NEW MEDIA IN JOURNALISM 475
JOE GISONDI, SPORTS BLOGGER
S
ports blogger Joe Gisondi says, “Sports has
been a big part of my life, from the time I
played Wiffle Ball with my father after church on
Sundays to when I covered sports for several
newspapers in Florida. Now, I teach journal-
ism at Eastern Illinois University and advise our
daily student newspaper (DENnews.com).”
Gisondi’s blog, “On Sports,” provides
commentary on the issues of the day, but
it also features tips for anyone who wants
to cover sports for fun or a career.
“I want to help other young kids as they
chase their dreams of covering sports,” Gisondi
explains. “I want to give students practical,
hands-on advice on how to cover individual
sports, everything from football to cross country.
“I also try to interject humor whenever I can.
Sports can, at times, be a serious business, but
games are supposed to be fun. Sometimes, I
think we as sports journalists forget that. I do
not report scores like ESPN, nor do I comment
like Deadspin [the sports Web site]. Instead, I
work to teach young sports journalists how to
improve. I can’t think of a better thing to do.”
Here are a few excerpts from “On Sports”:
Covering Soccer
Scott French always brings four things to any
soccer game he covers—binoculars, a stopwatch,
tape recorder and a flexible composition note-
book. That way, French, who has covered the
World Cup and Major League Soccer, can follow
the games more precisely. The binoculars enable
him to gather details about plays across the field
(or from high in a press box). A stopwatch enables
him to accurately record the time of key plays
at stadiums and fields where scoreboard clocks
are not used (or available). After games, French
tapes players and coaches. During the game, he
uses the notebook to record key plays, comments
and scoring (team-player-minute), red cards and
yellow cards, starting lineups and substitutions.
Covering Tennis
When Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim cov-
ers a tennis match, he goes old school, break-
ing out pen and paper to take notes amidst the
aisles of laptops. He divides the page into two
vertical halves. On the left side, he scribbles
about on-court actions, writing notes like “lots of
double faults,” “lost four straight after streaker
crossed the court” or “looks heavier than nor-
mal.” On the right side of the page, Wertheim
writes what he calls “atmospheric jottings” that
include anything from the words on a fan’s ban-
ner to the weather to the music played on the
public address system during breaks in the
action. Says Wertheim: “Basically, anything you
wouldn’t pick up watching at home on TV.”
On Track and Field
Covering a track meet is like reporting on 14
(or more) little stories. It’s just a matter of which
events to focus on—the 100 meters, 1,500
meters, the long jump? Most of these choices
are made before the meet begins. Fewer readers
understand the rules or know the athletes in a
sport like track. That means a reporter needs to
find a human-interest angle that even non-track
fans can enjoy. “When you cover track and field
and swimming, maybe two out of a hundred read-
ers are really devoted to the sport,” says New
York Times sportswriter Frank Litsky. “You can’t
write for two people. You have to pull in the others
by focusing on people. Like the swimmer with the
defibrillator or runner recovering from cancer. If
you tell stories, you can get people to read them.”