Twitter / Wednesday — Comments Off on Being quick about it
16
Sep 20

Being quick about it

Have you ever gotten to the end of a day and thought the aggravation wasn’t worth the minimal mental effort? Ever screen capped conversations and come back to them later, just to make sure you weren’t imagining them?

I’ve got about a half-dozen followup rhetorical questions, and the answer to all of them, of course, is “Yes. So what?”

Which, dear reader, is a profoundly on-point answer today.

Great column here:

This stuff is aggravating:

I think I started really riding bikes again 10-or-so years ago just as a release. Sometimes I remember that and today was one of those days.

I’ve been saving this story to share for just such a day. No! Really! I have a bunch of tabs open and this was one of them and I’ve been hanging on to it because the numbers are oddly inspiring. You’ll like this.

And, now, back to the bike race.

Tuesday / Twitter / video — Comments Off on Just pulling some things together in the one spot
15
Sep 20

Just pulling some things together in the one spot

We’ve noticed we’ve saved a few bucks, since we’re eating all of our meals at the house. Cancelling vacations has helped, too.

Also, we’ve got a few more grocery operations, and we only go to the store every couple of weeks. Some of these habits will stick around for us.

He just wanted to talk about sports all the time. And he’s really good at that. Michael is proving to his boss and coworkers that he’s good at a lot of things in the newsroom. Of course, he’s been getting his fair of practice with bad weather.

This is the show where Michael got started. We miss him, but this year we’ve gained masks and they’re still going strong.

How do you do sports when you don’t have sports? Well …

We should get some sports news soon, maybe even tomorrow, or so we’re told.

More on Instagram and check me out on Twitter as well.

cycling / Monday / photo / podcast — Comments Off on Interviewing my wife
14
Sep 20

Interviewing my wife

We had a nice bike ride over the weekend. I took it easy, nursing an old guy’s bike. (I have come to appreciate the wisdom of listening to my some of my aches and a few of my pains.)

The Yankee did hill repeats:

I did sprint repeats. She might have still been faster, though.

If you go down this hill, all the way down it, you can make it to the lake. And then you’ll wonder if you should regret that decision because theres only the one way back up and you’re on a bicycle. The bottom of the ascent starts out at 12-14 degrees, but averages out for a nice 4-degree climb.

We saw some nice roadside flowers, too.

Also, I interviewed her Friday. When you have a distinguished and renowned sports media scholar who has a home office just around the corner from your own, you book the interview. The premise is “We had the usual amount of sports, and then no sports, and now we have every sport imaginable!”

For the record, it was no easier to get her booked, but it was more fun talk to her and easier to edit. Which balanced out the difficulty of trying to write questions about things she talks about all the time. This is an issue for all of these experts: Come, please, talk about your understanding of your life’s work in a basic way. The difference being I’ve heard her talk about it for years, and, with these other people, I send them a cold call email, interview them, thank them for their time and later send them an email link.

If I got one wrong here, or, worse, left one out …

Every now and then I try to encourage her to do any number of shows of her own. One day I’ll find the right idea. Then I’ll get to edit some more of that brilliance.

Friday / Twitter — Comments Off on Some Twitter things
11
Sep 20

Some Twitter things

Because what I can offer you won’t get better than this stuff right here …

More on Twitter, check me out on Instagram and more On Topic with IU podcasts as well.

IU / photo / Thursday — Comments Off on Just a teevee thing
10
Sep 20

Just a teevee thing

Back in the studio this evening. The sports gang had another two shows to shoot. The highlight show is a little thin just now, IU sports aren’t back yet, but any day now it would seem. The talk show is operating at 100 percent, however. This is how it will look when it is released later this week:

Haley is telling the guys how it is at the beginning of the NFL season. She’s taking Kansas City to repeat. She and Jevan are filling the role of football beat reporters this year. They’re going to do a great job if they get the chance. It’s an open question if Big Ten football will start (it will) when it begins (next month sometime) and how the media will get to work (total mystery).

Jevan is the one on the right. Drew is the host of this show. This is his second year running The Toss Up. Last year there were four chairs on that set. The three-chair arrangement is a concession to social distancing, but I think it is going to wind up creating more interesting camera shots. Drew already thinks it might be better in terms of working in his guests.

Drew came to IUSTV three or four years ago. He learned how the audio booth worked and locked down the A1 role. One night he showed up in a coat and tie, monologue in hand. We had some extra time and he delivered his script. Over time, he used those occasional spare minutes to improve his writing and his presentation.

He got stronger and stronger and those bits became social media extras and then regular features. Two years ago we graduated the last absolute star. (He’s working on the Gulf Coast these days, making me jealous all of the time.) And that meant auditions. Drew got the job and, today, he’s hosting this show, learning about producing and is a co-sports director.

Haley has been an almost-natural from day one, and she’s creating mountains of great clips for her reel. Jevan started out enthusiastic and a little nervous, but each time he’s on camera, you can see him growing more and more comfortable every time the lights come on.

My favorite thing about student media is that it’s so experiential, which is absolutely critical for students studying this stuff. The most important part of it is how easy it is to take advantage of the opportunity. The neatest part is watching students do it.

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