Editorial Comments

Which Teams Could Pick Tim Tebow?

In this editorial, NFL analyst Michael Lombardi explains which teams in the league would be a good fit for All-American quarterback Tim Tebow.

Lombardi states that in order for Tebow to be successful in the NFL, he must be drafted by a team “whose leadership base is run by an offensive coach with the power to make the final decision.”

Lombardi uses the Washington Redskins as a good example—Mike Shanahan is an offensive minded coach who has the authority within the team’s management structure to decide on the team’s draft picks.

In this editorial, Lombardi makes good use of the nine principles discussed in class today. Most importantly, his point of view is consistent and he uses just the right amount of facts to present his argument.

Twitter: Be There Without Being There

Yes, I'm a believer. Twitter rocks. Twitter's awesome. And… it’s a sports fan’s best friend.

Case in point: last Sunday's NFC Championship game between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints. Now while most fans were tuning into ESPN or the NFL Network to get their pregame information (including lots of season recap stuff, network plugs, commercials, and other boring filler brought to you from a studio somewhere NOT in New Orleans), I spent my pre-game getting real-time updates from reporters AND PLAYERS that were actually in New Orleans, reporting on the game or getting ready to PLAY in the game. And that my friends, is the power of Twitter.

Now the updates you receive are only as good as the people you follow, but as Twitter continues to grow in popularity, journalists and athletes (as well as celebrities, politicians, and others) are catching on. And for Sunday’s game, there was no shortage of sports reporters or athletes who were tweeting updates leading up to kick-off (NFL players are not allowed to tweet 90 minutes before kick-off and cannot resume tweeting until post-game interviews are complete).

The most informative and entertaining updates (I prefer to say update instead of tweet) provided on Sunday came from Vikings’ offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie. Through his updates, 11,538 followers including myself, were able to get an inside glimpse of what it’s like for a player leading up to the biggest game of his career.

Here are a few of his updates from the night before and the morning of the game:

5:59 PM Jan 23rd: back in our rooms from team meeting, im about 2 go 2 bed shortly so i can get plenty of rest. Helloa 2 all the new followers!

7:05 PM Jan 23rd: Ok they just checked 4 curfew and i just read a chapter of The Prayer that Changes Everything by Stormie Omartian. Time 4 Bed!

6:36 AM Jan 24th: i got a good nights rest last nite! gonna head down 4 brunch in a hour then team meeting after that!

McKinnie also posted some links to pictures as well (on the team bus), but the most entertaining post came shortly after the team meeting the morning of the game:

8:16 AM Jan 24th: Yall will never guess who was just @ our team meeting! We needed this!

And linked to this update was the following video, recorded inside the team meeting just hours before kick-off: Larry Platt performing “Pants on the Ground” for the Minnesota Vikings. Need I say more?

Concise Writing for Today's Journalist

From The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White
Chapter II Elementary Principles of Composition
17. Omit Needless Words

Whether you are writing an editorial, a hard news story, or blogging about the movie you saw last night, concise writing will better communicate your ideas to your readers. Journalists sometimes refer to this concept as “trimming the fat.”

Just as paragraphs should contain no unnecessary sentences, sentences should contain no unnecessary words. Every word should have a purpose.

For most young writers, this is a challenge. Prior to college, a lot of our school assignments called for creative writing techniques-- and we responded with flowery adjectives and wordy sentences.

Words should not distract from what you are trying to communicate. Instead, they should work together to precisely communicate your ideas.

Let's try to improve the following sentences:

1. The fire is still burning out of control.

2. The legislation was supported by the senator.

3. The pilot said the tensest moment of the trip was when he suddenly had to go around a passenger plane that he saw on his radar.

Suggested improvements:

1. The fire continues to burn.

2. The senator supported the bill.

3. The pilot said the tensest moment was when he had to avoid a plane that appeared on his radar.

Examples taken from page 47, Writing and Reporting the News by Jerry Lanson and Mitchell Stephens.

Stay Diligent Mr. President

A year has passed since Barack Obama became our nation's 44th President, entering office on the promises of hope and change.

Fulfilling those promises would not be easy-- the President inherited a crumbling economy, a broken health care system, and a tumultuous military situation in the Middle East.

In spite of partisan opposition and even challenges within his own party, the President has worked diligently to try and resolve those issues.

One year into his term, the President has signed off on legislation to stimulate the economy, prevent Americans from losing their homes, and hold banks and other money institutions responsible for reckless business practices.

He has continued pushing his plan for health care reform, possibly the greatest challenge of any administration in the history of American government.

And in December he announced that America was shifting its war on terror, telling graduates at a West Point commencement ceremony that we would be deploying 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan.

Say what you will about the President's first year in office, but one thing is for sure: he has run from no one.

Fulfilling his promise of a “Transparent Presidency,” Obama uses Internet technologies to communicate on important issues such as the environment, education, homeland security and immigration.

The President has a Twitter account (he currently has over 3.2 million followers) and there is even a new White House application for cell phones, bringing the latest news from the administration right to the palm of your hand.

And he continues to encourage healthy debate on important issues, not just in Congress, but at town hall meetings across America.

Rome was not built in a day, as the old adage goes... and America cannot be rebuilt in a single year.

Stay diligent Mr. President.

Two of the Greatest

All my life I’ve enjoyed watching sports and growing up as a kid, I had many sports heroes. But if I had to choose my all-time favorite, it would be Muhammad Ali.

As a kid I read every book or magazine on Ali that I could get my hands on-- and of course, I watched him on TV.

Back then title matches were broadcast on network television-- there was no pay-per-view or HBO. It was Wide World of Sports and Friday Night Fights.

But back then also, it wasn’t just about watching the fights themselves-— it was the coverage leading up to the fights.

And with Ali, those moments were always very entertaining. He was poetic, and he was witty. He was clever, and he was profound.

But those classic TV moments would not have been the same without Mr. “I just tell it like it is,” Howard Cosell.

Cosell had become famous (or infamous) through his work on Monday Night Football, but it was his role as Muhammad Ali’s side-kick that will forever be ingrained in my childhood sports memories.

The amazing thing looking back at that time is the social impact those two men had on this country during a very turbulent period in our nation’s history.

The civil rights movement was gaining momentum in the early 1960s, but discrimination and racial prejudice was prevalent throughout America.

And both Ali and Cosell knew discrimination very well. Ali is African-American, but at the height of his fame, he was also brash and boisterous and he never shied away from speaking out on issues such as race, social injustices, or the Vietnam War. But doing so was considered very controversial during that time period.

Now Howard Cosell was loved by some, but hated by many. He too also never hesitated to speak out on controversial issues. Cosell was Jewish, and often received anti-Semitic mail, as well as hate mail from racist fans who despised his support of African-American athletes.

In 1967, Ali refused for religious reasons to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. He was subsequently arrested for draft evasion, stripped of his heavyweight title, and his boxing license was suspended.

Cosell was outraged by those events. He claimed Ali was being singled out because he was an outspoken African-American who opposed the Vietnam War.

Ali's license to fight would eventually be reinstated and he would go on to regain his heavyweight title in 1974 when he knocked out George Foreman in the 8th round.

Now the 1960s and '70s were a turbulent time in our country's history when issues such as race and equality often caused a divide in this country.

I don't believe there is a better example of any two men, two completely different, yet very similar men, whose relationship and friendship impacted the issues of race and equality greater than Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell.

Week 1 New Semester

The first week of a new semester is always fun. No, not really. Regardless what time your first class is each day, odds are you're going to have to wake up earlier than you have anytime during the previous month (nevermind that you might have went to Vegas over New Years, and are still on Pacific Time!).

Also, what is up with these teachers asking you to do actual work your first week back? What ever happened to, "I'm just going to give you a general overview of the course this week, give you a chance to get your books and things organized... we'll wait until next week to get things started?"

And don't these teachers know that seniors actually graduated last semester? Seriously, these last few classes are just a formality, please don't make us do actual work. Come on now, you have graduate degrees and PhDs, you know better!