In this project, I went through four stages of the history of women's basketball and talked about where sexism related to the sport comes from. I went through the birth of women's college basketball and the WNBA as well as where the game is today.
A reflection on my diverse educational experience as a sports journalism student, key lessons I learned about specific forms of communication and content creation within social media, written reporting and radio/podcasting and the demand for versatility among all modern journalists.
The process to answer these questions began by compiling a list of 166 journalists who could provide valuable insight into the current state of sports journalism. Targeted specifically were those journalists who were either currently or had spent extensive time as a beat reporter, as a crucial aspect of the study hinged on the exploration of the role of analytics in day-to-day coverage. Of those 166 journalists, 93 made themselves available through either Twitter direct message or email. Once contacted, 47 of those journalists responded, eventually leading to 27 phone interviews and 7 email interviews.
Each interview began with the journalist establishing a baseline for what they thought the role of analytics should be in the coverage of their respective sports. From there, the conversation often took a linear turn as journalists talked about the experiences in their career that led them to that conclusion, what moments had shifted their overall opinions of analytics, their best approaches for utilizing analytics in both articles and interviews, their favorite and least favorite analytical measures, the gaps that remain in analytics, and the future of the industry as a whole.
Each interview was transcribed, and a number of compelling themes emerged. The many different themes were organized into three different groups, past, present and future, where they were further expanded on to best display the many concepts illustrated in this thesis. Among the themes explored include how journalists use coaches and players to validate statistics, what strategies work best when including analytics in conversations with athletes, how to find story ideas through analytics and the issues plaguing the analytics community. Once themes had been identified, the percentage of journalists who had indicated agreement with the themes were calculated. Thus, themes investigated were represented statistically as well as by a quote from a journalist addressing the idea.
Across 34 interviews with some of the country’s most established and well-respected voices, many of the pressing issues facing analytics in sports journalism today were explored, including the melding of analytical and narrative writing, how best to use analytics in question asking, and the “holy grail” of analytical data. Across interviews, a host of interesting strategies and ideas emerged as journalists examined how the industry reached its current point, what practices are currently most effective, and where the industry is headed. The perspective gained from this thesis gives insight into many of the lesser-discussed elements of journalism, imparting a deeper understanding of the challenges that lay ahead for sports journalism through an examination for how far the industry has come. While analytics and their usage in sports journalism remains a difficult concept to fully encapsulate, this thesis hopefully gives a better look at their complex and ever-evolving relationship.
Canada Basketball Collective is a website on all things Canada Basketball and how the sport has grown in country from the National Team, all the way down the provincial system. Young athletes in country are becoming more involved and enthused about the sport than ever before. The sport is rooted in government run provincial teams, allowing athletes to represent their providences rather than AAU or modern day Academy teams. The traditional system is now unveiling a far bigger conversation of how people should define success in youth basketball. This thesis attempts to answer that question, and turn the conversation of how individuals define modern day success in youth sports.
This project was a long form article talking about the struggles the competitive fighting game community had with poor online multiplayer during the pandemic and how rollback netcode aims to remedy that problem as well as provide easy online play for everyone.
A 40-minute documentary analyzing the mid-1990s rise and late 2000s fall of NASCAR's mainstream popularity in the United States, juxtaposed with a focus on new initiatives in the sport including the Drive for Diversity.