Listening to Others

I've got this quote on my coda sheet tacked to the wall over my computer that says what you think of on your own is at best monotonous. You learn from taking your thoughts and meshing them with what you learn from others.

Listening to Michael Moran, the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society at Penn State, talk about the once upon a time relationship of the SID and the young media person. The SID was a mentor, explaining the rules, helping guide the newbie along. It wasn't manipulation, it was vested interest. The school doesn't want uninformed opinion in the paper. Newspapers didn't want to have to clean up stupid mistakes that made it to print.

Let me take Michael a step further -- interacting with the B&B community can be the same. Many of the board owners do not have a good understanding of the legal nature of athletics. NCAA rules are often misunderstood. HIPPA and FERPA even less. Sometimes, explaining why things can't be said is as important as saying things.

At the end of the day, most of the people in the blogs are fans. They may have less tolerance for error, they may be essentially darker in their outlooks, but they want to help. They want to be a part of the program. Not unlike the good old days and the cub reporter on the beat, we need to find ways to relate to the B&B.