Morristown, Tennessee: Tony Hawk's next skatepark

Tony Hawk in action

I believe the city of Morristown, Tennessee would benefit greatly from applying for the Tony Hawk Skateboard Foundation Grant.  According to their website, the Tony Hawk Foundation seeks to foster lasting improvements in society, with an emphasis on supporting and empowering youth.  The Foundation supports recreational programs with a focus on the creation of public skateboard parks in low-income communities.  The belief by the Foundation is that the skateparks can teach the youth lessons that will last their entire lives.  The hope is that the public will see that these kids are not troublemakers or delinquents as popular images would make you believe. But rather they are good people looking for an outlet to have fun.   In many communities, skateparks have become the outlet needed to break these misconceptions.  

Red dot = Morristown

 I feel the city of Morristown, Tennessee is a good choice to receive the Tony Hawk Skateboard Grant.  The city is nestled in the East Tennessee Smoky Mountains.  It is approximately equal distance between the larger cities of Johnson City and Knoxville, Tennessee.  The closest skateparks are in the towns of Gatlinburg, Johnson City and Knoxville, Tennessee.  Those cities are all approximately 45 miles away from Morristown. If we look at the demographics of Morristown we find that there are more than 27,000 people who inhabit Morristown, making it the 23rd largest city in the state of Tennessee.  Just over 33% of those inhabitants are under the age of 24.  This gives the city a large amount of people who may be interested in using a skatepark.  Twenty-five percent of children under the age of 18 live below the poverty line.  This skatepark would give Morristown the ability to help provide activities for their at-risk youth.   Also, it would help expand the sport of skateboarding to a population of Hispanic youth.  With just over 15% of the city's population being Hispanic, Morristown has a sizable amount of Hispanic citizens.  These demographics tell us that Morristown has a sizable at-risk youth population that could greatly benefit from a skatepark. 

The city of Morristown previously had a skatepark in the city, but it did not last as it was not taken care of by the city. An outside grant from Tony Hawk's foundation would help with the upkeep of the skatepark, and promotion of the skatepark to the citizens of the area. There are many outdoor activities for Morristown's youth to participate in.  The city is situated in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.  It is located in the Cherokee Reservoir of the Holston River.  Panther Creek State Park provides tourists and citizens with the ability to boat, camp and fish, among other things.  These activities provide a great opportunity for Morristown's citizens, but they do cost money.  Money that many households and children do not have.  A skatepark located in heart of the city would provide with its many youth the ability to relax and have fun while staying out of trouble.  The skatepark could also bring many events to the area to attract participants and spectators.  Another positive aspect of the skatepark being built in Morristown is that it's an area that is relatively unknown for its skateboarding.  Let's face it, people do not usually think of Tennessee when they think of skateboarding.  This would give Tony Hawk's Foundation the unique ability to not only help at-risk youth, but also help the sport of skateboarding grow as well, by introducing it to new participants.


A great partner to help with the implementation of the Tony Hawk Skateboarding Foundation Grant would be the Department of Parks and Recreation for the City of Morristown.  Their purpose and objective is to provide year round wholesome leisure activities for all ages, neighborhoods and walks of life.  By partnering with the city, it will give the skatepark added legitimacy.  The department sponsors, runs and organizes youth and adult athletic leagues on a continuous basis throughout the year.  This means they have the ability to organize and plan specific events that involve the skatepark.  Being a part of the city government, they have the staff and organizational tools needed to run the skatepark.  The city has an extensive network of parks and facilities that could be home to the skatepark. The city has a BMX bike track, the skatepark could be a wonderful addition to that area, as the two sports are closely related to each other.  Included in the city are two recreation centers and at least 15 parks and playgrounds.  The city offers a wide variety of basketball courts, soccer fields, tennis courts, and softball fields as well.  This shows that the city of Morristown is committed to providing recreational activities and places for their citizens to play.

I believe the city of Morristown is a great potential inhabitant of a Tony Hawk Skateboard Park.  The city has a large amount of at-risk youth, who can be helped by a skatepark.  The city's Parks Department has shown the commitment necessary to provide their citizens with recreational activities and outlets.  These factors make the city of Morristown a perfect potential candidate to receive the Tony Hawk Foundation Skateboarding Grant. 

 

The Future of Sports Media

I believe that the future of sports media will be dominated by choice.  Sport media organizations will seek ways to offer their viewers as much choice as possible in what sport programs they consume.  They will need to do this because of the fragmentation of sports media.  The Internet along with the fragmentation of cable programming has forced sports media to find alternate ways to reach their audience.  As we can see through ESPN's implementation of their ESPN3 network online.  This program offers viewers with certain cable subscriptions the ability to watch a variety of different college football games online even if they are not being broadcasted in their local market.  ESPN is giving their viewers a choice by allowing them to log in online and view the game of their choosing.  It allows ESPN to reach more viewers and in turn create profits for their organization.  ESPN showed a commitment to innovation by creating their ESPN3 online network. 

Sports media organizations will also have to find new ways to reach audiences.  This will require an innovative management team, that is unafraid to take chances.  We have seen the proliferation of mobile phone companies and their partnerships with different sports organizations.  ESPN and The NFL have partnered with cell phone companies to offer their services through the mobile phone providers service.  Subscribers now have the ability to access programming with the touch of a button on their cell phone.  This has created more competition within the market.  I believe in order to reach new audiences sports media organizations will look for ways to close the gap between them and their audience, and make their programming more user friendly.  They will also make their programming more interactive for the consumer, and search for ways to create an environment that promotes interaction between organization and consumer.  We see this currently in the sports media, as most sports writers, analysts and anchors have their own Twitter account, which allows them to communicate directly with their consumers. 

Due to the billions of dollars at stake within the sports media industry, we have seen different sport organizations become their own media entities.  The Yankees really began the trend by creating their own television network, so that they could show their baseball games.  This allowed them to create programming, attract sponsors, and create mass amounts of profit, which they funnel back into their organization.   The NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL have all created their own television networks with their own programming.  This has allowed them to reach a larger audience, and be able to promote their organization the way they want to without any outside interference.  I believe in the future we will see more individual teams taking this same path and become more of separate entities that are part of larger organizations.  They will create their own networks because they see there is a lot of profit to be made, and it will allow them to control the product that is sent to their consumers.  The technology is now there that will allow them to do this, while making a profit. 

The future of sports media will be dominated by the sports media organizations and their need to reach audiences.  They will need to find ways to continue to proliferate their content through a variety of channels. They will also need to offer multiple choices to the consumer, so that they can retain their audience.  Technology has had a huge impact on the way viewers, readers and listeners consume their sports.  Even in the last few years, we see a huge impact on the interaction between consumer and sports media organization.  These changes will only become more pronounced as time progresses and technology improves even further.  The future of sports media will be dominated by those organizations that are creative in their ideas and aggressive in the way they attempt to improve their business model.

Sports Deadlines: Many Factors Go Into Meeting A Deadline

I recently had the "pleasure" of attending the Cleveland Browns and Tennessee Titans football game at Cleveland Browns Stadium.  In response to the game, our instruction for class was to write a 400-page news article summarizing the game and highlights of the game.  The Cleveland Browns were destroyed by the Titans 31-13, and the game was out of reach for the Browns by the end of the third quarter, so it allowed me to craft the beginning of my news article before the game had even ended. 

In a game that's a blowout like this the writer can start crafting their article before the game ends and make necessary updates to statistics and plays of significance later in the game, while they're finalizing their article.  So, this game gave me the ability to have a "headstart" on my work.  By the end of the game, I had crafted the first part of the news article because the major plays had already happened in the game.  If I were a professional sportswriter I would have used my laptop in the press box to write the beginning of the article.  But, since I was in the stands I scribbled a few things down on my smartphone that I wanted to make note of and had the beginnings of a good story.  The blowout was definitely something that helped facilitate the article.

To complete my article I needed accurate statistics about the team performances and the individual player performances.  In a press box, the writer would usually be given different statistics throughout the game and at the end of each quarter by someone working for the home team.  In this particular case, I had to wait until I made it home from the game to access statistics and other valuable information about the game on the Internet.  I only had a few notes that I made from the game while sitting in the stands.  The advancement of technology in this case definitely helps the writer craft articles more quickly than ever.  Since the game ended at 400pm, and I had the Internet to help with statistics it made my job much easier. 

It would have been much more difficult to meet my deadline if the game had a later start time and if the score had been closer.  If the game would have been closer I would not have been able to begin my story as early as I did.  It would also meant that I would have had to make more edits to the article before the finalized article was sent.  This would have caused me to spend much more time on the article.  If a game starts later in the day there is no way for a sportswriter to know when the game will end, so it may have caused trouble meeting my deadline at 11:55pm if the game had ended around 10 or 11pm.  Since the game was completed relatively early in the afternoon it allowed me to "fine tune" my article and make any edits and clean it up before it had to be submitted.

Technology has made it much easier for writers to do their jobs.  Information about players, teams, and matchups is available any time the writer wants to access it on the Internet.  It makes it easier for the writer to include pertinent information in their article.  It also allows the writer to approach the story from different angles because they have such detailed information available immediately.  This flow of information can usually be updated instantaneously, and it gives the writer a definite advantage when deciding on how they want to write an article.  It's almost comical nowadays to think of a writer sitting in the press box furiously typing on the typewriter, struggling to meet a deadline when the game ended two hours earlier.

Tennessee Titans roll to 3rd Straight Victory Over Lackluster Browns

Cleveland-  On a wet cool blustery afternoon at Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Tennessee Titans did little to warm the spirits of Cleveland Browns fans by easily rolling to a 31-13 victory and a third straight win. Tennessee quarterback Matt Hasselbeck threw three touchdown passes, and the defense added a touchdown of their own to help the Titans improve to 3-1. 

The outcome was rarely ever in doubt as the Titans built a 21-6 halftime lead behind the arm of Hasselbeck, who threw for 194 yards and all three of his touchdowns in the first half.  Hasselbeck finished the game with 220 yards passing. 

It looked good for the Browns (2-2) early as they struck first on their second drive of the game. Kicker Phil Dawson booted a 48-yard field goal with just under seven minutes left in the first quarter.  The 3-0 lead would prove to be the last time the Browns would hold the lead.

On Tennessee's ensuing drive Hasselbeck found Craig Stevens in the end-zone for a 12-yard touchdown reception to give the Titans the lead 7-3.

Dawson kicked a 51-yard field goal on Cleveland's next drive to close the gap to 7-6, but it would be the last time they would score again until the fourth quarter.  By then, the Titans held a comfortable lead and the game was all but out of reach for the Browns.

Jordan Babineaux returns a Colt McCoy interception for a Titans' score

After scoring points on two of their first three drives the Browns failed to score on their next six drives. The Titans took advantage of the Browns lack of offense to open up a 24-6 lead and seal Cleveland's fate.

Hasselbeck tossed an impressive second quarter 80-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jared Cook who took the pass and skirted up the left sideline running past defenders on his way to the end zone and a 14-6 lead for the Titans. 

Hasselbeck then followed it up with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Damian Williams with 33 seconds left in the first half to open up a 21-6 lead for the Titans.

Damian Williams' 4-yard touchdown reception over Cleveland cornerback Sheldon Brown

After a 39-yard field goal by Titan's kicker Rod Bironas extended the Titans lead to 24-6, Cleveland quarterback Colt McCoy was intercepted by Titans safety Jordan Babineaux.  Babineaux returned it 97 yards for a touchdown to give the Titans a 31-13 lead late in the third quarter.

McCoy set a Brown's record by completing 40 of his 61 pass attempts.  The previous mark of 36 completions was set by Tim Couch against Tennessee in 2002.  McCoy ended the day with 350 yards and one touchdown and that one costly interception.

The bigger story was Tennessee's defense and the inability of Cleveland's running game to ever get on track as running backs Peyton Hillis and Montario Hardesty combined for only 68 yards on 17 rushing attempts.  This forced McCoy to throw often, and played into the hands of the aggressive Tennessee defense which sacked McCoy four times.

After the season-ending injury of star Tennessee wide receiver Kenny Britt last week, there had to be some concern by the Titans about who would step up to replace Britt's production.  Hasselbeck threw to a variety of receivers and running back Chris Johnson had 101 yards rushing to help subdue the Browns.

McCoy's only touchdown pass of the game was a 10-yard pass to tight end Benjamin Watson with 5:52 left to go in the game.