Washington Sports

Former Georgetown Hoya’s Head Coach Craig Esherick sat down with my Sports Journalism class on Thursday to relate his personal experiences to our class topics.
Of course, this feat proved very easy for Craig considering he was a co-author of our class textbook.
His presentation started out very casual. In fact, he was seated the whole time. His first topic of discussion was about his experiences putting our textbook together.
He also weighed in on what he currently is doing. He is a professor at George Mason University and teaches Sports Management.
He also is a commentator for college basketball games. He was formerly an assistant basketball coach and scout for the 1988 U.S. Men’s Olympic basketball team.
With all of his basketball experience I found it only fitting for him to weigh in on our schools current basketball team.
He stated his concern on why the team wasn’t getting the proper ranking. Craig said “they don’t have the television package the big six conferences”. Meaning they aren’t in one of the more popular conferences that get most of the nation’s attention.
Craig also stated, “That’s why they are not ranked in the top 25. They should be 13 or 14”.
This conversation led him into his personal experiences as a head coach in the NCAA. Perhaps, one of the most interesting story lines in this conversation was the amount of basketball legends Craig has coached. He has coached Allen Iverson, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, and Dikemba Matumbo.
Craig was very involved in Georgetown’s recruiting. He said, “You try to judge a person’s athletic ability and character in a short window of time”.
Since recruiting can make or break a college organization finding the right players to fit in is a crucial responsibility.
One of the Toughest and best decisions Georgetown ever had to make was to recruit Allen Iverson. At the time Allen Iverson was ready to play College Basketball he had a felony charge pending. Allen Iverson’s mother brought her son to Craig and asked him if Georgetown would take Allen.
Craig said, “Allen was coachable. The media was fair with Allen. Allen was liked they respected someone that small that could play that hard. He was not concerned about the media.”

Chapter 8
Event Management
Event management can be categorized into three primary events: game management/ game-day operations, press conferences/ media days, and special events.
A sports information director must excel at preparation, organization, and communication, all while being a hospitable host.
There are three types of operations in order to host a sporting event: pre-game, in-game/ game-time and post-game.
Pre-Game Preparation
A sports information director must ensure that the press box/ press table is functional weeks before the season-opener.
The SID is responsible for many tasks including: stocking of media guides for both his/her school and the opponent, seeing that enough accessories are ready (paper, pencils, working copy machine) and ensuring the internet is available for the media that will be using it either via wireless or Ethernet connections.
The SID will also plan for the food that will be served in the press box/ press row during the season. An SID’s budget will dictate many of the decisions regarding food but meals for each home game are determined well in advance.
Obviously, giving everyone a nice sit down dinner would be ideal, but some teams simply do not have the budget. High profile, division 1 schools often provide sit-down dinners. Smaller schools can only provide niceties. They often provide coffee, soda, and donuts in working media areas.
An in-season game work week begins on Sunday. This is right after a traditional game which is played on Saturday. The SID is responsible for updating the team statistics from the previous day and nominating his/her players for conference, regional, and national players of the week awards. SID’s also assist the coaches with any media responsibilities and prepare the weekly game notes for the upcoming game.
Another very important task that the SID is responsible for is issuing credentials. He/she will issue credentials to any local, regional, or national media that request to attend and to report on the upcoming game.
Also, during the week of a game, a schedule of interview availability for the organization’s coaches and players should be distributed so that any media planning to follow the SID’s organization that week are aware of interview opportunities.
If the game is on television, the SID is responsible for seeing that the television talent meeting with some of the team’s notable players and coaches. This is to possibly follow up on some story lines. This is a great opportunity to further promote your team.
On game-day the SID must arrive no later than two to three hours before the start time to assist with any media issues.
In-Game Operations
Once the sporting event has begun the well-prepared SID has the school’s, conference’s, and NCAA’s record books readily available should any statistical feats from the contest set new standards. And, if that happens then the internal and external public address announcers, television, and the home radio broadcasters should immediately be informed so the general public and the media are aware of the record-breaking information.
Also, today we have many technological advances that allow us to get information out the the general public faster than ever. We can use twitter and many other forms of social media while the game is happening.
Post-Game Duties
The primary duties of an SID in the post-game involve managing the head coach’s press conference, win or lose, and bringing the requested players into the press conference once the coach has finished.
Even if the team loses the media still has a job to do.
The quotes from the entire press conference should be recorded, transcribed, and distributed with the contest’s entire statistical package to the media as quickly as possible after the game. A press-release story needs to be written for the organization’s website and for immediate distribution to members of the media that were unable to attend the contest.

Monday Night Briar Woods hosted a Dulles District quarterfinal game. The game featured the Briar Woods Falcons hosting the visiting Freedom Eagles. Intensity was in the air for this Valentine’s Day match up.
After Freedom had jumped out to an 8-3 lead Briar Woods knew they had to make some adjustments. Even distribution of the ball put Briar Woods in a position to shoot for the lead. Freedom tried to maintain a steady lead throughout the first half but Junior guard Myles Tate and the Briar Woods Offense was consistent. Every basket Freedom made Briar Woods had an answer for. Going into the half Briar Woods made a strong push for the lead to let Freedom know they weren’t going down without a fight.
With a competitive game under way Briar Woods took their momentum from the end of the first half and applied it to the beginning of the second half. Briar Woods used an onslaught of presicion passing and off ball screens to open up the driving lanes for Myles Tate.
Freedom looked to Junior Guard Sean O’Rourke to try to shut Tate down. The two had been playing each other tight all night. Sean O’Rourke’s hustle gave Freedom the opportunity to make a push for the lead.
Late in the Third quarter Briar Woods had the lead 32-24. However, Freedom’s Sophomore forward Darren Hawkins had been cruising under the radar with his impressively steady game plan, and he was only picking up momentum. With time running out for Freedom Darren Hawkins put the team on his back. He provided Freedom with a scoring spark and continually crashed the boards to force second chance points.
Unfortunately, Freedoms efforts never amounted to a lead. Myles Tate was too much for Freedom’s defense. He maintained the lead and the momentum in the final stretch of the game. His strikingly quick drives finished the Freedom Eagles off.
In the end, the team effort for Briar Woods was more effective than Freedom. The Briar Wood’s Falcon’s defeated the Freedom Eagle’s 48-39.  Darren Hawkins was the majority points scorer with 20 points. In fact, it took five of Freedom’s other players just to score 19 points.
Briar Wood’s keys to winning included more of a diverse point distribution. Myles Tate scored 17 points. Junior guard Corey Faciane and Sophomore forward Matt Rolin each put up 8 points and four other Briar Woods players combined for 15 points.
Briar Woods moves on to the next round of districts where they will host Woodgrove High School on Wednesday, February 16th.

Television: ESPN, Fox, Comedy Central, and Cartoon Network

Internet: Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo Sports, ESPN

Radio: 106.7 the Fan, DC 101

Newspaper: The Washington Post

The super bowl is almost here.

In just four days all of America will be focused on a single football game. The match-up is set. The Pittsburgh Steelers will take on the Green Bay Packers in Cowboys stadium.

I can’t decide what i am happier about, the fact that the Green Bay Packers are in the super bowl or that the Dallas Cowboys did not get to play in a super bowl at their stadium. As a Redskins fan this pleases me.

Another thing that pleases me is that the Packers made it to the super bowl. If they do win the big game then at least i can say that the Redskins beat the Packers in overtime and i got to see that game live.

Now, to the match-up.

My prediction is that the Packers will WIN.
31-21

The first key match-up for this game is the Packers defensive line versus Ben Roethlisberger. Big Ben already has two super bowl wins under his belt and knows how to perform in the big game. This is important because the Packers only have one member on their defense that has been to a super bowl. However, i believe if the unexperienced Packers defense can get pressure on him they may be able to force him to throw the ball before he wants to and this may cause a turnover. The Packers defense must not be fooled by Ben’s famous move the pump fake. He can get a whole defensive line to slow down simply with this move. If the Packers defense do not fall for this and keep coming at him they may be able to get a good amount of sacks.

The main defensive player for the Packers that i will be watching is going to be Clay Matthews. He sets the tone for the D-line and his intensity may make Ben a little uncomfortable. If you give Ben time in the pocket he will find an open receiver for a big gain. I say this because Ben’s release isn’t as fast as Aaron Rodgers.

This brings me to my next match-up. Aaron Rodgers versus the Steeler’s linebackers and safeties.

Troy Polamalu has just been named the leagues Defensive Player of the year. He has been making quarterbacks uncomfortable the whole season. Like i talked about earlier Aaron Rodgers quick release will allow him to pick at the Steeler’s linebackers and safeties for small gains. However, all these small gains will give the Packer’s first downs and move them down the field. The Steeler’s defense is going to find it very hard to get the Packer’s offense off the field.

Another player i feel that is going to make a big difference in this game will be Greg Jennings. He has come up very big for the Packer’s throughout the playoffs with his many quick slant catches across the middle.

Another great match-up in this game deals with the two running backs. James Starks and Rashard Mendenhall. Logically Mendenhall would be the better runningback here but you never know what your going to get with Starks. The Steelers will more than likely try to establish a strong run game at first to open up the throwing lanes. But if the Packers can stop them they will never be able to get into a rythmn and will probably force a couple plays that the Packers may take advantage of.

On the other hand, the Packers will probably try to start the game with many short pass gains and maybe a couple long attempts. Then when the time is right they will unleash Starks. If Starks runs for good yardage then the Steelers won’t stand a chance because when they least expect it they will then give up a big play that could ultimately change the face of the game.

In the end, my Super Bowl MVP prediction is Aaron Rodgers 28-35, 290 yards passing, 3 TD’s.

It’s Groundhog day again, but instead of Washington Redskins fans focusing on a furry little brown creature we are focusing on a different hog.

Dan Snyder is reportedly sueing the Washington Post and wants one of its writers to be fired. The article that enraged Snyder supposedly stated false information about him that said he was caught forging names as a telemarketer at Snyder communications. The article then proceeded to state that Snyder’s wife Tanya was out on local television trying to sell a new image for Dan Snyder.

The irony of this story is that if Dan Snyder had just let it go then it would have never been talked about in this magnitude. That leads me to believe that this article hit a nerve with Snyder. I still am undecided on this story as to who is wrong. I am curious as to what my readers think. If anyone has any more interesting information on this story let me know.

Happy Gilmore is the greatest sports movie of all time.   Happy is a hockey player who is down on his luck.   After being cut by a local Hockey team and his girlfriend leaving him he discovers that his grandmothers house is being taken away from here because she didn’t pay her taxes.

She didn’t pay here taxes because she simply didn’t have any money.   This unfortunate turn of events makes Happy realize he had to do something to get his grandmother’s house back.   Happy didn’t have a normal childhood.   He didn’t grow up with his mom and dad.   All he had was his grandmother and she always took care of him.

He knew he had to do something to save his grandmother’s beloved house but he didn’t know what.   As a couple of movers are taking his grandmother’s furniture out of the house they decided to take a break.   On this break the two workers decided to hit a couple of golf balls down the street with an old set of golf clubs.   Happy then asked them to continue working but instead the two workers decided to make a bet with Happy.   The bet was simple.   If Happy hit a golf ball farther than one of the workers than he would win twenty bucks.   If he didn’t then he would lose twenty bucks.

Happy grabbed the golf club as if it was a hockey stick.   In a magical slow motion moment Happy crushes a golf ball over 400 yards and wins the movers money.   While holding the money Happy gets an idea on how to save his grandmother’s house.

He then goes to a local driving range and attempts to hustle people and win money.   His plan was working.   He was crushing people at the driving range.   All of these long distance drives caught the attention of a mysterious golf trainer with a wooden hand named Chubbs.   Chubbs was an ex-golf legend until an alligator bit his hand off.   After this even he gave up his dreams at golf and decided to teach people how to play golf.

Chubbs convinces Happy to join the PGA tour to make money.   Happy had a rough start on a couple of his first golf events but eventually was strating to develop into a dominate golf player.   He gained alot of attention from the crowds because of his hilarious antics on the golf course.

Shooter Mcgavin is the number 1 golfer on the PGA tour and he becomes threatened by Happy’s growing popularity.   In an attempt to get Happy Gilmore off the PGA tour Shooter decides to buy Happy’s grandmother’s house.   He offers to give Happy the house if he leaves the tour.   After Happy realizes how wrong that was of shooter he makes a wager with him.   This wager puts both golfers skills against eachother.   The wager was if Happy beats Shooter than he would get his grandmother’s house back and he would be able to stay on the PGA tour.   If he loses than he doesn’t get the house and he has to leave the tour.   The stakes were high.

Half way throught the match Shooter begins to get scared so he calls in some reinforcements.   His plan was to hit Happy with a car driven by an astranged fan.   His plan turns out to be successful.   Happy struggles with his swing after the accident and almost gives up.   After the struggling he remembers the traing that Chubbs gave him.   He mustars up some courage and beats Shooter in the end.

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