Story Ideas

1.CHOICE School and how they’ve effected Cobb County High School athletics:

Having gone at a Cobb County high school, I know that CHOICE schools have been implemented since the No Child Left Behind legislation went into place. The idea was to allow children to get the best education which had now spurred in metro Atlanta schools as ways for athletic teams to gain out of the county talent. Since, we’re not doing it in our team coverage, I thought an individual story on it would be interesting.

2. Sexual assault and college football

It’s a hot topic, much like #BlackLivesMatter and other social issues. The NCAA and other entities are trying to clean up a real problem that has been overlooked for years. I saw today a USC football player was released for having allegations against him. But, also speaking to what the NCAA, conferences, and specific schools are trying to do to avoid this. I know within UGA there is a It’s On Us campaign, so researching what schools have partnered with out bystander awareness training courses are being implemented.

3. Nike growing in soccer

In looking at COPA, EURO, and Olympics, Nike had a big influence on all of the winning teams where in the past Adidas has ruled soccer. I think looking into the growth of Nike in the soccer industry would be interesting. The idea would be to see if it’s merely a money and sponsorship ideal or Athlete preference.

4. Social Media and HS athletes

To continue on my multi-platform trend story, I would like to dive deeper into the effect of social media on HS players and the way they’re recruited. Part of the brand communications side of my brain sees some of the things my little brother’s friends post on twitter and I cringe at the thought of coaches seeing some of the idiocy that is posted, therefore seeing if that kind of social media preference can change a coach’s decision on signing athletes.

5. Emergence of sports psychology

I think this is a larger topic today that people try and avoid, but mental preparation for games and competition has grown significantly. Many colleges employ a single sports psychologist to deal with just their athletes. I think looking into the emergence of this and how athletes are utilizing the resource and if there has been a shift in performance would be a great story line to see how colleges no longer focus on just physical preparation.

Personal Story Ideas

Age Regulations in the NBA and NFL

As I’ve mentioned before, I think it would be interesting to look into the long term impacts of draft eligibility rules regarding age. More than 10 years after the NBA adopted the “one and done” rule, it would be interesting to take a broad look at the players who left college early and how their careers turned out. The same holds true for football.

2. Bilateral Advantage

One of the topics I’ve come across while studying for the Paralympics is the idea of “bilateral advantage.” This is the theory that double-amputee athletes, like Oscar Pistorius, have an athletic advantage over single-amputees and able-bodied athletes. I’m hoping to dig deeper into this topic in Rio.

3. Athlete Dismissal

“Off the field issues” and program dismissals have always been points of contention in college sports. Many coaches and athletic directors have been scrutinized as being too lax on athletes who get into legal trouble or otherwise violate conduct policies. Others are known to dismiss athletes without a second thought. Still, other programs have reputations for taking on athletes with “troubled” pasts at other schools. I’d love to look into this.

4. NCAA Regulations and “Likeness”

Keeping with my interest in law, the NCAA’s monopoly over college athletes is a hot topic. I would like to look into the NCAA’s policies regarding athletes and both sides of the argument about paying athletes and the use of their likeness. I think this is a good opportunity to look into big-time schools’ compliance programs and notable punishments.

5. Title IX in the SEC

Our discussion about the equestrian team sparked my interest in how other big football programs, in the SEC and across the country, balance their men’s programs to satisfy Title IX requirements. To me, the idea of such a massive equestrian team to ensure UGA football can continue is a bit crazy but very creative. I’m sure other schools have come up with other solutions and this would be a good opportunity to look into this and revisit the idea of Title IX to see if current athletes believe they are being treated fairly.

6. Liability of teams and personnel for injuries

One more just for kicks. An important legal debate in sports is the liability of teams and coaches – let’s say at the college level – for injuries sustained by players. Hundreds of civil suits have been filed against athletic departments and coaches, as players and their families have alleged negligence that resulted in injury. This begs the question, what are the obligations of a team/organization/coaching staff to protect players from injury? This could also be extended to mental health.

Story ideas

Parking: Examining the businesses in and around SunTrust Park, their right to ownership of the parking lots that surround them. Are there legal grounds for the Braves to claim that property as their own? What is the monetary value lost by these businesses by not licensing these spots instead of the Braves selling them? What did they do to try to stop this? How will this affect future business, especially with a new complex coming in?

Traffic: All along, this has been the biggest issue, and one of the biggest gripes people have with the move. How comprehensive were the studies about potential traffic problems? Was it overlooked in lieu of simply migrating to the place where the highest customer base is? Is there a way to simulate what a typical game day traffic pattern would look like?

Economic gain: Beyond the figures given by the team, is this truly the best fiscally responsible move for the team and the county? Are the economic gains great enough to overcome any loss? What are the long term projections 10-15 years down the line? How do they compare to when the Braves opened Turner Field (admittedly in a location not far from the old one).

Player reaction: We really haven’t heard too much from players on the move on a mass level, whether that’s because they’ve been advised not to or don’t want to get into it. You’d think that the move is closer to where most of them likely reside, and for some of the hometown people where they lived growing up. This is an interesting angle that probably will be more formed as the offseason approaches in the next few months.

Comparison: How does what the Braves did and are doing compare to recent stadium deals and dealings with local government? This isn’t just a local issue. What models did the franchise use if any in developing their plans for a new stadium?

Extra: Mixed use: The Braves’ new stadium is going to start what will likely be a new wave of stadium complexes, where the stadium is the centerpiece of a mixed-use development space with apartments and trendy shops and restaurants. It is a beautification of sorts. With this in mind, will it affect attendance at all, where the area is a place to go eat and shop that happens to have baseball? Or will it attract more fans? Are these people baseball fans who would go either way, or people who are attracted to the other things available that go to the game to see both the team and the developments around it?

Personal Stories

The first story I’m considering is the one about the expansion of lacrosse as I mentioned earlier. One idea I had was seeing how many high schools across the country have lacrosse programs and create a graphic. I’d probably keep a narrower focus on Georgia and possibly interview members of the club lacrosse teams here.

My second idea is further research on concussions. I really liked the trend story I wrote in multi platform and wouldn’t mind doing something along those lines.

My third idea is to write about soccer and how it’s a growing sport in the US. I know football players in high school play soccer in the spring especially if they’re kickers or punter.s

My fourth idea is to investigate why international students come to the US to play college sports instead of possibly going pro in their home countries.

Finally, my last idea is about the emergence of neutral site games in FBS and if this will be a regular thing in every college across the five major conferences.

Backgrounds

This article from Lacrosse Magazine was actually published in August. It chronicles the journey of a local high school player who wanted to come back after college and try to grow the sport in the Atlanta area.

Dusty DeStefano of MIH performance training tells the Snellville Patch how he has to come up with new training regiments — different from football or soccer — to get players ready for a lacrosse season.

GPB put out an article looking at the flip side of the lacrosse popularity discussion. Their article focuses more injury aspect of lacrosse. Basically, the article didn’t have many conclusions when it came to comparing lacrosse with other sports, however within the lacrosse realm, the number of injuries has increased.

Tony Schivone of WSB wrote of one man’s journey — Liam Banks — and his quest to expand lacrosse to Atlanta. His article expands on how youth lacrosse in Georgia has influenced lacrosse at a higher level. More colleges are coming to Georgia to play games. He even mentions the notion of a professional team coming to Atlanta, which happened.

The 2015 Brunswick News article tells how Phillip Driscoll started a lacrosse program in Brunswick. He has expanded it to include three high schools who are gaining more momentum towards becoming varsity programs.

Questions:

What has changed about lacrosse in the past decade to make it an popular sport?
Does it have to do with the sport itself or are young kids just feed up with other sports?
Is there not enough research to determine yet if lacrosse if safer than football of hockey or is it just a preconceived notion from parents?
What was the event that made lacrosse gain popularity in Georgia?
Where is lacrosse popping up in Georgia outside the metro Atlanta area?
How is the move to lacrosse affecting participation or outlook on other sports like football or baseball?

5 stories

I don’t want to write about Ryan Lochte, but what I’m considering for my personal story is Cobb County and the Atlanta Braves.

The Braves’ dealings with Cobb County have been well-documented, especially by Deadspin, who has been very critical of the move. I shared stories from them as well as from the AJC, who presented the more investigatory approach.

Questions:

Did the franchise truly have no regard for the county and its businesses?

Who was hired in the development process to do research about where the new stadium should be placed?

Who are behind the local businesses that the Braves took the parking away from?

Who were the power brokers in this process?

Why weren’t citizens allowed to give more input than they were?

What culpability do local politicians have in this process? Was there ever a time they fought back?

What is the economic value of the parking the Braves are claiming as their own?

How much fluidity was the plan between moving from Turner Field and Georgia State moving in? Did this affect the move or was it a cause and effect? Is there any causation?

Age Regs Background

So, I’m not sure that I want to dedicate my personal story to this topic, but I have always found it really interesting. That being said, here are some stories I’ve found on the topic.

This story, written in 2014 shortly before the Kentucky Wildcats played for the national championship, laments the “one and done” rule since all five freshmen expected to start for UK were expected to leave for the NBA. This journalist believes the regulations exploit athletes during college and then deprive them of an education.

I also found this opinion piece, which makes an interesting point. Most people know the names and legacies of Coach K, John Calipari, Tom Izzo, etc. but would be hard-pressed to name a player on their current roster, because nearly the entire roster changes from year to year. The writer also believes that the quality of college basketball has deteriorated since the rule was implemented in 2006.

In this story, the journalist suggests the NBA adopt a new draft eligibility policy similar to the NFL’s policy. Under this new rule, basketball players would not be eligible for the draft until three years after their high school graduation, perhaps extending their time in college.

In terms of football, the plight of age regulations is not so severe. However, many players choose to leave school early and enter the NFL draft. As this story points out, 37 percent of players who leave early are not picked in the first seven rounds, jeopardizing their chances at making a roster and a living in football.

Finally, this article discusses Nick Saban’s view on his players declaring for the draft before graduation. Saban generally supports his players that receive first- or second-round looks, but tells the others they should wait it out. He also brings in speakers to caution his players on the woes of short NFL careers with no college degree.

If I were to write on this topic, I think my main driving questions would be:

Does leaving early for the draft (NBA or NFL) increase a player’s profitability or span of his career?

What percentage of professional players have college degrees?

If basketball players were allowed to enter the draft right after high school, how many would actually be ready for NBA play?

What is the average length of a pro career in each of these leagues?

What do retired professional athletes typically do for a living after playing?

Would staying in college longer and/or graduating typically hurt a player’s chances to be drafted?

Lassiter High School days and string

When searching through archives of Lassiter High School, I wasn’t surprised to find that the most articles were about senior Hutson Mason in his final season in high school. Mason had set several state records and was leading the high school to an undefeated regular season. I was a freshman at the time and can remember it vividly. It was our best football season in years and Mason gave the school life again. The article I found first was after Lassiter won its second round play off game 70-49 over South Gwinnett. In the next game of the playoffs, Lassiter fell to Colquitt County to end the undefeated season. Mason went on to play for UGA after sitting behind Aaron Murray.

I find the most effective way for myself to keep up with my facts, notes, and interviews is google docs. I saw a couple other people wrote this, too. I think it’s great that it can be accessed through any computer and that helps for when I pick up on a story while at the study center or on my laptop at home. Also it helps in group projects cause we can easily share things. It also helps when your computer used to be prone to crashing, the auto-save and backup of the google drive is a lifesaver on many accounts.

5 Stories

So I completely misinterpreted the first assignment. I do not want to report on Ryan Lochte. I just found that how the story was covered was surprising.

What I want to write about is lacrosse and how it has slowly spread down the east coast over the last few years.

Here’s an article from the AJC back in 2011 talking about how lacrosse was starting to spread across the Metro Atlanta area.

Last year, in 2015, lacrosse debuted in northwest Georgia in Dalton at Dalton Parks and Recreation.

Another article from 2011 talks about setting up lacrosse programs in high schools in Richmond County.

This article from 2011 as well talks about Curt Gary. The man who brought lacrosse to Augusta.

Finally, there was a piece back in 2012 on Lakeside’s Abby Harrover.

My initial questions would be as follows

When and where was lacrosse first introduced to Georgia?
What level was it introduced at?
Has it seen significant growth?
How many middle and high schools in the state have programs?
How many club or rec teams are there in the state?
Is the sport concentrated in certain areas of the state?
Do players get signed to play at colleges?
Do they stay in-state or go out of state?
Is there a “powerhouse” program?

I think those questions are a good place to start and then I would probably interview club players and high school players.

Schooldays/String

I chose to go way back with my school post, found here. This is an article about my high school, Starr’s Mill, getting ready to open in 1997. It’s a sweet piece for me, as I grew up going to school in the complex mention and gives me a little bit of history about where I spent 12 years of my life. I did not know there was a Starr’s Mill school in Fayette county long before ours opened, I thought the name of the school was based solely off the mill that was a mile down the road.

In regards to Clark’s writing, I probably need a better way of keeping track of my material for stories. Although I know we briefly discussed in class, there are some really great resources out there. My best method is a little bit of organized chaos, but it works for me. I have grown very fond of Google Drive, so I make a folder in Google Drive for each piece that I work on. I have a doc for story links, a doc for transcriptions, one for background facts and one for the actual story. I intend to use the same method for this class but hope I can weave in some new techniques as we learn them.