writing process for Vecsey must have been difficult because he is addressing specifically the p.o.v. of Miller and the accuracy should be on point! It is a very delicate topic. Also, Vecsey must have gone through a fair amount of trouble just to get the ideas of a committee member.

The Jets = Charlie Brown Complex

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/columns/story?columnist=cimini_rich&id=5600153

I think Rich Cimini takes an interesting view of the Braylon Edwards incident, but hits it right on the head with this article nonetheless. He compares the Jets to the cast of "Animal House" in the way they have carried themselves throughout this summer and into the start of the season. He dates back to the Superbowl when Rex Ryan was caught flipping off Dolphins fans, all the way up to Braylon Edwards' DWI.

The article made me think of Charlie Brown, who seemed to solve every problem, just in time for the next episode to begin with a new problem. The 2010-11 Jets seem to have the same problem. The difference - Charlie Brown did nothing to deserve his problems. The Jets on the other hand, have caused all of their problems by developing the rock star mentality that the team has today.

What're your thoughts? Do the Jets just have bad luck like Chuck, or did they cause all of this? Keep in mind that the only Superbowl the Jets ever won came with the biggest playboy football has ever seen calling the plays - Joe Namath.

BURRESS

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/giants/2010/09/19/2010-09-19_plaxico_talks_about_life_behind_bars.html

I thought this was a great feature on Plaxico Burress and how he is holding up in jail. Burress was sentenced to 2 years on felony gun possession a charge that I still deem as being too harsh. Since then he has applied for work-release twice but both times denied. It was interesting also that the story mentioned that half of the 400 public prosecutors believed that there should have been no jail time. The writer also mentioned Burress's conversations with his son and him moping the floor making the readers feel sympathetic and engaged in the story. It was nice to read that giants qb coach mike sullivan, brandon jacobs, and both former and current gm's were still in contact with Burress. I thought the feature was very well written and made me feel bad for the guy but also look forward to his return.

A Long Flight Takes Fight Out of Barcelona

Posted by Ramiro S. Funez

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/sports/soccer/13iht-SOCCER.html?_r=1&ref=soccer

The above article, found in the New York Times, was written by Rob Hughes and discusses a recent loss by F.C. Barcelona (a club soccer team in Barcelona, Spain-often regarded as the best club team in the world).

The red and blue striped Iberian giants played against Hércules Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (a first division team that is just beginning to make a name for itself). The resulting score of the game was 2-0.

The game was definitely newsworthy and surprising for fans of soccer from Spain because Barcelona is infamous for having one of the best squads in the world, while Hércules Club de Fútbol has just recently been beefing up its squad of random international players.

After reading the article, I felt that the reporter did a relatively good job at reporting the story. He certainly included a lot of details, facts, and background on both teams. He also didn't seem too biased throughout his story.

Overall, the article was very well written and had a lot of professional aspects of sports journalism.

Brian Schotenheimer and the news

Now two mornings after the Jets week 1 loss, I am uncertain why the media has not covered this more specifically. After watching the game, it is clear to any football fan that the Jets were very conservative in their play call. I was very surprised the last two days that the news has not brought up this issue of the Jets "hiding" Mark Sanchez or being reluctant to let him throw the ball down the field. Anyone have any thoughts on why the media has overlooked this story that had a lot to do with the Jets' offensive struggles Monday night?

A Tamer Tiger

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2010/09/08/2010-09-08_roger_federer_ascends_to_omnipresence_in_endorsements_as_tiger_woods_falls_from_.html

This column has an interesting take on the public view of Roger Federer now as compared to before the Tiger Woods incident. Before November Tiger Woods and Roger Federer were both looked at as near Gods in their respective sport by fans. Not only did each player dominate their sport, but neither athlete had any previous personal troubles outside of the sport. Both athletes were as close to perfect as anybody can be. Such is not the case anymore and this Filip Bondy is stating that Roger Federer has full advantage now. He now stands alone as the only athlete to be so dominant and not give in to the temptations the world has to offer him (at least that we know of; which is all that matters). The timing of this column comes on the day that Roger Federer will face Robin Soderling (a recently challenging opponent for Federer) in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open. Bondy is showing how the public eye is on Federer and whether you like him or you hate him, people are relying on him to maintain their hope that there is a clean, perfect, and scandal free dominant athlete in this world. The man has already won 16 majors, nobody will care if he wins another. They just want him to stay clean.

Heisman Trophy Issues

I think it is rather harsh to ban a school from two years of bowl games, cutting football scholarships, and firing the athletic director Mike Garrett for the behavior of one player. I don’t see what these lavish gift and returning them would have any relevance to his performance on the field and the Heisman, this is not in the realm of tarnishing the trophy in my opinion. I do understand U.S.C.’s decision to remove all relating to Bush on the campus, that’s their move. Also the notes on Carroll and his departure to the Seahawks in order to jus leave the school is ridiculous. Even worse is the suggestion that, “The N.C.A.A. should make sure Carroll doesn’t get another college coaching job for seven years, a year for each major violation Southern California was found to have committed.” Why are specific people like Carroll and Garrett the targets?

Hard Knocks

This season of 'Hard Knocks' wraps up tonight with the fifth episode of HBO's probe into the Jets off-season, training camp, and preseason. When I found out the Jets would be the subject of 2010's installment of the show which has featured the Dallas Cowboys, and Cincinnati Bengals in previous years, I was excited to get a closer look at a team creating more buzz than any in recent memory who hadn't won the Super Bowl the previous year (maybe the most ever for a team coming off a 9 win season). Rich Cimini wrote an article for ESPNNewyork.com today detailing the top moments of the first four episodes, and speculating on what could be in store for tonight. As a person who has followed the team very closely for the better part of the last decade, the show hasn't provided what I thought it would. It has feels like my dirty laundry has been aired for the whole country to see. I expected to be given an in depth look at a title contending team with more practice footage, more film study, and overall more football. What it has done is create a bulls-eye big enough to cover Rex Ryan's back and his mouth. Every episode seems to be spotlighting some scenario or situation that will be blown out of proportion the following day by the 'cherry picking' likes of Mike Francesa and the rest of the national media. From Rex's foul mouth, to Jason Taylor's punctuality, it seems that a large chunk of each hour long block has been taken up by a story intended on embarrassing the Jets. Cimini references in his article a scene from one episode in which cornerback Antonio Cromartie is asked to name his eight children and seemingly struggles in doing so. Cromartie claims that he was asked to re-shoot the scene the way it aired to intentionally make it look like he was struggling. Some thoughts that will probably emerge from the five week circus that was Hard Knocks will likely be, Rex Ryan is too simple minded to curse less than once a sentence, Mark Sanchez is immature and not ready to be the quarterback on a contender (and is nicknamed "Nacho" by Bart Scott), the Revis holdout was some sort of ratings hoax, and that the Jets are eventually going to have their smug smiles and brash cockiness jammed down their throats at some point this season. Every opposing player who has seen the show is undoubtedly waiting to get a piece of the team with the biggest mouth in the league. Where was all the football?

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/jets/post/_/id/1586/hard-knocks-a-look-back-a-look-ahead

Spain Suffers Its First Loss Since Winning the World Cup

Posted By: Ramiro S. Funez

Link To Original Story: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/09/07/sports/soccer/AP-SOC-Spain-Argentina.html?_r=1&ref=soccer

Argentina's national men's soccer team defeated Spain, this summer's FIFA 2010 World Cup Champion, yesterday with a grueling 4-1 result.

The Iberian champions, currently ranked number one in the world, lost to the South American soccer giants in Buenos Aires.

I believe that this article was very well written and perfectly captured the essence of the game in an informative way.

The article, published by the Associated Press, took an interesting angle by introducing a new coaching administration within Argentina's soccer federation, who was formerly delegated by soccer star Diego Maradona.

However, after reading the article, it seemed as if the writer favored Argentina's victory because of the way that they described the win.

Towards the end of the article, I liked the way that the writer gave a back story to both of the teams. They mentioned that Spain "had not allowed four goals since a 4-1 exhibition defeat at Germany in August 2000."

They also wrote, "It was the second victory for interim coach Sergio Batista, who took over after Diego Maradona was let go following a 4-0 loss to Germany in this year's World Cup quarterfinals. Argentina defeated Ireland 1-0 in an exhibition last month."

In terms of providing facts and information, the writer did an excellent job. However, I still felt that he kind of favored Spain's loss because of the way that he described the goals scored.

Bush should give the Heisman back

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/sports/ncaafootball/08rhoden.html?_r=1&ref=sports

The story of Reggie Bush possibly having the Heisman revoked from him from the 2005 season has been making recent headlines. I chose this story because I noticed yesterday that there have been many reports stating that it will be taken away but according to the Downtown athletic club president Jim Corcoran these reports are premature. "Everyone is writing all of this stuff, I don't know where they're getting it." At this point it seems there have been no absolute decision to take the award from him. With some speculating Bush should avoid the embarrassment and give it back himself. Bush and USC had already been condemned for ineligibility by the N.C.A.A during the 20005 season for accepting lavish gifts form 2 sports marketers. USC has cut ties with Bush removing all references of him throughout the school. The reporters that broke the story Bush will have his Heisman stripped will most likely face some scrutiny for having post false information.

Obama calls for $50B in infrastructure spending

Posted by Ramiro S. Funez

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/obama_calls_for_in_infrastructure_dqtK3Vx0607eILDsyThtoM

Note: Although this is not a sports-related article, it is still something that has been receiving a lot of attention from the media and is important nonetheless.

Above is an article that I was able to find on the New York Post website. The article is basically about how President Obama wants to stimulate the economy by investing in transportation companies that will develop more advanced infrastructures of technology and construction. According to the article, the plan would require congressional approval that is seen as unlikely because of it's cost. Personally, I feel that President Obama is being lobbied and manipulated by many of these transportation and roadway companies who favor trickle-down economic systems and poise this stimulus plan as a something that would "create jobs" and "help our communities" when all they are really concerned about is getting federal support to expand and continue their profit-based agendas. In return, President Obama must cater to these companies in order to satisfy the needs of large companies that have a lot of socioeconomic power. The article, attributed to the Associated Press, presents a fairly balanced standpoint and is relatively objective. However, there weren't as many quotes as I would have liked to seen.

Matt Leinart release

There are a couple of things that I noticed in the recent article about the release of Matt Leinart. I believe there is a flaw in the lede, Judy Battista assumes that Leinart would have probably went number one if he left college a year early. There could be an argument on the side that it might have been difficult since the other top QB and first pick was Alex Smith. It also depends on the team with the number one pick as well. She also mentions that Leinart wanted to be a starter if traded, which I was not aware of until now. Making this public was a bad idea for Leinart because if he is not talented enough to be a starter with WR Fitzgerald, WR Breaston, RB Wells, RB Hightower and a decent offensive line, how are other coaches and owners going to feel about him with a lesser caliber team? Also, most teams have their starting QB in place. However, I found it gracious on his part to thank the Bidwell family. It was also right on Coach Whisenhunt's part to say Matt Leinart made progress and a "fresh start" would benefit him more than an Arizona backup role.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/sports/football/05nfl.html?ref=sports

Welcome to the class blog

As part of our sports reporting class, students are required to contribute to this blog on a regular basis throughout the semester.

Students will be expected to post one new entry each week. The entry will have to do with a story from a New York area newspaper/website -- NY Post, NY Daily News, NY Times, Newsday, ESPN New York -- that has caught your interest. Your post should be about 200 words, and you can focus it however you want.

 Perhaps you'll give an opinion on the subject. Or perhaps you'll discuss the reporting that was involved in the story. Or perhaps you will talk about what you would have done differently. Your goal is to make your post interesting and thought-provoking. Make sure to include a link to the story.

In addition to doing one new entry a week, students must also comment on AT LEAST two recent entries from other students.

This assignment will account for 10 percent of your final grade.