2009-2010 NCAA Football Preview

I at one point had a few sentences written for each team, but my computer decided to go out on my right before I saved, so I did it the lazy way this time and stuck simply with predictions instead of analysis. I start going conference by conference (only with major conferences) then continue to a final pre-bowl season rankings and then give my BCS prediction, I hope you enjoy...

***BIG 12***

Big 12 NORTH

Kansas 10-2 (6-2) losses to Oklahoma and Texas
Missouri 9-3 (5-3) losses to Oklahoma State, Texas and Kansas
Colorado 7-5 (4-4) losses to West Virginia, Texas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma State
Nebraska 7-5 (4-4) losses to Virginia Tech, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado
Kansas State 4-8 (1-7) wins against Massachusetts, Louisiana-Lafayette, Tennessee Tech and Iowa State
Iowa State 2-10 (0-8) wins against North Dakota State and Kent State

Big 12 SOUTH

Oklahoma 12-0 (8-0)
Texas 11-1 (7-1) loss to Oklahoma
Oklahoma State 10-2 (6-2) losses to Texas and Oklahoma
Texas Tech 7-5 (3-5) losses to Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma
Texas A&M 7-5 (3-5) losses to Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas
Baylor 4-8 (1-7) wins against Connecticut, Northwestern State, Kent State and Iowa State

Championship Game:

Oklahoma defeats Kansas…

Oklahoma 13-0 (10-0)
Kansas 10-3 (6-3)



***BIG 10***

Penn State 11-1 (7-1) loss to Northwestern
Ohio State 10-2 (7-1) losses to USC and Penn State
Northwestern 10-2 (6-2) losses to Iowa and Illinois
Iowa 9-3 (5-3) losses to Penn State, Wisconsin and Ohio State
Illinois 8-4 (5-3) losses to Missouri, Ohio State, Penn State and Purdue
Michigan State 7-5 (4-4) losses to Notre Dame, Illinois, Northwestern, Iowa and Penn State
Wisconsin 7-5 (3-5) losses to Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan and Northwestern
Michigan 6-6 (3-5) losses to Notre Dame, Michigan State, Iowa, Penn State, Illinois and Ohio State
Purdue 4-8 (2-6) wins against Toledo, Northern Illinois, Illinois and Indiana
Minnesota 3-9 (1-7) wins against Syracuse, Purdue and South Dakota State
Indiana 2-10 (0-8) wins against Eastern Kentucky and Akron



***SEC***

SEC EAST

Florida 12-0 (8-0)
Georgia 8-4 (6-2) losses to Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Florida and Georgia Tech
South Carolina 8-4 (4-4) losses to Georgia, Ole Miss, Alabama and Florida
Kentucky 7-5 (3-5) losses to Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee
Tennessee 6-6 (3-5) losses to UCLA, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Ole Miss
Vanderbilt 4-8 (1-7) wins against Western Carolina, Mississippi State, Rice and Army

SEC WEST

Ole Miss 12-0 (8-0)
Alabama 11-1 (7-1) loss to Ole Miss
LSU 8-4 (4-4) losses to Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Ole Miss
Arkanasas 7-5 (3-5) losses to Alabama, Florida, Ole Miss, South Carolina and LSU
Auburn 4-8 (1-7) wins against Louisiana Tech, Mississippi State, Ball State and Furman
Mississippi State 2-10 (0-8) wins against Jackson State and Middle Tennessee

Championship Game

Florida defeats Ole Miss…

Florida 13-0 (10-0)
Ole Miss 12-1 (9-1)



***PAC 10***

Oregon 12-0 (9-0)
USC 11-1 (8-1) loss to Oregon
Oregon State 10-2 (7-2) losses to USC and Oregon
California 9-3 (6-3) losses to Oregon, USC and Oregon State
UCLA 8-4 (5-4) losses to Oregon, California, Oregon State and USC
Arizona State 6-6 (4-5) losses against Georgia, Oregon State, California, USC, Oregon and UCLA
Arizona 5-7 (3-6) wins against Central Michigan, Northern Arizona, Washington Stanford and Washingon State
Stanford 3-9 (2-7) wins against Washington State, San Jose State and Washington
Washington 2-10 (1-8) wins against Idaho and Washington State
Washington State 1-11 (0-9) win against Southern Methodist



***ACC***

ACC ATLANTIC

Florida State 10-2 (7-1) losses to Georgia Tech and Florida
Boston College 8-4 (5-3) losses to Clemson, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame
Clemson 7-5 (5-3) losses to Georgia Tech, TCU, Miami, Florida State and South Carolina
Wake Forrest 6-6 (3-5) losses to Boston College, Clemson, Navy, Miami, Georgia Tech and Florida State
Maryland 6-6 (3-5) losses to California, Clemson, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Florida State and Boston College
North Carolina State 3-9 (1-7) wins against Murray State, Gardner-Webb and Duke

ACC COASTAL

Georgia Tech 12-0 (8-0)
Virginia Tech 10-2 (7-1) losses to Alabama and Georgia Tech
North Carolina 8-4 (4-4) losses to Georgia Tech, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Boston College
Miami 7-5 (4-4) losses to Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma and North Carolina
Virginia 4-8 (1-7) wins against William and Mary, Southern Miss, Indiana and Duke
Duke 2-10 (0-8) wins against Richmond and North Carolina Central

Championship Game

Georgia Tech defeats Florida State

Georgia Tech 13-0 (9-0)
Florida State 10-3 (8-2)



***BIG EAST***

West Virginia 12-0 (7-0)
Cincinnati 9-3 (6-1) losses to Oregon State, West Virginia and Illinois
Rutgers 9-3 (5-2) losses to Cincinnati, West Virginia and Maryland
Pittsburgh 7-5 (4-3) losses to Navy, Rutgers, Notre Dame, West Virginia and Cincinnati
Connecticut 5-7 (3-4) wins against Ohio, Rhode Island, Louisville, Syracuse and South Florida
South Florida 5-7 (2-5) wins against Wofford, Western Kentucky, Charleston Southern, Syracuse and Louisville
Louisville 3-9 (1-6) wins against Indiana State, Arkansas State and Syracuse
Syracuse 2-10 (0-7) wins against Maine and Akron



***Others***


*Notre Dame 10-2 losses to USC and Navy

*Navy 11-1 loss to Ohio State

*Ball State 11-1 loss to Auburn

*Buffalo 11-1 loss to Pittsburgh

*Boise State 11-1 loss to Oregon

*Utah 10-2 losses to Oregon and TCU

*TCU 11-1 loss to BYU

*BYU 9-3 losses to Oklahoma, Florida State and Utah





*****Final Rankings*****


1. Florida (13-0)
2. Oklahoma (13-0)
3. Oregon (12-0)
4. Texas (11-1)
5. Ole Miss (12-1)
6. Georgia Tech (13-0)
7. West Virginia (12-0)
8. USC (11-1)
9. Alabama (11-1)
10. Penn State (11-1)
11. Oklahoma State (10-2)
12. Ohio State (10-2)
13. Navy (11-1)
14. Virginia Tech (10-2)
15. Oregon State (10-2)
16. TCU (11-1)
17. Kansas (10-3)
18. Florida State (10-3)
19. Utah (10-2)
20. Northwestern (10-2)
21. California (9-3)
22. Buffalo (11-1)
23. Missouri (9-3)
24. Notre Dame (10-2)
25. Georgia (8-4)




*****BCS Predictions*****


National Championship

Florida 13-0, SEC Champs
Vs.
Oklahoma 13-0, Big 12 Champs

Rose Bowl
Penn State 11-1, Big 10 Champs
Vs.
Oregon 12-0, Pac 10 Champs

Fiesta Bowl
Texas 11-1, Big 12 runer-up
Vs.
USC 11-1, Pac 10 runner-up

Orange Bowl
Georgia Tech 13-0, ACC Champs
Vs.
Navy 11-1, independent

Sugar Bowl
Ole Miss 12-1, SEC runner-up
Vs.
West Virginia 12-0, Big East Champs

5/4/09

I watched a story on news.bbc.co.uk and it was titled "Mexico to begin lifting flu curbs." I thought the story was very well done, even though all of the video was wallpaper of people in masks. It gets the point across, has good framing and has great flow in the writing. There wasn't much else to say about it, but I did really like the unique intro, the reporter showed a couple getting married with masks on to protect themselves from the swine flu.

Now to the fun part...

For my second reporter shift I began the day with an email from someone that told me the Missouri Military Academy had shut down their Spring Family Weekend, because they didn't want family coming in and possibly carrying "swine flu" to the school. After the long drive to Mexico Missouri I arrived and immediately interviewed the president of the school. Afterwards he proceeded to showing me about the school while I stopped to take shots of the school and it's students. I asked him if I could speak to one of the Mexican students, it should be noted that none of the students had family or friends who had been infected with the flu. I spoke to him and the president gave me a copy of the letter he sent out to family members. I took a few more shots, found out that I had a couple good follow up ideas after this story and got back to the station around 6 or 7. Once I got back when I was going through all my notes I realized that I had dropped the paper with the Mexican students name on it and I knew I had made a major mistake, I didn't ask him his name on camera and had only written it down. GREAT!!! I asked Randy what to do and told me to refer to him as "one Mexican student."

Next, I looked at my INEWS and saw that I was to go on set with a toss into a package. Mike, the producer, told me that I should do a standup using the letter as a prop, I agreed and went to work. I felt the standup had a somewhat odd transition, but Mike liked it so I kept it. I finished the package at about 9 and now I had to sit and wait for the nerves to build for my first live performance. I read the script over and over, but I was so nervous that I couldn't even soak up what I was reading. I went out at 9:45 to the set and talked to the camera people and tried to figure out what to do. They told me just to wait for the signals then read, okay I can do that. Three minutes before show time I get a script for a tease from Mike, I had no idea when to read it. Next Angie and Jim comment on how bad it looks, because I don't have makeup...awesome, even more for me to worry about. All of a sudden it was show time, I saw my name in the teleprompter and nailed the tease. After a few minutes of standing on the stage I realized that I was sweating bullets and it probably looked like I had just jumped into a swimming pool. Michael's package started, I was next. I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest, then I thought to myself how dumb I would look if I screwed up...oh wait I'm supposed to read now. I forgot the lines that I had rehearsed for half an hour and Jim and Angie turn after they ask me a question. I didn't know if I was supposed to be looking at them or looking at the teleprompter and I had forgotten my lines. I quickly glanced at the teleprompter for a clue of what to say then turn to Jim and answer his question, slipping up on a word, I'm an idiot. I forgot, I'm supposed to look down then turn to the other camera. I had turned to camera 5 before looking down, so it looked incredibly awkward, then I look down but it was too late...I finished well as it went into the package. Okay, just one more sentence. I finished up well, but of coarse upon further review my head was so shiny that it could have been used to wave planes in for a night landing on an aircraft carrier. Oh well, I'll get better. You win some you lose some.

4/27/09

I watched a story on the O'Reilly Report about how the show "Family Guy" attacked Fox News. O'Reilly stated that the higher ratings that Fox News get attacked from "left wing frustration boiling over." I thought it was incredibly unprofessional to say on air, especially for someone who claims to be a moderate, that a comedic show making fun of Fox News is because of left wing frustration. He even went far enough to call Seth MacFarlane a left wing zealot. Everyone knows that Bill O'Reilly is a conservative, but I don't think that kind of bias should be allowed on air for a station trying to come across as moderate.

I had my first reporter shift last Thursday and did a story on how a bill was passed by the state house of representatives that would ban illegal immigrants from going to public universities and colleges in Missouri. It was incredibly hard trying to find people to talk to, politicians are the worst people to interview. I literally got two phone calls today from politicians returning my calls from Thursday afternoon. They think the world revolves around their schedule. Anyway I finally got Mary Still to give me a few minutes of her time, of coarse she was 45 minutes late to the interview and when she finally got there she avoided my questions and gave me the same prepared quote 5 times. It was all I had and I was forced to use it for both my package and my VO/SOT. I tried to talk to local universities, but they either stated that they were too busy or they never returned my calls. My shots ended up being all wall paper shots of the Mizzou campus and the capital due to my lack of contacts. I had no human spin on the story and am now disgusted by any idea of me doing another political story. Mike Brannen, the producer, tried to give me a 30 second graphics story, but I told him that I had enough information for a short package, I stated my reasons for thinking this and he eventually gave in. I thought that I wrote the story pretty well and ended up writing and editing the story in under two hours. I was incredibly frustrated for most of the day from the lack of help by politicians, but I feel that I did a good job on a story that was hard to manage. Randy told me that it was the best story idea that he had heard all day, but it was just too difficult to pull of with a lack of help from the politicians and the local colleges. Next time I think i'll pitch more reporter friendly story ideas...

4/20/09

I watched an interview on CNN.com of the second mate on the ship that was attacked by Somali pirates. The interview was conducted in a very unprofessional manner by allowing the crew member to hold his kids in front of the camera. One of the kids was right next to the wireless mic and was making annoying baby noises throughout the beginning of the interview. It was very distracting and I had to watch the beginning three times to actually understand the questions and the answers. They eventually moved the kids, but having them in the interview was pointless in the first place. The questions asked were good and the crew member gave good answers. It was a decent interview, but they also had the wife of the crew member on and didn't ask her any question, so it became irrelevant. I disagree on the method of having family members on camera unless they are going to be asked a question, but I suppose he may have agreed to the interview only if his family were allowed on T.V. with him.

On to more important things, I had my second VO patrol last Wednesday. On the shift I went to a meeting of a democratic party known as OFA, Organizing For America. The meeting was called a "listening tour" and the goal was to see what democrats and other local political activists thought needed to be changed. The meeting started at 7 p.m. and lasted until 9, the leader of the listening tour told me that he couldn't interview me until the end, so I shot some of the meeting then went outside with one of the organizers and asked her a few questions about OFA and the listening tour. I returned all too late, at around 8:30 and finished writing my script by 9. I had to wait until 9:30 to get it script approved, because everyone was too busy. I hurried to get the editing done as fast as possible and finished at 9:50, I ended up doing a VO/SOTVO. It aired with no problems and Jim didn't correct vary much of my script. I'm still not entered into inews, because Stacey hasn't been there. My biggest complaint so far at KOMU is I'm bleeding money through gas, but thats my fault for not signing up for the KOMU cruiser yet...I should probably get that done...also I have no idea on anything regarding makeup and probably need to inquire into that.

2009 NFL Mock Draft

I tried to predict these picks, without bias, on what I believe each team will do. Of course no draft goes without trades occurring, but they are harder to predict than the date of the apocalypse, so give me a break as far as trades are concerned. Here it goes to having a higher percentage of picks right than Mel Kiper!!!

* = underclassman

1. Lions: QB Matt Stafford* (Georgia) The Lions need just about everything with the exception of a #1 WR. After seeing the success that rookies Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco are having, the Lions can’t afford to screw this up.

2. Rams: LB Aaron Curry (Wake Forest) Before the combine, this pick was
reserved for Andre Smith; but he committed seppuku on his stock and the Rams have hired Steve Spagnuolo the former Defensive Coordinator for the Giants, he will go with defense.

3. Chiefs: OT Jason Smith (Baylor) With the surprise move of the Rams drafting Curry instead of Jason Smith, the Chiefs decide to build a wall for new franchise centerpiece Matt Cassel. Personally I go with Orakpo here, since they only had 9 sacks all of last season, but this pick will solidify the line and put the KC offense one step closer to becoming a powerhouse.

4. Seahawks: OT Eugene Monroe (Virginia) It’s too early for a running back in this draft. The signing of TJ “Who’s your momma” allows the Seahawks to beef up their O line and get the future replacement of Walter Jones.

5. Browns: DE Brian Orakpo (Texas) With Curry gone, the Browns have to choose between the best player (Crabtree), and their two neediest positions DE and RB. I believe the Browns know the RBs in this draft aren’t top 10 picks. If the Browns trade Edwards this pick will be Crabtree.

6. Bengals: OT Andre Smith* (Alabma) The Bengals need just about everything, and the best thing to do in the NFL is start up front. The Bengals will take a chance on Smith and it will probably turn out well, I don’t think that skipping out on the combine means he is the next Pacman Jones. Though the Benglas do not need even more off the field problems.

7. Raiders: WR Jeremy Maclin* (Missouri) A few months ago Al Davis would have gone into cardiac arrest at the excitement of seeing Crabtree on the board still, but now it’s expected for him to drop to this spot, but the Raiders always draft for speed and will take the electrifying Maclin to help in the downfield passing game and on special teams. The Raiders should have a sick offense next year if they actually USE McFadden.

8. Jaguars: WR Michael Crabtree* (Texas Tech) Jags fans go crazy that Crabtree is still available and solidify a horrible WR corps, especially after the release of Matt “crack head” Jones.

9. Packers: DE/OLB Aaron Maybin* (Penn St.) The Packers need offensive line help and they need a pass rushing LB for their new 3-4 scheme, so they take the best player available of the two positions.

10. 49ers: DE/OLB Everette Brown* (Florida St.). The niners wish Andre Smith were still available and believe that they have enough competition at the QB position to add a pass rushing LB that will get to opposing QBs, like former niner Julian Peterson.

11. Bills: DE Robert Ayers (Tennessee) The Bills could go a lot of ways here, but they will draft the best player on the board and give them the pass rush that their defense is looking for.

12. Broncos: DT B.J. Raji (Boston College) The Broncos had a horrid pass defense last season and need a Running Back more than Mark Mangino needs a diet. But, they can’t believe that Raji is still available and get the biggest steal of the draft.

13. Redskins: OT Michael Oher (Ole Miss) The Redskins need a WR and could draft Harvin, but Moss and Randel El are both 5’10, do they really need another short, downfield receiver? Instead they draft Oher to take pressure off of Campbell and allow him time to go downfield to these receivers.

14. Saints: CB Malcolm Jenkins (Ohio St.) The Saints will draft not only the best defensive player available, but a position of great need for them.

15. Texans: RB Chris “Beanie” Wells* (Ohio St.) Harvin would be a fantastic compliment to Andre Johnson, but in a two running back league, the Texans need someone to split carries with Slaton. The Texans need a safety, but figure they can wait until the second round.

16. Chargers: LB Rey Maualuga (USC) The 2nd worst pass defense in the NFL calls for an upgrade at the safety position, but like the Texans they can wait until the second round. They also need a LB to beef up the middle and give assistance to Merriman in the run game.

17. Jets: WR Hakeem Nicks* (Maryland) The Jets have a solid team, their main weakness is at WR (besides having Brodie Croyle start at QB) and they have a good selection of receivers to choose from. Heyward-Bey is the most athletic of the bunch, but Nicks has proven the most.

18. Broncos (from Bears): DE Tyson Jackson (LSU) With-in an hour the Broncos have managed to give themselves the best young D-line in the league.

19. Buccaneers: QB Mark Sanchez* (USC) The Bucs have been looking for a quarterback for the future for a while and have yet to strike gold. Could Sanchez be the one? I would not be surprised to see the Bucs take Peria Jerry at this spot.

20. Lions (from Cowboys): OT Eben Britton (Arizona) The Lions need all the help they can get on the offensive line and will probably spend their second or one of their third round picks on a guard. With Stafford coming in, they will need to give him all the protection they can.

21. Eagles: RB Knowshon Moreno* (Georgia) The Eagles need someone to come in and assist the aging and injury prone Westbrook.

22. Vikings: WR Percy Harvin* (Florida) The Vikings have been here before, drafting speedster Troy Williamson in 06, but Harvin is the real deal.

23. Patriots: LB Clay Mathews (USC) Mathews will be the second linebacker picked with a Patriots top pick (Jerod Mayo) who will come in the next few years to replace the traded Vrabel and the other aging Patriot LBs. He will contribute immediately and is the kind of linebacker the Patriots like on the outside, big.

24. Falcons: DT Peria Jerry (Ole Miss) The Falcons will fill their most pressing need while also taking the best player available.

25. Dolphins: CB Vontae Davis (Illinois) The Dolphins need to fill a few empty slots in the defensive backfield after losing Goodman and Hill to free agency.

26. Ravens: WR Darrius Heyward-Bey* (Maryland) The Ravens need a WR to help the young Joe Flacco better establish himself as a solid starting NFL QB.

27. Colts: DT Evander “Ziggy” Hood (Missouri) The Colts need an inside compliment to Dwight Freeney to give the pressure up front that their defense needs to succeed and to assist in stopping the run.

28. Bills (from Eagles): TE Brandon Pettigrew (Oklahoma St.) The Bills traded their starting LT for this pick and will use it add the best all around TE in the draft.

29. Giants: WR Kenny Britt* (Rutgers) The Giants have a question mark at WR with Plaxico Burress shooting himself and getting cut. Amani Toomer is getting old, and David Tyree is a one hit wonder so they get the big receiver who will go up for the jump ball.

30. Titans: LB Brian Cushing (USC) The Titans are lacking a group of strong receivers, but do not want to pick any of the available receivers in the 1st round. With Haynesworth gone the Titans need a DT, but with Ziggy gone there are no more first round caliber DTs. So they take Cushing to beef up their linebacker depth.

31. Cardinals: RB LeSean McCoy* (Pittsburgh) Edge is done and Hightower is better suited as a goal line back like Lendale White. The Cardinals will need some defensive help, but will save that for later rounds.

32. Steelers: C Alex Mack (California) The insanely talented Steelers draft based on their biggest problem last year, offensive line.

4/13/09

It was a given that I would evaluate a story by ESPN on the death of Phillies commentator Harry Kalas today. The story was by Jayson Stark and had very good opening nat sound and some sad piano music to go along with the package. The package is full of very good nat pops of the greatest calls of Kalas' career. The package lacks sound bites from his friends and families. The story is touching overall and is very well done by being a short representation of Harry Kalas and his great career. The worst part may have been the audio, it sounded like Jayson Stark was reading the package from a script through a telephone, which he may very well have done. I tried to watch other stories on Kalas to compare the package too, but their wasn't really anything more than a couple quick sentences on how great he was except for the live interview that Sports Center did with Mike Schmidt. In the interview all Schmidt did was give his personal experiences with Kalas.

I had my first VO patrol Thursday night. When I arrived the producer gave me a flyer with Dr. Angela Davis on the front. She is a public speaker for gender and racial rights and was to speak at Jesse Hall. I arrived ten minutes before the event was about to start. When I arrived I talked to the MU PR person, she said that I could come in and shoot the speech, but I couldn't interview Dr. Davis. I decided that I would interview someone when leaving and find out how important they thought it was that Dr. Davis was in Columbia. I set up my camera and found out that I had taken a broken tripod. I get angry and myself and tried to adjust to the best of my abilities by holding the camera on the tripod myself. Right before the start of the speech the PR person found me and told me that I couldn't shoot any material from the speech. I asked why and she told me that she had just found out it was a breach of contract with Dr. Davis and that nobody could "film" anything from her event. I called the producer and he confirmed this, so he told me to wait in my car for him to call me with a new story. At 7:30 the producer called me and told me to get wallpaper of dairy products in the HyVee on West Broadway and not to show any prices, I asked him what the story was and he told me he would explain it when I got back. I hurried to the HyVee, ran in and got 8 shots of dairy products, then drove as fast as I could back to KOMU making it back by 8:10. When I arrived the producer gave me a 3 paragraph story from stltoday.com on how dairy farmers will be given extra tax credit. I searched for other stories regarding this issue and could find nothing except for the bill itself. I didn't have much to work with, but I had the script and video approved before 9. Hopefully my VO patrol on Wednesday will be a little more organized.

4/6/09

I was planning on spending the night moping around after my beloved Cardinals brought their bullpen woes from 2008 into the season opener of 2009, but then I remembered I had a blog due for class tomorrow. I decided to check out KOMU.com to see what happened in the news today/yesterday. I watched the Sarah's story on the Spirit Rider Program. I didn't really like the introduction, I wasn't really sure what the program had to do with James Bond, or why it would be "covert." The nat sound was very good and matched well with the music, but it just didn't make too much sense to me. The framing on Sue Crane was a too close at one point and I didn't like how she used the same play-on-words about being in the horses shoes two times in a row. The story idea was pretty decent, but I just thought it was confusing and too showy to play all the James Bond music and to use all of the corny references, instead of being just about the news. I would have definitely made this story differently by keeping it simple and getting the point of the story across clearly. I know this is a feature story and is supposed to be different, but the James Bond thing just didn't tie in well with a horse farm.

3/30/09

I'm finally back after a having a great week at Panama City Beach, FL. Obviously I didn't do too well on my later tournament picks with my national champion Wake Forest losing in the first round to Cleveland State, but my bracket is still in the 96th percentile on yahoo. I would first like to take time to congratulate the Missouri Tiger basketball team on a great season and headcoach Mike Anderson for turning the program completely around in a mere 3 years. Next...

Final Four Predictions:

UConn over Mich St.
---I still don't like Big 10 play, the talented UConn team will take down the Spartans...finally

North Carolina over Villanova
---Nova is on fire right now, but nobody seems good enough to stop the Tarheels.

National Championship:

North Carolina over UConn (82-78)
---I really want the Huskies to win this game, but I just can't see anyone stopping the Heels right now.

Now it's time for business...In my daily scour for news I searched CNN.com. One video story really caught my attention, In Milton Massachusetts, a 23 year-old went on a rampage and killed his 17 year-old sister and beheaded his 5 year-old sister in front of a police officer. This story is very depressing and the interview of police Chief Richard Wells does a good job of communicating the somber feelings of the story, but the reporter seems to care less and has no feeling of remorse in her voice and soinds way to distant for my taste. I noticed that the camera was very shakey throughout the story and ever person that was interviewed was on the right side of the camera, she needed to head bump. I was not at all impressed with the story and I hope the reporter tried to interview a family member, family friend or neighbor, because she didn't. The story even ended on a quote, what could have been a story that would make the audience feel the pain of this tragic incident was just another murder in a poor looking town. I would think that CNN would do a better job of hiring reporters, but I suppose not everyone can hit a homerun every time.

NCAA Tournament Part 2

So far I am 19/20 on my bracket predictions and since I'm about to leave for Panama City, FL I will give my upsets for the 2nd weekend of the tournament.

Midwest:

In the sweet 16...

(4) Wake Forest over (1) Louisville

This will be the best game in the tournament at this point, but I believe Wake Forest has more skill than Louisville and Wake will show that they were deserving of at least a 3 seed.

(3) Kansas over (2) Michigan St.

I will take the best team in the Big 12 over the best team in the Big 10 any day in any sport.

In the elite 8...

(4) Wake Forest over (3) Kansas

This game will be amazing, but Wake Forest has more experience and has the skill to beat any team in the country.

West

In the sweet sixteen...

(3) Missouri over (2) Memphis

I think that Memphis is the most overrated team in the tournament and the relentless Missouri squad will wear them down before the end of the first half.

East

In the elite eight...

(3) Villanova over (2) Duke

This is hard to call after Nova's shaky performance against American last night, but Duke is a hit or miss team and they are going to miss against Nova.

South

In the elite eight...

(2) Oklahoma over (1) North Carolina

Blake Griffin is too dominate inside for North Carolina and Willie Warren will light up the 3's.  

1st round NCAA Tournament

Instead of listing every game and why I think the #1 seeds will beat the #16 seeds, I will just list my upsets of the first and second rounds.  The big question, is 9 over 8 an upset?  

No, but for technicalities sake, I'll still list it.  Here we go!!!

In the Midwest bracket I have no upsets in the first two rounds...real generic huh?  Just wait until the regional semis...

As for the West bracket, in the first round:

(9)Texas A&M over (8)BYU, whoopdie doo!!!

A&M has finished their regular season strong and has had at least moderate success against top 25 teams, unlike BYU, who thrives by destroying awful teams in the Mountain West.

(10) Maryland over (7) California, now the fun begins...

Maryland played 9 games against top 10 teams this season, they only won 3, but that is more wins than Cal had games against top 10 teams (0).  I don't trust a team that had 7 losses in the Pac 10 and a nonchalant out of conference schedule.

In the second round:

(5) Purdue over (4) Washington

While I don't think either team is exceptionally strong, Purdue at least tried to schedule tough non-conference opponents while Washington glided through the entire season with a weak non-conference and conference schedule.

Time for the East bracket, or not...no upsets in the first 2 rounds.

And the South bracket, only one upset in the first round:

(12) Western Kentucky over (5) Illinois

The simple reason is this; Illinois' best player, Chester Frazier, is out.  Everyone needs a 12 over 5, this is the most obvious choice.  Not to mention Western Kentucky has proved they can play with anyone by beating Louisville by 14 earlier this season.

I promise that my tournament down the road is more exciting for upset watches, until then, cheers!

 

3/17/09

I decided to see what was happening in sports today by watching an online segment of Sports Center Right Now on espn.com.  The segment was a cut-in of Robert Flores reading off of a reader script about Carl Landry getting shot in the leg last night.  He then changed stories to a VO about Cole Hamels' injury and he did a very good job of pausing and changing his voice between stories.  I noticed that he spoke a lot slower during the cut-in than anyone did during our lab.  Oddly during the third story about Steelers owner Dan Rooney becoming the U.S. ambassador to Ireland, the studio played background music while Flores was speaking.  It was very distracting and took away from what he was saying.  The last story was a VO of him talking about how the NCAA tournament starts tonight.  Flores had a very good, crisp delivery throughout the entire one minute cut-in, which ended at exactly one minute.  He has obviously had tons of practice doing cut-ins and anchoring so he has a very professional approach with no noticeable errors.  This might have been the best example of journalism (albeit sports) I have watched online in quite a while.

3/9/09

I was glancing at CNN today while working out and the big story was about how Oprah gave advice to Rihanna and Chris Brown.  She said, "If a man has hit you once, he will hit you again." I decided to watch a video of it on CNN.com once I got home and the video they have on the website was from their radio talk show, "Drive Time Buzz" in Atlanta.  The host was Don Lemon and he had a weird set-up where the two guests where sitting very awkwardly on the other side of a large room from him.  Martha Zoller, a conservative, says Rihanna should not give Chris Brown another chance.  A liberal, Warren Ballentine, says he applauds Oprah Winfrey, because there is an "epidemic" of violence between young couples right now.  He also says that Rihanna should step away from him.  I don't agree with the wide camera angle they used in the story, it just looked too awkward for television or internet.  The lighting is also way off; the studio is too dark behind the guests.  I believe they really need a new studio if they are going to be putting clips on the internet.  One thing that stuck out to me is when Don Lemon was asking a question while cleaning off his glasses with his shirt at the same time, there is no reason to do that and it looks like he just isn't into the topic.  The guests gave good answers though and I'm sure the show was very good over the radio.

3/1/09

Hello there March, hopefully you will bring warm weather.

Anyway...

I watched a story on CNN.com about President Obama and his speech on getting the soldiers out of Iraq.  The story is well done and I have no complaints.  It was done in a conversational approach, not a scripted approach.  The interesting thing about this story is that Republican Alex Castellanos said, "Listening to Obama give a speech is like sex, the worst there ever is, is excellent." I personally liked the comparison, but I had to wonder to myself if it is okay to say this in the story.  It is a little irrelevant and not completely appropriate since little kids could be watching, but most kids don't watch the news, so I don't think it was the worst thing in the world.  I imagine Joe Buck was appalled though, since he didn't approve of the Randy Moss fake moon celebration.

 My fourth package has been a bit of a challenge so far.  Thursday afternoon I scheduled an interview with Joe Bailey, he owns a garage where he buys peoples junk cars and renovates them.  Apparently he makes a killing off of this and it is a second job that he started once the economy went down hill.  I was scheduled to meet him Friday at noon in front of his garage, I skipped all my classes to go to the interview and he wasn't there.  I called him and he told me that he completely forgot about it and he asked if we could meet Saturday.  I told him that we could meet at 1:15 after I get a camera and he told me he would be there.  Predictably once I got there on Saturday he was a no show (but hind-sight is 20/20), I called him an uncountable number of times and he never answered.  There I was sitting in my car, with no story on Saturday and I had to work in two hours.  I actually thought I was going to fail B2 at this point until I remembered that the True/False Film Festival was still going on and I decided that I would go there to dig up a story on Sunday.  

I had no idea what I was going to find and crammed in some research, but of course all of the executives of the event were to busy to meet with me on short notice.  I decided to make do and interview people standing in line.  I noticed a trend that many people were not from Mid-Missouri and I thought, "Hey! This is a bigger event than I thought!"  I decided to focus the story on how the festival has expanded since it first started through the eyes of the attendees.  I have yet to edit my story and I will probably live out of the Broadcast Lab tomorrow on pop-tarts and cough drops, but hopefully my story will be as good as I hope!

2/23/09

I was watching Fox News and on The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly attacked Sean Penn for his comments during the Academy Awards last night.  O'Reilly said that Penn contradicted himself for telling everyone that those against gay marriage should be ashamed at themselves while also saying good thing Obama is finally in office, when Obama is against gay marriage.  On the show O'Reilly called Penn a "clown" and said that everything Penn says is wrong.  This is happening at the same time that many media sources are calling the win for Penn as best actor a win for gay marriage.  I think this issue is obviously a conservative vs liberal issue and opinion is going to vary depending on the network being watched, but I find it odd that every journalist is giving their opinion on what happened in the first place.  Isn't media supposed to be unbiased?  

The most troubling part of my story this week was finding a good story.  I didn't find a story that I really like this entire week and I finally settled after finding a decent one on Thursday. What worries me most about my story is the lack of good shots with action happening in them, though I do believe I have solid shots.  I was set back a little when I was told that I couldn't use shots were you can make out a students face.  I believe that my story was a story that could be best told through graphics instead of good video and my story is more about a topic than a person.  I do think that I maximized my story though;  I used all of my shots, I have good web extras, I had a lot of good information that I used and I wrote to the full potential of the story. The one part of my story that went wrong was my interview with Dr. Ritter.  I set up the interview perfectly and had no head room, but as I moved to the other side of the camera he moved back in his chair and I didn't notice until I returned to capture the tape.  I already know that I'm going to get points of for it, but I did the best that I could by covering it up with b-roll.

2/16/09

On cnn.com I watched a report on the stimulus bill.  I liked the first scene when they said, "this is the 787 billion dollar stimulus bill" and they showed a shot of it spread out on a table.  Besides that most of the shots were file footage of Obama boarding Airforce One and getting off of his helicopter, heading into the White House.  Oddly enough most of the interview set-ups were not properly done.  In one interview of Lauren Fix the background is really dark and blends in with her hair, it is very distracting.  In the stand-up, Dan Lothian is standing too close to the White House and the viewer can't tell what he is standing in front of.  I thought it was a generic story for the times, since every newscast seems to run this same story every night, but I would think they could use some new more unique shots instead of the generic file footage.  I wasn't impressed.  

Now, as for my second package, it has come along nicely.  I started off haggling with the PR person for the Mizzou swim team to get media credentials and when I finally got them on Thursday night, I woke up Friday with an email from the U.S. swim team PR person saying that I couldn't get media credentials.  I called her and I convinced her it would be harmless to give me credentials.  This took way more time than it should have and probably gave me some grey hairs.

I went to the Missouri Grand Prix at 4:30 and started getting shots.  I was told that after Katie Hoff's races I would be able to interview her and once Sullivan was done I could also interview her.  It turned out that the Hoff interview was a press conference and I was the only one there with a camera among many newspaper journalists, so I shoved my way to the front.  This interview became difficult to set up, because she kept turning to the different reporters when they asked questions so I had to make sure the interview was set up correctly, that I could listen to everyone else's questions so that I would not repeat one and I had to think of good questions on the spot (talk about a run-on sentence).  I think I ended up with a decent interview, but it would have been nice to have a camera man.

That was the most trouble that I came across when shooting my package, but once I started doing my web extras I came across more trouble.  I tried to add a link to my web story, but it wouldn't allow me to since they are training exercises and to add a link the stories must be approved for KOMU.com.  I also wanted to add a video of Hoff answering a question on the Michael Phelps incident, but since I was listening and thinking of a follow up question I failed to frame it properly and it just didn't look good.

In the end after conquering most of the problems that I came across, I feel that this is by far the best story that I have ever made and I am very proud of myself at the moment.  Hopefully everyone else feels the same when they see it.

Position Ranking for the '09 MLB season

I will be listing the top 10 of who I believe will play the best at each position this upcoming season, not only offensively, but defensively.  For OF, I will just give the 30 best OFs.  For pitchers I will give the top 10 RP and top 30 SP.

Catcher

1.  Brian McCann

2.  Geovany Soto

3.  Joe Mauer

4.  Russell Martin

5.  Victor Martinez

6.  Chris Iannetta

7.  Ryan Doumit

8.  Yadier Molina

9.  Pablo Sandoval

10. Jorge Posada

First Base

1.  Albert Pujols

2.  Miguel Cabrera

3.  Mark Teixeira

4.  Ryan Howard

5.  Kevin Youkillis

6.  Lance Berkman

7.  Prince Fielder

8.  Justin Morneau

9.  Adrian Gonzalez

10. Chris Davis

Second Base

1.  Chase Utley

2.  Ian Kinsler

3.  Dustin Pedroia

4.  Brandon Phillips

5.  Dan Uggla

6.  Brian Roberts

7.  Howie Kendrick

8.  Jose Lopez

9.  Robinson Cano

10. Ian Stewart

Third Base

1.  Alex Rodriguez

2.  David Wright

3.  Evan Longoria

4.  Aramis Ramirez

5.  Chipper Jones

6.  Alex Gordon

7.  Ryan Zimmerman

8.  Troy Glaus

9.  Adrian Beltre

10. Chone Figgins

Short Stop

1.  Hanley Ramirez

2.  Jose Reyes

3.  Troy Tulowitzki

4.  Derek Jeter

5.  Stephen Drew

6.  Jimmy Rollins

7.  Rafael Furcal

8.  Michael Young

9.  Mike Aviles

10.  Khalil Greene

Outfield

1.  Grady Sizemore

2.  Ryan Braun

3.  Josh Hamilton

4.  B. J. Upton

5.  Manny Ramirez

6.  Carlos Lee

7.  Carlos Beltran

8.  Carlos Quentin

9.  Nick Markakis

10.  Vladimir Guerrero

11.  Curtis Granderson

12.  Alfonso Soriano

13.  Ichiro

14.  Matt Kemp

15.  Ryan Ludwick

16.  Matt Holliday

17.  Nate McLouth

18.  Jay Bruce

19.  Magglio Ordonez

20.  Hunter Pence

21.  Alex Rios

22.  Milton Bradley

23.  Torii Hunter

24.  Jermain Dye

25.  Rick Ankiel

26.  Bobby Abreu

27.  Denard Span

28.  Shane Victorino

29.  Colby Rasmus

30.  Adam Jones

Starting Pitcher

1.  Tim Lincecum

2.  Johan Santana

3.  C.C. Sabathia

4.  Brandon Webb

5.  Jake Peavy

6.  Cole Hamels

7.  Dan Haren

8.  Roy Halladay

9.  Edison Volquez

10.  Scott Kazmir

11.  Rich Harden

12.  Chad Billingsley

13.  Josh Beckett

14.  Felix Hernandez

15.  Jon Lester

16.  Ervin Santana

17.  Adam Wainwright

18.  Joba Chamberlain

19.  James Shields

20.  Cliff Lee

21.  Carlos Zambrono

22.  Matt Cain

23.  John Lackey

24.  Roy Oswalt

25.  Chris Carpenter

26.  Scott Baker

27.  David Price

28.  A. J. Burnett

29.  Zack Greinke

30.  Yovani Gallardo

Relief Pitchers

1.  Jonathan Papelbon

2.  Joe Nathan

3.  Francisco Rodriguez

4.  Brad Lidge

5.  Joakim Soria

6.  Mariano Rivera

7.  Jonathan Broxton

8.  Brandon Morrow

9.  Carlos Marmol

10. Bobby Jenks

02/09/09

On espn.com I watched an interview conducted by Peter Gammons of Yankees third baseman, Alex Rodriguez.  Gammons asked, "Alex, this weekend Sports Illustrated reported that in 2003 you tested positive for testosterone an anabolic steroid known as premobolan, what's the truth?" Gammons got Rodriguez to answer truthfully and expand on the question by giving a narrow statement, followed by a broad question that would let "A-Rod" give his side of the story, which is that he did use steroids from 2001-2003 and he admitted that he "was young, stupid and nieve" and that he felt pressure to prove that he was one of the best players of all time.  I found it interesting that Gammons asked this one question and it allowed Rodriguez to explain what happened and how he feels about what he did now.  It was a very good method of questioning, but I don't think that all journalists could get away with getting such a good answer on such a simple question, Gammons has a reputation for being a great journalist among baseball players and has even been inducted in the hall of fame.

As far as my first package is concerned it didn't take a lot of time for me to figure out who I was going to interview and what I planned on doing.  The first person I talked to was Tim Williams a manager at Century 21, I asked him if there was a client that has had their house on the market for longer than the average time it takes to sell and who would be willing to talk to me.  After a few hours he found Chris McGee and his realtor Kim Schwartz.  I talked to Kim and she agreed to give me a tour of the house.  She had even talked to Chris for me and gave me the time of his break, so that I could go there after she showed me the house.  

To be honest, I had expected a normal house, since I had never been to Rocheport before, so it threw me off guard when I arrived and the house was more of a weekend cabin than an actual house.  There was even an old log cabin built in the front yard that has been there for no one knows how long.  After shooting the tour and interviewing Kim, I went to Lange Middle School to meet Chris on his break.  When I finished interviewing Chris I thought it would be a good idea to get some action shots of him teaching his class, I ended up doing this and interviewing Tim Williams.  On Saturday, with help from James Coston, I shot my stand-up.

Unfortunately the camera had been set on "manual" instead of "automatic" when I was shooting on Friday and I couldn't tell by looking in the side panel that the shots were way too dark.  After getting my raw footage graded by Greeley and seeing how dark they were, I attempted to re-do as much footage as possible, but with the busy schedules of Kim and Chris, I couldn't re-shoot the tour or re-interview Chris, so I made the best out of what I had and as far as I'm concerned I told a pretty darn good story.