Play ball!

I'm headed to spring training where I plan to relax at a few stadiums in Florida. Nice weather. Cheap dogs. Baseball. What could be better? Check for posts through the week.
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Baseball -- Covering games

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I should have comments from several other baseball writers in the coming weeks, but wanted to post this right now since so many schools are covering baseball on campus. This posting also includes some fine advice from the baseball beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Enjoy. Dejan Kovacevic , the baseball beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , says reporters need to prepare before going to games. That’s true whether you are covering a high school game or a major-league game. Read as much as you can on these teams and check for updated stats. “The most important element is preparation, exhaustive study of trends on both sides, and written notes to accompany those,” Kovacevic says. “On a tight deadline, there is no time to look up how many home runs Albert Pujols has hit at PNC. It simply has to be at your fingertips. This way, if he does it in the 10th inning, you have time to get that information into the first-edition version of the story, even before the one that has qu...
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Covering wrestling - pinning down a technical sport

Politicians are flocking to Iowa, trying to gain an edge in the nation’s first primary for president that will take place in two weeks. Actually, Iowa holds a caucus, where voters gather in precincts to determine which politician they like best. There’s no denying what sport Iowans hold dearest. Sure, 70,000 fans may attend an Iowa football game, but where else in the country would 9,000 attend a wrestling dual meet? That’s how many watched No. 3 Iowa defeat top-ranked Iowa State, 20-13, in Ames two weeks ago. Politicians would be well advised to spend time on the mats at local high schools to help in their own maneuverings. (Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney may know national politics, but they need to learn more about the heart of the Midwest. That starts with sports like wrestling.) Like politics, wrestling can get confusing for casual observers, which is why we need to translate as much as we can. Like politics, wrestling also usually has a clear winner at the end (unlike the Bowl C...
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Frozen Four gets frigid reception in most sports departments

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The University of Wisconsin just captured its second straight NCAA women’s ice hockey championship. But you wouldn’t know it by reading newspapers across the country, especially if the coverage offered in USA Today and a regional newspaper are definitive. Goalie Jessie Vetter was amazing, knocking away 32 shots in the 3-0 victory over Minnesota on Sunday. (This was her second shutout of the weekend. She had already shut down St. Lawrence 1-0 in the semifinals of the Frozen Four two days earlier.) Too often, women’s sports get shafted when it comes to coverage. Certainly, this final is not going to receive the same recognition as the NCAA men’s basketball tournament (very few events can), but a national championship in an (arguably) major sport deserves more than five paragraphs online and a story buried on page 10 in USA Today’s sports section. Even the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel failed to cover the game with a staffer, based on its posting online where an AP story and picture were p...
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