I am very excited about my presentation in #loweclass #sports that I am planning on doing on the topic of cheerleading. Many people have different opinions about cheerleading being labeled as an actual sport but cheerleading is in fact a competitive sport just as others are. 

So, what makes me so interested in cheerleading? Well, I always wanted to be a cheerleader. I cheered for three years in high school and was a captain of the squad my senior year. 

This was in total a great experience that I would not trade for the world. Rufus King IB High School has always been known for having some of the best cheerleaders in Wisconsin, and I am proud to say that I was one of them. Being apart of this group was like a sisterhood. We spent so much time together outside of practice and grew a very deep bond. 

For my presentation on cheerleading, I am planning on interviewing a few people as sources. I am not sure if I could include myself, but I do want to incorporate a way to express my personal feelings about this topic. I plan to interview my former cheerleading coach, another captain member, and general member of the squad. 

One thing that many people forget about cheerleading is that it is a competitive sport. Cheerleaders are not only present to cheer on and add support to other sports teams. Cheerleading teams compete nationwide and this is a huge part of this sport. 

I plan to discuss how cheerleading is generally portrayed throughout the media. Cheerleading originated as an American sport but it is now local, national, and international. A big issue regarding cheerleading or therefore any sport is the increased risk for injuries. While cheerleading is meant to support an athletic team, its intense competitions at high school and college levels have created a whole new dynamic. 

I am very excited to complete this presentation and I think that I am the right person for this topic being that I have years of experience. A goal of mine is to make others more aware of cheerleading as a sport and not as just a recreational activity. I want others to know the positive impact of cheerleading and why it matters.

On Tuesday, November 6, 2012 I had the privilege to vote in the 2012 Presidential Election. Although I have voted before, this was my first time being able to vote in a Presidential Election. Words cannot describe the feeling of having my voice be heard and I am happy to say that my vote counted!

I also had the wonderful opportunity to live blog this important event. I was stationed just a few blocks from the campus of Marquette University at Grand Avenue Middle School with two other #loweclass #jelection students. 

This experience was quite different from my personal voting experience at a different location earlier that day. The lines for voting were outside of the building and it was so much more live. I will take into consideration the time being that this was earlier that day before the typical work shift. 

At Grand Avenue Middle School, it was much more laid back and quiet. Being that I was there between 11:30am and 1pm, I thought that there would have been a lunch rush, but it was not. One of the voting inspectors explained that he expects it to pick up and be busiest later in the afternoon after the work shift. He explained that it was its busiest earlier that morning with the line being out of the door.  

Although there was not a lot of traffic during the time that I was at the Grand Avenue Middle School polling site, I did manage to ask a fellow voter a few questions regarding her decision and experience with voting. She explained that she was a democrat and was very excited for Barack Obama to win. "All democratics aren't good and all republicans aren't bad." I took this statement as her being open to others' views while still having strong faith in hers. 

On Tuesday, October 30th Assistant General Manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, Gord Ash, came in to visit #loweclass #sports. Gord Ash has been involved in sports journalism for over thirty years.  

Gord first started off by saying that journalists who he feel did the best jobs were overall fair. He used and emphasized this word a lot throughout his presentation. He says they credited the Milwaukee Brewers when they did bad and good, not only one. He explains that finding a balance between the two is very important. 

Gord brought up a very interesting point that was mentioned by our last presenter, Sharif Durhams. Gord explains that the big issue now is being first. For example, being the first network to have a story. This sort of coincides with what Shariff Durhams thought. Durhams explained that if your right, that is the ultimate value to any news organization and also readers. In his opinion, it really does not matter who's first. I would have to agree with Durhams because one could be first but still have the wrong information. It is always better to be dependable and to have the correct content.

Professor Lowe also asked Gord about the Ryan Braun situation with steroids. Gord says that he or anyone else did not for sure know if Braun was tested positive. He says that it happened in more of a public fashion than it should have and that he himself had no inside information. Gord explained that their is no such thing as "off the record," because it will eventually show up somewhere, sometime.

One of the biggest issues and battles faced in sports are over injuries. Gord says that it is worse to try and keep a secret and that it is best to give as much information as possible. He then follows with the comment that they can never lie, but do not have to tell all of the truth. I'm not sure if I'm the only one that feels this way, but that's quite similar to telling a lie. "Information is our currency, and we try to keep that private as possible." said Gord Ash. He also added that when asked a direct question, that many tend to "say something without saying anything." This is something that is relatable for me and I've seen this happen quite often particularly in political debates. 

Finally, I learned that promoting is in each players' contract. Players are encouraged to tweet but are monitored to distinguish what is appropriate and inappropriate. A lot of time is also spent giving players media training. An example of proper technique for interviews would be not sitting while being interviewed, etc. These type of things were interesting to know because I was not aware of all of the time and effort that is put into things like this. 

Last week, I was given the opportunity to listen to Journal Sentinel reporter Sharif Durhams as he presented to #loweclass #sports. Durhams is a social media editor and is apart of the breaking news team as well. He has been reporting at the Journal Sentinel for four years. 

Sharif Durhams first discussed the process in which he can tell how much traffic the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal's website receives. He explained that JSOnline gets about one million views a day. This was sort of shocking to me because one million seemed plentiful. But then again, the Journal Sentinel is a well known source for information and news. Sports and politics are among the top stories that people view. 

Durhams described two additional reporters from the Journal Sentinel and presented them as "New School" and "Old School." Tyler Dunne, is considered to be new school. He covers online questions and answers from readers, and is on Twitter quoting athletes tweets. We also viewed a clip of the recording of a rookie football player from Tyler's iPhone.  

Tom Haudricourt, on the other hand, is considered to be old school. Tom has covered the Milwaukee Brewers since 1985. Tom is known as a expert on the Milwaukee Brewers. He does videos, television, and helps promote the JSOnline brand. Sharif gave us an example about the issue of Ryan Braun and the use of steroids. The Journal Sentinel came out to have the correct information while the Associated Press did not. Shariff explained that if your right, that is a value to news organizations and readers. Being the first to present a story does not matter as much. 

Another reporter, Tom Silverstein, is more old school, explained Sharif Durhams. Silverstein does live chats and answers questions from fans during breaks of games. He seems to be more of a sociable, approachable reporter. He jokes wit viewers and also does question and answers chats after games. 

Sharif discussed inter actives also. Examples were the Brewers home run database, Packers Bars database, and Twitter maps. One that I found interesting was the Packer Bars database, which informs one of what bars in which Packers games can be viewed. Durhams also mentioned mobile as an interactive. Mobile needs more development being that applications and mobile devices can be used almost anywhere. 

The most interesting part of Durhams presentation to me was the topic of what should be expected by the year of 2015. One will be able to pay for their food with a phone, play mobile games with other fans during game breaks, and somehow have their GPS system connected to where a person's food will be getting prepared when they pull into the lot. This alone just goes to show how much technology is steadily advancing. 

The Journal Sentinel is now trying to ramp up their sports/business presence on Facebook. Facebook gets four times more clicks than Twitter. It was shocking to me that Facebook is getting more traffic being that Twitter has recently become extremely popular. Sharif explained how important social media is, as I've heard numerous times from Professor Herbert Lowe. Sharif explained that social media allows you to try everything. 

Last week Wednesday, I attended a lecture at Marquette University that was hosted by Jeff Sherman, Co-founder of On Milwaukee. This lecture included three local sports executives: Gord Ash, John Hammond, and John Steinmiller. 

John Hammond, general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks, Gord Ash, assistant general manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, and John Steinmiller, Media Relations manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, all gave us significant insight on ways in which we could succeed in the sports field. 

One valuable piece of information that I took from the lecture was the quote to "do what you love, but know that your probably not able to do it right away." This stuck out to me because I often imagine myself going right into my dream career choice without realizing that I first have to take baby steps and work my way to the top. 

I personally know of many examples where this is true. John Hammond mentioned that before he received the position of the general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks, he was a high school coach, then an assistant college coach. Many of the panelist started off in entry level positions and worked their way up from there. This encourages me even more to be patient being that am so excited and anxious to do what I ultimately want to do.

The panelists' biggest pieces of advice also came in handy, one was to get your foot in the door. I feel as though I have mastered this technique but still helps to hear it from a professional in the industry. I previously interned with the television news station WTMJ4 as a promotions and sales intern and was able to alternate between the promotions and news department. This gave me an opportunity to get my foot in the door even if it was not originally a news internship. Even if a job may be below my capabilities, it is all about proving yourself and becoming better. 

Another piece of advice was to always have a backup. "Every opportunity I've had, has been presented to me" said John Hammond. This was somewhat hard for me to understand because I've always had a go-getter type of mentality. Meaning that if I want something, I will do whatever it takes to get it. With that being said, he also explained that one should be able to take "no" for an answer. 

I learned a lot during this lecture and received a lot of valuable information that I will definitely put to use in the future. It was a pleasure to meet such high standing figures in the sports industry and I very much look foreword to seeing more of the comical 
John Hammond as I intern with the Milwaukee Bucks for the basketball season. 

Last week, Journal Sentinel writer on the Business of Sports Don Walker came and spoke to our Sports Journalism class. Walker has been writing for the Journal Sentinel for thirty four years and has held multiple positions throughout these years. 

In my last blog, I explained how I was curious if Walker has covered stories related to Marquette sports. During his presentation, he explained that he has written about all sports teams, including the Bucks, Brewers, Marquette, etc. 

Walker is now in the process to covering and transitioning more politics. He explained that sports and politics are practically the same thing. They are both about winning and losing. I have never really thought about this analogy, but I do understand how Walker is relating both topics. 

Although I have heard this many times by Professor Herbert Lowe, our presenter also covered the topic of social media. He explained that Twitter has become so important to sports media. He mentioned that the recent Presidential debate set a record for the most tweets in a single television program. This was somewhat shocking because I did see a lot of tweets regarding the presidential debate, but it is often the same when their is a popular television show on. 

Don Walker gave us a few reasons as to why we should be on twitter. First, he says that it helps establish you as a journalist. He then says, "It's a hell of a tip service," referring to all of the information one could find out on twitter. This is definitely true because I find out so much news and information about everything imaginable on twitter. 

Twitter is then compared to Facebook. Walker says that Facebook is focused more so of what professional sports/college teams post to get their brand out, and not so much on people. I agree with Walker when he said that on Facebook, one does not know where a lot of the information is coming from. 

Overall, I learned a lot of new things that I was not aware of. Walker touched on the problem regarding the Milwaukee Bucks team possibly being sold and also Marquette Basketball's reputation regarding the sexual assault case two years ago. A lot of the information presented was new and also interesting!

Being that I am not a consistent reader of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, I have not had a chance to read any of Don Walker's blogs regarding the Business of Sports. As I read through a few today, they were very interesting.

One thing that I enjoy about Don Walker's blogs is that it not only covers the actual, live sporting event but also different stories surrounding or relating to sports. An example of this is the blog regarding the BMO Harris Bradley Center getting state support or the Seahawks' Russell Wilson starring in Levis advertisements. These stories, and many more blogs by Don Walker, are not directly aimed towards actual sporting events, which I personally think gives more of a variety and unique feel  to his writing. 

A blog post that stood out to me was the UWM planning new baseball, track facility report. This blog post basically explains about how the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's new athletic director, Andy Gieger, is planning on building a new baseball and track facility. Being that the UWM Post reported this, I am curious to know if Don Walker has ever posted about or connected with the Marquette Tribune. I am sure he has in some way being that he is a Marquette University graduate. 

I am really looking foreword to hearing from Don Walker on Thursday in #loweclass #sports. I definitely would like to learn more about his writing style and also what all it took for him to get to where he's at now.

I really enjoyed going through some of the best of journalism awards on the The Online News Association website. This really gave me a feel and example of what excellent, well-written journalism is. There were several stories which won awards that stood out to me, but there were a few that really caught my attention.  

The best story in my eyes was the CNN coverage of 9/11 called "September 11: Chronology of Terror." I really enjoyed this journalism because it gave a step by step order of everything that happened on the day of September 11, 2001. It was very interesting and heartfelt even eleven years after. I learned a lot of information from this list that I had not known before about this event.  The timeline literally covers the events of the whole day up until 11:54 pm on September 11, 2001. The layout of this story sort of reminds me of a twitter format. It goes into great detail about the different occurrences that happened around the United States, including the exact times.

Another story that I found to be interesting was the Virginia Tech Shootings, by the Associated Press. I feel that this was put together in a very unique way.  It starts off with a map of Virginia Tech's campus with the buildings in which this rampage happened highlighted. One is then able to click on the buildings and read eyewitness accounts and view videos. Their are also different tabs available to learn about the gunman, people that were killed, and the overall scene on campus. Voiceovers were used for this along with pictures.

A finalist story called "Making it in LA" really caught my attention. It starts off with an introduction video explaining what the story is about. This video explains how the city of Los Angeles is seen as a playground of the rich and home of the stars. It then takes you into the lives of six diverse people living in Los Angeles. 

I think the goal of this story is to prove that one does not have to be a celebrity to live in Los Angeles. I was able to click on each person and learn more about how they are maintaining in Los Angeles. It goes into depth about social services, education, living wages, housing, etc. This was very meaningful and helpful to me because I personally would consider living in Los Angeles someday. The article provided great information on the essentials to making it in such an expensive city. This information is definitely something that I will keep in mind for my near future. 

Lastly, I ran into an article by the Las Vegas Sun called "Quenching Las Vegas' Thirst." This story was very interesting to me. It explained how Lake Mead, Las Vegas' ultimate water source, could run dry by the year of 2021. With no change in future water usage and with the expected changes in climate, Las Vegas could run out of water. Economic growth, more homes, and more businesses cause for a greater demand of water. The video presents many different maps and pictures regarding Las Vegas' water supply. With Las Vegas being one the most fastest growing cities in the nation, this could become a very serious issue in the future. 

I really enjoyed reading these stories and learned so much. They were all informative and I actually took something from each article. They are also an example of what real journalism is. The best of journalism rewards is a great tool for me to refer back to and will definitely help me better my future writing skills. 

The National Football League has finally come up with an agreement about the huge issue of replacement referees on Wednesday, September 26th. After the Green Bay Packers took a debatable loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night, their was a vast controversy regarding replacement referees. “Our officials will be back on the field starting tomorrow night,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said. Officials are not overturning this call which is calling for much outrage. Many say that this is one of the greatest injustices in NFL history. 

This story was big enough to appear as the top story on the sports page of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. I really liked how the AJC found a way to incorporate the Atlanta Falcons into this situation. The article titled, "NFL reaches agreement with officials," shared views on what different Falcons players thought of the play at the end of the Green Bay-Seattle game. The Falcons players were also perplexed by how the game ended just as well as everyone else. 

Players and coaches are being fined for different incidents involving replacement referees. People obviously feel strongly about this issue and also the need to voice their opinions. Coaches and players are willing to be fined thousands of dollars in an attempt to end the NFL referee lockout. 

Many say that they could understand both sides of the argument. I honestly think that it depends on whether perception is actual reality. If officials can all honestly agree that this was a fair call with all of the controversy and criticism that the NFL has gotten, then there is a problem. It is not only the two teams that are involved, but it is everyone who actually watched the game. Their are many mixed opinions about what happened or what should have happened on Monday night.