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ESPN.com: Cheers to a Good Cause – MLB Stars Produce Wines for Charity

Jun 5th, 2010 by

For the second straight Page 2 feature, I went into the event thinking it would make for a good blog and ended up with a full story.

After getting a media release about Red Sox players Jacoby Ellsbury and Josh Beckett putting out two wines for charity, I thought it would work for a short piece. However, when I learned more about Charity Wines, I realized it had feature potential.

The piece looks at the Charity Wines initiative, specifically, it’s Longball Cellars collection – though which 25 MLB players have produced wines and donated all of their proceeds to charity.

See: Jose Reyes, others produce charity wine.

The feedback from the story was extremely positive, with one of the founders of Charity Hop, the sports marketing company that oversees the marketing of Charity Wines, writing to tell me, “This is probably the best story on the Charity Wines initiative that has ever been done.”

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ESPN.com: Sculptor Immortalizes Twins Hall of Famers in Bronze

May 6th, 2010 by

This story was initially going to be a quick blog off the Kirby Puckett statue unveiling at the Twins’ new ballpark, Target Field. But as I did some background research on the artist, I realized the sculptor would actually make a good feature.

Instead of a 300-word post, it worked out to be a full-length piece on Bill Mack and his sports sculpture work.

See: Statues honor Minnesota Twins greats.

The story ran as a carousel feature at the top of Page 2.

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ESPN.com: Yes, I Beat Jim Courier in (Wii) Tennis

Apr 30th, 2010 by

Last week, I became the envy of tennis fans around the world. I had the chance to take on four-time Grand Slam singles champion Jim Courier at (Wii) tennis.

See: I beat Jim Courier at tennis, sort of.

I went into the story thinking my lede would be something along these lines:

Like many great athletes that have come before me, I too know what it feels like to lose to the legendary Jim Courier on the tennis court.

Of course, that was before Courier let me win.

Which resulted in a much better lede:

I beat four-time Grand Slam singles champion Jim Courier in tennis.

OK. It was just one game.

And it was Wii tennis.

And he totally let me win. But let’s not get bogged down by technicalities.

The final result – aside from my 1-0 victory – was a fun piece off the event.

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NAHJ Sports Task Force Relaunch

Apr 28th, 2010 by

Although this site has largely been dedicated to posting selected stories and creating an online portfolio of my work, I also think it’s important to highlight some of the other relevant work I’ve been doing.

When I was elected to the board of directors for National Association of Hispanic Journalists last summer, one of my goals was to relaunch NAHJ’s Sports Task Force. In the seven years I’ve been involved in the organization, there have been several attempts to launch a sports journalism arm – both directly as part of NAHJ and as a loose affiliate. However, there were always obstacles and challenges in maintaining such a group.

I have spent time the last several months trying to build an infrastructure so that the relaunched task force has a strong foundation from which we can create a lasting group. It has been a busy, yet productive period. I built relationship with the national office to ensure that we would have support at that level. I reached out to a number of members – both those I knew well and those who I had never actually met. I spoke with those who had tried to mobilize members in the past to get their feedback on what had worked and what hadn’t. I sought insight from the head of the National Association of Black Journalists Sports Task Force, which has been a successful endeavor. My goal is to create an NAHJ Sports Task Force that is not only sustainable, but that will continue to evolve.

The official relaunch will take place at our convention in Denver, but I recently rolled out the social media platforms. Within three days, the Facebook page had over 50 fans and that number is still growing. The blog hits were also very encouraging as was the e-mail response I received.

I have organized a sports panel for the convention, and we will be holding at least two other events geared toward sports journalists. This is a dramatic turnaround from last year when we had zero sports events at the convention.

I believe journalists are defined by the work they produce that touches others. I believe people are defined by the work that they do that impacts others. My ultimate career goal is to accomplish both.

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Posted in Career, NAHJ | 1 Comment »

ESPN.com: Four Square World Championships

Mar 5th, 2010 by

Last weekend, I headed up to snowy Bridgton, Maine, for the World Four Square Championships.

Events like this one are always fun to cover. It’s the ideal combination of lots of energy and no egos. Plus, you can always find interesting characters. I felt that showed through in the piece.

See: Four square and several days ago…

I like that Page 2’s scope is broad enough to allow me to do stories like this one. Not because I always dreamed of covering high-level four square, but because I like telling fun, engaging stories — and I think this is one.

The story ran as a carousel feature and was linked to off the ESPN.com front page.

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ESPN.com: Olympian Scotty Lago’s Hometown Stands Behind Him

Feb 26th, 2010 by

Scotty Lago surprised everyone when he took bronze in the Olympic halfpipe. However, that was only part of the wild ride he would find himself on while in Vancouver. When some PG-13 pictures surfaced on TMZ.com, Lago was asked by U.S. Olympic officials to leave the Games.

I went up to his hometown of Seabrook, N.H., to see what locals thought about all the fuss. They were behind him 100 percent. And seriously, why shouldn’t they be? Not only is he a local hero, but worse things air regularly on network television.

See: Scotty Lago’s hometown still behind him.

The story ran as a carousel feature at the top of Page 2.

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ESPNSoccernet: Soccer Still Lagging When It Comes to African American Diversity

Feb 7th, 2010 by

When I was asked to write a Black History Month piece, I didn’t want to write just an obligatory “here’s a story about a black player because it’s Black History Month” article.

Obviously, diversity in general is something I feel strongly about, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to write a piece looking at soccer in the United States through the lens of African American diversity.

See: U.S. soccer diversity a work in progress.

I think, as with most diversity issues, there has been progress, but it’s important to realize that just because things are better than they used it to be, it doesn’t mean they’re at the level they should be.

Although you always have dissenters, the feedback I’ve received on this story has been very positive. It’s nice to think you can add something to an ongoing discussion.

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ESPN.com: Yoga and the NBA – How Kent Katich Is Bringing Them Together

Jan 30th, 2010 by

A lot of the writing I’ve been doing for Page 2 has been blog hits, shorter features and a few pieces for the collaborative Year-in-Review package, but here’s my recent piece on L.A. Clippers yoga coach Kent Katich. This story ran in the top carousel.

See: Meet Kent Katich, yoga guru of the NBA.

I went into this piece about thinking it would be a interesting story, but was actually a little surprised by just how enthusiastic the NBA players I spoke to were about yoga.

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ESPN.com: Celtics Rasheed Wallace and Paul Pierce Take Their Talents to the Stage

Jan 28th, 2010 by

This story was very spur of the moment. I got a last-minute media advisory from the Celtics saying that Paul Pierce and Rasheed Wallace would be taking part in an afterschool program skit.

From covering a number of these kind of events, I’ve learned they can either make for a good story that’s easy to turn around or they can be bland. I figured the chance to catch two of the Celtics stars showing their thespian sides had potential.

To be fair, a large part of any story’s success lies with the ability of the writer to make it interesting. I realized this story had a shot when I came up with the question that would lend itself to my lede: “Obviously, Ray Allen has some acting experience. (The Celtics guard co-starred with Denzel Washington in “He Got Game.”) Did you ask him for any tips?”

It got a laugh out of Pierce and set the a great tone for the interview – and ultimately, the story.

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Ringside with Rodney King, Jose Canseco and a Gaggle of Strippers. Welcome to the World of Celebrity Boxing – Another ESPN.com Page 2 Piece

Nov 23rd, 2009 by

Every once in a while, you cover an event where you leaving going, “Oh my goodness, I hope I can write well enough to do what just happened justice.”

As strange as it sounds, the evening I spent covering celebrity boxing marked one of those stories for me.

See: Inside the Celebrity Boxing Federation.

It reminded me of that Mark Twain quote: Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn’t.

My night began with me talking to Rodney King in a hotel hallway, after which I sat ringside with Michael Lohan (actress Lindsay Lohan’s father and an “interesting character in his own right), and I concluded the evening by interviewing Jose Canseco at a strip club. You can’t make things like that up – and they make for a great story.

Anyway, I think the Page 2 piece turned out really well.

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