Stories on the run

My most recent assignment from my editor was to experiment with what we can do for the Spokane sports teams on video. His edict was to try something with a beat reporter on camera, telling the viewer about whatever team the reporter covers.

Apparently, the two youngest reporters on the sports desk are the only ones who were — at least the other day — open to experimenting. So Jessica Brown and I set off to make a video on the Spokane Shock arena football 2 team. This is what we came up with.

It’s very much like a TV report — but better (in my opinion). It gives readers the chance to put a face with a byline, and it solidifies that reporter’s position as an authority on the subject. Jessica did a great job, but many reporters would not be so good in front of a camera or doing voice over. It’s also longer and more in-depth than a 30-second TV spot.

Then again, it’s very much like a TV report. Is this really innovative for newspapers to do, or are we just recycling an older form of video and posting it on our website? Most everyone in the newsroom this morning loved the video, and most of the readers did, too. But is it the best we can do?

That’s why I’m viewing all of this as an experiment, just like my editor said. We’ll see what works. This apparently does, but maybe something else will work even better.

Standing in the sun for nearly three hours Saturday at the last WSU football practice of the spring left me with a little memento. The back of my neck is a beautiful red, my nose is pink and I have attractive burn lines (as opposed to tan lines) on my biceps thanks to my shirtsleeves.

And it is wondrous! It’s been in sunny and in the 70s for the past three days, and I really couldn’t ask for more.

For the heck of it, here’s my story wrapping up spring football and Saturday’s pseudo-scrimmage.

DENVER — So, I was home for two days but I only just found enough free time — on my second night in Denver — to update my blog. I’ll link to what I did back in Pullman.

I flew back to Spokane, and hence Pullman, after a drive, on Saturday. And on Sunday, I had to do a preview story for WSU spring football, which started Monday. Access was going to be a large problem — access to coaches and players. I wrote a temporary brief for Monday’s paper with the assumption I wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone, and sent it in to the Spokesman.

Sunday afternoon was the WSU basketball team’s NCAA selection party at Bohler Gym on campus, a larger extravaganza than I had anticipated. With limited battery life (I was charging it on the court in between shooting), I took enough footage to piece together this video (also linked from the picture to the left) on the party and the Cougars’ reactions to their surprise No. 4 seeding in the NCAA tournament (which is why I’m now in Denver).

As luck would have it, while I was there I spotted football coach Paul Wulff and grabbed him, knowing I wouldn’t otherwise be able to talk to him for my spring football story. He was very pleasant, and invited me with his family into the football office, where I did a quick (8.5-minute) interview. The results are this story.

On Monday, I headed over to campus at 2 p.m. in anticipation of Wulff’s 2:30 press conference, which went off without a hitch. Then I strolled over to Rogers Field (the practice field below the WSU library) to watch the first day of practice. All three hours of it. Standing up, in my dress shoes, as the weather got steadily colder. There, I interviewed a few players and got enough to put together this story on the first day of spring ball.

Of course, it was St. Patrick’s Day (I spent an hour — yes, one full hour — ironing my only green dress shirt, which I hadn’t worn since last spring precisely because it was wrinkled beyond recognition as a shirt), so that night I met up with the Evergreen crew for some celebration. Not too late, though, because I had my 12:30 p.m. flight to catch out of Spokane en route for Denver. (Noon doesn’t sound very early, but I had to leave Pullman at 9:30 to get to the airport, which required a 7:30 wake-up time — which is early for me.)

Anyway, now I’m in Denver, one day after arriving, updating from my 10th-floor room in the downtown Marriott. A nice hotel, to say the least.

After I took the picture below, I actually started working. Well, I had been working all day, but as Lisa pointed out, my work involves one of the most fun activities she did all week.

Finally getting my hands on the spring football prospectus at about 4:30 p.m., I had very limited time to get a hold of any coaches — especially on a Friday. I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to talk to head coach Paul Wulff, so I wandered through Bohler Gym to the football office. There, I talked with a very candid assistant, who told me all I needed to know. But I couldn’t really use him as a source because he’s not on the coaching staff.

The assistant told me he’d let me talk to tight ends coach Rich Rasmussen on one condition: I tell him whether what he told me was close to what Rich tells me. (It was.) So Rich was my source on the spring football story, and the assitant may become a great inside source. (Which is precisely why I am not writing his name.)

So, it starts. I’m getting to know the football staff. Early Friday (10 a.m. is early for me), football SID Bill Stevens introduced me to all the football staff (minus two coaches) and some of the support folks in the office. Most of the coaches are new, and I’m new, so I think this will be a smooth transition.