Posts Tagged sports writing
Shot in the dark.
Posted by Emily in Spilled Thoughts, The Sports World on May 19, 2010
Emily Patton. The next Nike Field Reporter?
“Baby, maybe I’m the one you like
Maybe I’m a shot in the dark
and you’re the morning light
Whoa
Maybe this is sad but true
Baby, maybe you’ve got nothing to lose…”
So I know a thing or two about shots in the darks.
You know, those longshots that come out of nowhere and steal the race. The kind of longshots I am most familiar with are the likes of those in horse racing… maybe like a Super Saver in the 2010 Kentucky Derby or Mine That Bird in last year’s Run for the Roses, or how about the one that rocked everyone’s race world that cleverly named, Giacomo from 2005?
What’s the cool thing about long-shots?
Well in horse racing… if you are tempted enough to put down $2 to show, or maybe if you are feeling adventurous, God forbid, $2 to win, the pay-off… well, its kind of nice. But bet on the favorite. Well, you are looking at a return of a whopping .20 cents, if you’re lucky.
So what does that say to you?
I’ll tell you what it says to me. It tells me to take the gamble. The payoff in the end will be worth the funny looks at the betting window, the muffled laughter from the doubters and nonbelievers.
The quote, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” has always stuck with me.
Its a quote that I recited to myself as a clicked “SUBMIT” on Nike’s website a few weeks ago.
Nike offered a contest nationally to be the next Nike Field Reporter, an insane job offer for young women to work as reporters interviewing the dream athletes and writing for Nike Women.com. A bit insane to think that such a dream is even something you can enter to win.
So to cut down the thousands of entries, each girl had to write an essay to break into the top 100 girls. I mean, this is a national contest, LITERALLY thousands of people entered.
I’m shaking my head right now even thinking about it.
But I made the top 100. (Ridiculous, I know!)
Next, we had to submit a video, telling why we should be the next Nike Field Reporter. To explain the stress that this caused me is already an understatement. My first video, well, let’s just say was just terrible. Then it wouldn’t upload. After a couple visits to the IT department, a couple stressed phone-calls to my oh-so patient friends, thoughts of giving up, e-mailing Gabe from Nike, and just frustration… well, I ended up having to re-do my video. Oh, yeah, all this during, Western Kentucky University’s finals week too. Yeah, I wasn’t stressed out at all!
So finally, fed up and impatient, I started over. I plopped down in my back yard and started talking. I felt like I was rambling, but really I just talked about what I am most passionate about, which conveniently enough is just what this Nike Field Reporter contest is all about. Its about being passionate about reporting and sports.
Fortunately, my full name is Emily Lynn Passionate About Reporting Sports Patton. Its a pain filling out paperwork.
In two weeks, I’ll find out if I made the top 30. They judge on the popularity of the video, ratings, comments, views and all, but also the essay I submitted previously. Its a whole big combination of things. I had to pretty much “wow” them.
Its a tad scary to think that I could be on the brink of something so incredible. All I can do now is advertise my video so people can help make it more POPULAR — a word I secretly hate, but for the next two weeks, I’ll embrace it.
POPULARITY, come on baby.
Its a shot in the dark. But its one you’ll never hit, if you don’t at least go for it.
So that’s what I’m doing. I’m going for it. Wish me luck.
Hit up my video by going to Nike Women, click on videos, then channels and the “Vote Now for the Next NFR” tab and look for Emily Patton.
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Love to Learn. Learn to love.
Posted by Emily in Spilled Thoughts, The Sports World on April 16, 2010
Oh, oh no.
Doesn’t it feel like that time in the semester where a train is heading straight for you?
The 2010 Lady Toppers softball team. Photo by Emily Patton
Just imagine that terrible, awful, no good train that screams its whistle right through the valley of Western Kentucky University racing towards you head on at full speed.
Here I am desperately trying to find a way off the track as work at the math office comes to a close, the Herald and a softball season comes to an end and finals week approaches.
When this semester finally concludes, I feel like I am going to have a couple more grey hairs. Not only from the stress, but from the feeling that I have grown up yet even more.
As always, the credit for me maturing and growing… yep, you guessed it… goes to…. the College Heights Herald (applause).
I guess you could say I stepped up in my beat when I was awarded softball after covering cross-country during the fall… although I’m sure that’s debatable. Its a sport most wouldn’t jump to have a byline next to. Its a sport I had never really paid much attention to.
Nonetheless, its a sport and I’m a sportswriter.
Unlike cross-country, I have never had any experience with softball. Not in high school, not in grade school, not even in the friends I spent time with had any connection whatsoever to the sport. I never went to softball games. I once played a few innings in a church league game, but honestly, that was the extent of my ties to anything remotely related to seven inning game. In the course of one spring semester, it was expected of me to make it my life.
Senior Kelsey McCauley of the Lady Toppers prepares to bat against conference opponent, Troy, on April 2. Photo by Emily Patton
I can’t tell you how well I have done or if I have met or exceeded any expectations. I just don’t know. What I can tell you is simple. I like softball. I like softball players. I have gained respect for the sport. I know the roster in and out of the Lady Tops.
Most importantly, I have learned more than you could ever imagine.
I am watching softball for the first time in my life, gaining experience, and learning every day.
And as a student in college on the eve of entering this dreaded “real world” that haunts my future every day and prior to my first summer internship — that’s really all I can ask for.
See how I am doing keeping up with the latest Lady Toppers softball news and see the latest from the Herald’s sport staff.
My Balancing Act
Posted by Emily in Spilled Thoughts on September 9, 2009
It’s time for you to prove,
Within your ruby shoes,
You deserve a smile with no regret,
Look at you kicking off your shoes,
Dancing for the world to see,
Now open up and see, And go be free and fly away…
I probably do not know what I am getting myself into honestly. This whole college experience journalism thing? Yeah, who was I kidding?
I thought for a few minutes there I had this whole college thing down. Freshmen year was knocked out of the park and my summer living on my own in Bowling Green was a complete success. I had figured out where the bathrooms are in all the buildings on campus, found the quickest way to master the hill from my residence hall to TCCW, and even seemed to say, “Meal Plan” with such confidence I appeared to be saying it for years.
But I guess it serves me right for thinking I had it all figured out. And how intelligent am I for thinking 15 hours of classes and working part-time at the university was just not enough?
Now here I am working to perfect that amazing balancing act I have going with class/work, (all on my head of course), putting my fancy journalism major to good use as I freelance for the Kentucky New Era and work as the newest College Heights Herald’s sports general assignment reporter.
With my fancy voice recorder in hand, pen working furiously, questions buzzing in my head, I have never done anything more exciting than the work of a journalist. From the few stories I have been involved with thus far in my brief career, I can say I have learned more from those experiences than from hours and hours in a classroom. Suddenly this whole journalism thing I have been studying for the past year has become a beautiful and real thing to me. Beautiful. Yes. Real. YES. But I refuse to sugarcoat this for you, because honestly I feel like as I am seeking truth and answers to my many questions about the industry, you are probably on the same scavenger hunt.
I’ll give it to you straight: Its not easy. Deadlines are a constant. If you think you have some time, well you are wrong. If you think an interview will go smoothly when you are crunched for time, well you are wrong. You always need more information. You always could have done more research. Each day, I feel like I have no idea what I am doing. I feel like I have everything to learn and no one is just going to pass out the answers to the test. But maybe that’s the process. Maybe its better to start out brand new, so that you can dig deeper and seek a little harder. Maybe everyone has to start at the bottom to make reaching the peak so breathtaking.
While what I do know is little, what I have learned in the past few weeks speaks volumes. This experience I am gaining right now is vital after the next few years of college pass. I am so thankful to be surrounded by amazing people, who will go to many vast places in this huge world and will inspire me to do the same. My high stress level is worth every minute.
I do not have everything figured out. Fifty years from now, I probably still will not have it all figured out. But I have never have I anticipated the small discoveries along the way more.
Its Not Your Fault.
Posted by Emily in The Sports World on April 12, 2009
I live for one day a year, and one day only. Not Christmas, not my birthday, nor Thanksgiving. This day is unfamiliar to most, but its my holiday. Its my day. Kentucky Derby day.
Since I was eight-years-old, I have followed horse-racing. Maybe the word “followed” is putting it lightly. Let me revise that statement. Since I was eight-years-old, I have been obsessed with horse-racing.
Facts of my obsession:
- Each year Derby Day fell on the day of my High School’s prom. Before accepting any invitations from potential dates, they first had to agree that I would be able to watch the race sometime during the prom festivities. (Only high-maintenance when it comes to the Derby, I promise)
Some of my horse-racing memorabilia: Derby glasses, goggles signed by Stewart Elliott and John McKee, photos of myself with Smarty Jones and his owners, etc.
- Every year I eat spaghetti, its a good luck tradition for a Triple Crown winner. (Don’t ask.)
- My sister’s wedding fell on Belmont Day. Me and some friends disappeared briefly from the reception to watch the race in a neighboring bar, watched Rags to Riches beat the boys, and made it back before the YMCA started. (True Story)
- For my 16th birthday, I did not ask for a car. I asked for a trip to Louisville to explore Churchill Downs for the day. (On that day, I ran into Roy and Pat Chapman, Smarty Jones’ owners in the museum. Nicest people I have ever met.)
- Each Derby Day, I am up by six in the morning, watching ESPN’s “Breakfast at Churchill” and the replays of Secretariat on ESPN Classic.
- I cried for days after Smarty Jones lost the Belmont.
- I can recite all the Triple Crowns winners, names and dates, and the last couple decades of Derby winners
- I often am found at home watching TVG (24 hour horse-racing network) and making bets with myself.
- I collect dirt from various tracks. (Promise I am not crazy. Really.)
Hopefully your eyes did not glaze over at the mention of the word “horse-racing.” The average person knows little about the sport, even those who have aspirations of being sports columnists. But why is that?
I know that even in the heights of my own personal obsession, following horse-racing has not been easy. I will be completely honest: no media, no advertisement nor headline story on Google News is helping me follow the sport.
Its not your fault that you do not like horse-racing.
The blame should go to the media.
The second-rate quality of journalists covering the horse-racing beat has led the fans to find the sport second-rate as well (if even rated at all in their list).
The coverage of the sport is minimal. Pick up a paper prior to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships and read the brief sentences dedicated to informing you about the sport. How can an international event be reduced to a few inches in a newspaper?
When it is covered, often poor or false information seeps through. How can you attract new fans when you are losing your faithful supporters? Its an impossible act. And when the “supposed to be” horse-racing analysts stumble through the broadcast, because “no one is listening anyways,” well I lose faith in what will come to our Sport of Kings.
Horse-racing once carried our nation through the Great Depression with a small horse named, Seabiscuit. During the Watergate scandal, countless images could have
One of my stops on a visit to California was to Del Mar Thoroughbred Race Course
claimed the cover photo on Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and Newsweek, yet it was Secretariat who shined on the front page. It was then when THE STORY was centered around a four-legged athlete.
I worry over the fate of the sport. I worry the stories that will go unheard. I worry over the idea that if someone who has followed horse-racing for more than 10 years is having trouble staying afloat on the news surrounding the sport, how will the industry ever survive?
I cannot explain how I fell in love with the sport, nor what motivated me to memorize the winners on the back of my first collectible Derby glass. It just happened. But my passion for horse-racing has been sustained with the help of the few eloquent story-telling of the pieces of journalism I stumbled across..
Let us shape up our act as journalists so that you can experience the truth of one of the best kept secrets in sports.
So for now, I’m truly sorry.
Want to experience the beauty of horse-racing? Watch this.
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