I would not be so bold as to say I am the best teacher in the world. Nor would I be so self deprecating (yeah, I don’t know what’s going on with this sentence either) to suggest that I’m the worst teacher in the world. I’m probably somewhere right in the middle of the top tier or near the bottom of the “also receiving votes” bunch, depending on the material.
But no matter what, I can read a room. And today’s vibe, in two classes, was “Enough with this semester already.”
Just one more day of putting up with me after this, guys. You can do it.
We watched the highly compelling 30 for 30 documentary, “June 17, 1994.” No one has uploaded a trailer equal to the thing, but this is from Netflix.
It follows a unique day in sports history. The Rangers had won the Stanley Cup and there was a ticker tape parade in New York. Arnold Palmer was wrapping up his legendary PGA career with one last round. The Knicks and Rockets were fighting in the NBA playoffs. The World Cup was opened in the U.S. by President Bill Clinton. Ken Griffey Jr. had a day, and also, there was one other bit of news that evening.
This is the view from the sixth floor, and apparently the sun broke through just in time for the sunset.
O.J. Simpson in Al Cowlings’ white Bronco.
The documentary is different because it is told in original found, and archival footage. There’s no contemporary narration or interviews. It’s just editing selections, juxtaposition, musical score, and those video clips. It’s a nice 51 minute piece, which you can find on ESPN and, as of this writing, Netflix.
In org comm we talked some more about scandal and image repair. They’ll wrap up with image repair on Tuesday. And everyone will be into finals mode.
Even the sunset is sort of over the day, I think. Here’s the view from the sixth floor.
Two more classes to plan, six more course notes to send, and about 108 things to grade.
I counted them up on the drive home, in the pitch black of night.
Guess who has been giving me the business for not talking about them here. You guessed it. They get a whole month of highlights, and then I overlook their contractually obligated weekly appearances for a few weeks and the howling, yowling protests I receive … these cats should have been agents. They’d be devastating in negotiations.
Anyway, here’s Phoebe, in between lodging her protestations. She’s surveying her queendom.
On a recent cold night, Poseidon cuddled up next to me, on top of me, and under the covers.
That’s the boy that wants to go outside all of the time. Always needs to be under the covers, but wants to try on the cold of all outdoors.
Here’s Phoebe considering a bit of dust on the steps. I like how the tail curls around the paws.
And here’s Poseidon doing his best noir cat act.
He would have been great in an old noir movie. He’s got real charisma on camera. But he also has versatility. If he couldn’t get top billing, somehow, he could play a good mid-level henchman.
So the kitties are fine. They’re ready for Thanksgiving, and an extra day of cuddles.
And while Thanksgiving is Thursday we did have class today. The university is only closed Thursday and Friday. So we had class today, those of us that showed up. In my criticism class we discussed Mo’ne Davis is finally ready to play baseball again
Back in 2014, when she was on top of the planet, when she was the first girl to pitch a shutout at the Little League World Series, when she was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and getting recognized everywhere she went and fielding requests from what felt like every corner of the country, Davis heard something that she never forgot.
In the immediate aftermath of that wild run in Williamsport, Pa., her coach told her, “Mo, I don’t want this to be the greatest thing you do in your life. I don’t want you to be 35 years old stuffing yourself in your old Little League jersey and signing at a card show.” She took that message to heart.
That was not his plan when he delivered it to her. “When they’re 13, you feel like they’re not even listening to whatever you say,” Steve Bandura says now. He was stunned when Davis, now 24, recently used that quote in a newspaper interview to describe what had shaped her life after that famous shutout. You remember that? Of course she did. Bandura met Davis back when she was in elementary school and had coached her in multiple sports, and he’d always recognized how smart she was, how good a listener, how thoughtful. Of course she would hold on to something like that.
She was invited to the White House. She published a memoir. She struck out Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, she was the subject of a documentary by Spike Lee, and she had not yet turned 15. She kept thinking about those words from her coach all the while.
It’s a good story, and it’s about her, but it’s also about this new baseball league, and the modern star, and the commissioner, and the draft, and Davis’ coach is our real tie to the younger star of years gone by.
The draft for this new league has since taken place. Davis was picked 10th overall. The Women’s Pro Baseball League is scheduled to begin play next May.
DPS troopers found Kneeland’s vehicle crashed on southbound Dallas Parkway near Warren Parkway. According to the report, Kneeland fled the scene on foot and officers searched the area with help from K-9 and drone units.
As authorities were looking for Kneeland, a dispatcher told officers that people who knew him had received a group text from Kneeland “saying goodbye. They’re concerned for his welfare,” according to recordings from Broadcastify, which archives public safety radio feeds.
Approximately three hours later, Kneeland was found with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Happy Thanksgiving, boys and girls.
That’s a morning-of story, and one of the few breaking news style pieces of copy we’ve looked at this semester, so there were plenty of new things to talk about. And, as a palate cleanser, I ended the day with three quick videos, each with something we could discuss in a useful kind of way.
In org comm, we talked about stereotypes, prejudice and diversity. We discussed the organizational aspects of diversity and inclusion, and we talked the substance of organizational success. You could see them staring at the screen, with my extremely exciting slide deck. You could see them dreaming of turkey.
The blog is taking a few days off. See you next week. When I make my quiet little list of things I’m thankful for, I’ll be including the readers of the site in that list. And, of course, the kitties.
Rowan / Thursday / video — Comments Off on This long day featured shooty hoops and a diversity lecture 20 Nov 25
In my criticism class we talked about this documentary, which begins with a basketball tournament hit by a dangerous storm. In fact, a desperation three-point shot at the end of one game sent it to overtime, which kept everyone in the Georgia Dome, while a tornado hit downtown Atlanta. Hence the title, Miracle 3. But in the second act, the tournament officials have to figure out how to continue their event because the Georgia Dome is now unusable. So they moved across town to Georgia Tech’s gym, which seems like an impressive feat of logistics.
And in the third act, Georgia, who had a thin and bad team that year, went on the most improbably run, winning three games to win the SEC tournament, another miracle 3, of a sort. But not more so that the jump shot that may well have legitimately saved lives.
It’s a pretty good documentary. The class was into it. We talked about media aesthetics and a few of the tangential points included in the documentary. Someone looked up something about the film as we talked. If nothing else, we’re fostering some good curiosity. But, hopefully, we’re doing more, as well.
In org comm we discussed diversity. We started with the SPLC’s Frame acrostic. We talked about diversity, and stereotypes, and explicit and implicit prejudice, and different sorts of discrimination, your standard greatest hits collection.
Then we tried to tease out some of the things that weren’t included in the basic overview, which allowed us to discuss sports and people with special needs. Turns out that 47 percent of kids with special needs are playing a sport, and some 30 percent of adults with a disability are physically active.
And then we talked about this story I ran across recently. A small town high school had a local elementary school student take part in some pregame football ceremonies. The kid is autistic, so they had to figure out how to accommodate her needs. They talked to some experts, and local businesses, and they set up a place where she could enjoy the game. Then this amazing thing starts happening, other people in the community start coming to the games, people who had never gone to games before. We also talked about the Philadelphia Eagles, who have a hugely robust Autism Foundation. The franchise has hired 35 employees who are on the spectrum, in a demographic that experiences 85 percent unemployment. They’ve also trained 700 stadium works to work appropriately with fans with autism, and they have sensory facilities. Some Eagles execs have personal connections to autism, and that’s how it began six or seven years ago. And, since then, the Eagles Autism Foundation has raised more than $10 million autism research and programs.
Which was a great way to end the day, teasing Tuesday’s discussion about inclusion.
I drove us home in near silence. The day had just wiped me out, somehow. And the drive seemed to take longer than usual. This evening, one set of things has been taken off my plate, annoyingly so. But there’s still much to do. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get back to that.
I tried to get this published elsewhere, but failed. I still like it. I’m sharing it here.
We fall in love for a lot of reasons.
I recently asked a bunch of people to tell me about a big sports event they participated in, watched in the stands, or even on TV. You could group their specific answers into a few categories, pure sport, inspiration, and family.
In no particular order …
Someone mentioned the 2021 James Madison-Oklahoma softball game. The Sooners were on their way to becoming the irresistible force in collegiate softball, and JMU played the underdog role to perfection. The two sides faced off three times in the Women’s College World Series.
College softball is perfectly packaged as a televised sport, and that series proved it. The pace is fast, the game moves quickly and the athletes are incredible.
Someone else recalled the 2017 Minnesota Vikings playoff miracle as the moment he became a football fan. Not a Vikings fan, but a football fan, because the play showed him that anything is possible.
And Joe Buck’s “DIGGS!” will give you a little pep, even when you know what’s coming.
A couple of people talked about their own personal moments, being on the field when a championship goal was scored, winning a state championship in track and field, being a part of a David vs. Goliath style upset … I asked them what it’s like to be a momentary folk hero. It must be pretty good, humility wouldn’t let them say so, but the little smiles gave them away.
Ricky Pearsall had a triumph of the human spirit last year. Robbed and shot, he was on the field for the 49ers less than two months later. It’s easy to see why someone might pick that game, especially.
Some of the memories people shared were straight up sports moments, as they should be. Giancarlo Stanton digging in with the bases loaded and delivering, just like every kid that’s ever picked up a bat has imagined, was one such sports memory.
Others were personal. One recalled going to the Yankees Old-Timers Day with his grandfather, seeing some of the greats on the field, and meeting some of the legends in the stands. And to do that with your grandfather … it’s a lifetime highlight. I hope if someone asks him that question one day, it makes the short list.
In every generation, in every Olympics, we are reminded that sport is about our future. Someone recalled watching the 2008 Beijing Games, being inspired by a 14-year-old Tom Daley and becoming a diver, too. I asked, springboard or platform? This is how young that child was when inspiration struck: My mom wouldn’t let me dive off the platform. Moms are moms, and sometimes a mom’s fear overrules the drama of athletic feats and stories well told.
While Daley towered above us, balancing on the edge of cement structures, we were also all looking up as Kawhi Leonard bounced … and bounced … and bounced a ball all over a forgiving Toronto rim. Two people mentioned this one.
Drama is why we keep coming back, no? This year’s 4 Nations Face-Off and basically the entire 2012 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs were mentioned as two great examples of peak hockey.
Some moments just live on the circumstance and the visuals they give us. Maybe that is a part of what we want fandom, at our most romantic, to give us. Like when Bryce Harper delivered “the swing of his life” against the Padres’ Robert Suárez, who saw his ball sent to left-center, and the Phillies saw their season continue into the World Series. Or perhaps Saquon Barkley doing any number of Saquon Barkley things. He comes up a lot with this question right now, as you might imagine. The greats always do when you ask a question like that. Tom Brady and his many rings, Lebron James in Miami, women’s gymnastics at the 2024 when Simone Biles and Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles and Sunisa Lee and Hezly Rivera won gold, all of them no doubt inspiring another generation of talent to follow them.
Early impressions are lasting ones. We are so often fans of teams or players because we either grew up in a broadcast radius, our folks liked them, or they were at their peak when we were coming to fall in love with the sport. It was no different for one person who told about his introduction to the Australian Grand Prix because it roared by his neighborhood a decade-and-a-half ago. There was also the guy who smiled through a memory of going to see the Pittsburgh Steelers’ training camp to meet his heroes, because Mom and Dad made it happen. Similarly, another watched Tiger Woods make his improbable run in 2019 with his grandfather. I wish the older man had been in the room, so I could have also asked him what he thought about that moment with his boy.
It is easy to see how sport can reflect us socially or culturally. We bring a lot of reasons and a history of our own to these things. We put a lot into it. Sometimes we must explain the context of a particular event to help others truly appreciate a memorable moment. It is much easier to explain how they resonate on a personal level. The great plays and best outcomes — the swing, the stick, the deep bomb, the dagger, the buzzer beater, a woman runs fast, a man dives, an incredible backhand, a preternatural putt, a fine day in the sun, a long leisurely afternoon in the autumn shade, the fabled pimento cheese sandwich, the roar of crowds, the improbable post-season runs, high-fiving strangers — really, they’re all just permission, some of the world’s most ridiculous permissions, to fall in love with these silly things.
May we carry them forever.
What’s the best sports play or event you saw live? Why does it stick with you?
College sports received a C for racial hiring practices when it decreased slightly from 75.1% in 2021 to 73.3% in 2022. College sports also received a C for gender hiring, with 74.1%, which was a slight increase from 2021 when it was 72.8%. The combined grade was a C with 73.7%. That was down from 74.0% in 2021. In other words, overall, equal opportunity hiring practices are getting worse instead of improving.
As we look at the sidelines in the tournament, we see the best record for hiring of people of color and women as head coaches. But the coaches of color represent a fraction of the student-athletes on their teams. In 2021-22, Division I men’s basketball Black student-athletes made up 52.4% of the total, compared to the 24.8% of Black head coaches. We have a smaller percentage of Black head basketball coaches now than we had 17 years ago, when 25.2% of the Division I head basketball coaches were Black.
This is a project Professor Lapchick and his team at UCF undertake every year. They grade out the big professional sports leagues in the U.S., and also collegiate sports. The students picked this little story to read, and so we talked about the grading system a bit, Lapchick’s work, and also some of the math involved here, which was hilarious. A few of those students are in my organizational communication class, and they don’t know it yet, but we’ll be discussing Lapchick on Thursday, too.
It is an injury which has plagued Major League Baseball for the best part of the last century. The ligament in your elbow which connects the bone in your upper arm to the one in your forearm – and is only about as strong as “a piece of celery” – tears, leaving you unable to throw and facing a very lengthy spell on the sidelines.
This season, the likes of Gerrit Cole, Corbin Burnes and Shane Bieber have all had Tommy John surgery – the most popular procedure to repair a torn UCL – while Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani made his long-awaited return to the mound after almost 22 months away following the second elbow surgery of his career.
Dr. Christopher Ahmad, Tommy John expert and head team physician for the New York Yankees, has performed the surgery on some of the biggest names in baseball. But he has also been privy to the other side of the story.
“The alarms are going off on how devastating this problem is to the youngest players,” he says in an interview with CNN Sports.
One of the series of questions I try to get the students to answer is who is a story for, and who is the disadvantaged person, or group, in the story. Sometimes that’s subtle. Sometimes obvious. Wouldn’t you know it, at least two people in the room say they knew someone that had already damaged or ruined their UCL by high school.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to get the “piece of celery” imagery out of my mind when watching people throw a baseball.
We also discussed the Slaying the Badger documentary, which we watched last Thursday. I showed it because we watched a football-center documentary just before, and we’ll watch a basketball-themed documentary just after. There’s something to be said about watching something you nothing about. Plus, it’s a dramatic story.
I was impressed, they seemed to like it more than I would have expected. It is a trick and a challenge to try to explain a sport to an audience who may have no understanding of the sport, while also reaching an audience that knows a great deal about it, while also telling a riveting story. For the most part, the filmmakers here did that. (The book is better. Yes, the documentary was inspired by a book.)
I was proud of myself. I did not get too far into the weeds on the cycling minutiae while trying to answer their questions. That would have been easy to do.
Why was he wearing this jersey and now wearing that jersey? What’s the deal with stages?
You don’t need to know the sport to follow the story, but knowing the sport heightens your awareness of a film.
In org comm we had a great negotiation activity today. I was nervous about it, but it worked out well. I had one student play a quarterback who is about to become a free agent. I specifically chose a student who can be loud and opinionated and, often, correct, to be the player. That kept him out of the back-and-forth. I had two others play his agents. One of them a super smooth charmer, and another who is quite the thoughtful analytic type. They did their work with their client in the hall, and then they would come in and meet the team leadership for the negotiations.
The rest of the class I broke into groups representing his team. I wanted one person to be the GM, a student who also seems worldly and practical. The rest of the class broke up into various VP offices and so on. There was some designed conflict between those franchise groups, and every group had a certain series of motivations and criteria I gave them.
It took exactly one round for them all to get into the exercise. It took them five rounds of offers and counter-offers for them to reach a deal.
The most fascinating thing happened. though. Two of the team groups were supposed to be resistant to making a deal for budget and other considerations. So they had conflict with the boss group, my three-headed GM hydra. The GM(s), though, wanted to make the deal. So they had to go back and forth, which became incredibly animated. One group convinced themselves they were absolutely opposed to the signing. But when they finally reached a deal, franchise GM(s) and player-agents, everyone was so happy, and the various groups, even the ones that had been opposition just moments before, were “Welcome home!” and “Welcome to the team!”
The actual player will be a free agent soon. I’m curious to see how close, or how far off, our mock negotiation was.
I’m also wondering how we can take this org comm class and do more things like this, which are marginally practically and a lot of fun.
