Monday, November 19, 2007

Boys Basketball Story

Slug: boys’ bball

By Phil Smith

With the 2007-2008 Boys Basketball season approaching, expectations from players are high as they are getting ready for the season. Senior captain Bobby Johnson and junior Will DeBerg played considerable time last season. They have been friends since and now they push each other.
“Our team has been working hard and playing together in open gym. We are looking to make a statement this year,” said DeBerg.
With conference games against Minnetonka, Hopkins, Armstrong and Cooper, the team looks to their experience from last year.
“Our team got a lot of experience last year and we are young. Hopefully that experience transfers over for this year,” DeBerg said.
This off-season, the injury bug bit. Johnson tore his ACL. “I hope I can be back for the season opener, I’ve been coaching our fall league team so it’s been good to build our team chemistry,” said Johnson.
Senior Jeff Moon broke his finger and junior Ben Biewen had mouth surgery, sidelining them all of them for considerable time. All are expected to recover and add to the team. “It’s important that Bobby recovers quickly from his torn ACL because he gives us a great inside presence,” said DeBerg.
With Moon’s and Johnson’s injury questions, Biewen seems healthy and poised for a break out.
Johnson and DeBerg both agree. Ben Biewen will be the break out player for the team. He’s been working hard and recovered from his injury. He should be a surprise at shooting guard. They both expect Ben Biewen to step up big time because he has been working hard and always gives his all.
Coach Pat Dorsey was unavailable for comment. DeBerg and Johnson feel that he understands his team, “We feel comfortable with our coach and he gets the team ready to play. He played college basketball so he has a good player connection,” DeBerg said.
“Dorsey is a great coach. He has a good relationship with players, and it’s nice to have a coach who worries about the on and off court issues,” said Johnson.
With experience and recovering health the boys basketball team hopes to win the conference. “It was tight to see the football team win the conference, and that’s our goal. We feed off the crowd like the football team, so it’d be a nice to have huge crowds for the games,” Johnson said.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

In this Zephyrus newspaper there were many different types of articles. I thought the front page was pretty well put together. In my opinion the article above the fold, MNDOT and I-35W bridge, was fairly well written. The lede was not the best because it doesn’t really get the reader thinking and he speaks of his own mind. The second sentence has two questions but they aren’t a yes or no question, which is good, these questions also get the readers attention to what the rest of the article will be about.

In the article below the fold on the front page, helping for Thanksgiving, the lede isn’t as well written. The lede uses the “John Lennon” imagine. The writer could have used a different way of painting the picture for the reader instead of saying imagine. The rest of the sentence does a good job of putting that picture inside the readers mind. I think this article is pretty interesting because it tells the readers of Edina High School how they can help out those who are less fortunate during the Thanksgiving and Holliday season.Overall there are a couple news stories that i think are a little unnecessary.

For starters there are two articles about Camel cigarettes. While one is about the way they have started to market to females more and the other is about the health risks of smoking, I think that they stories could have maybe been added together. It would make the most sense to have only published the article about they way cigarettes are marketed to females and then include the health risks along with them possibly breaking the laws of targeting minors. The picture in the article "Camel to the 9th" is completely unnecessary and pointless. The picture interrupts the article and just looks like a black stick, because there is no contrast with the ink in the picture. It makes the article look like they didn't have enough space so they threw in the all black cigarette.

I thought the "Sensual Confessions of a Teenage Zephyrus Date" slideshow of pictures was pretty funny because I know the two students in the pictures, but if somebody who didn't know the students just saw it, I could see how they thought it was stupid because it didn't really provide anything to the readership as a whole.

The "Got illegal tunes?" article below the fold on the second page was very interesting. The article did use a survey of 122 students, which is an O.K. size of sample audience but in high school news papers the writers should avoid using surveys and polls because many times the one doing the survey doesn't get a large enough sample audience or an equal showing of all the students. The article also relates to a news story outside of edina, which is well done because it shows that downloading illegal music does have consequences.

Overall, I thought that Zephyrus was pretty well put together, but some stories were repetative. The ledes in a couple stories could use work, but for the most part, the stories are informative and interesting to the Edina High School audience.

Monday, November 12, 2007

In this Zephyrus newspaper there were many different types of articles. I thought the front page was pretty well put together. In my opinion the article above the fold, MNDOT and I-35W bridge, was fairly well written. The lede was not the best because it doesn’t really get the reader thinking and he speaks of his own mind. The second sentence has two questions but they aren’t a yes or no question, which is good, these questions also get the readers attention to what the rest of the article will be about.

In the article below the fold on the front page, helping for Thanksgiving, the lede isn’t as well written. The lede uses the “John Lennon” imagine. The writer could have used a different way of painting the picture for the reader instead of saying imagine. The rest of the sentence does a good job of putting that picture inside the readers mind. I think this article is pretty interesting because it tells the readers of Edina High School how they can help out those who are less fortunate during the Thanksgiving and Holliday season.

Overall there are a couple news stories that i think are a little unnecessary. For starters there are two articles about Camel cigarettes. While one is about the way they have started to market to females more and the other is about the health risks of smoking, I think that they stories could have maybe been added together. It would make the most sense to have only published the article about they way cigarettes are marketed to females and then include the health risks along with them possibly breaking the laws of targeting minors. The picture in the article "Camel to the 9th" is completely unnecessary and pointless. The picture interrupts the article and just looks like a black stick, because there is no contrast with the ink in the picture. It makes the article look like they didn't have enough space so they threw in the all black cigarette.

I thought the "Sensual Confessions of a Teenage Zephyrus Date" slideshow of pictures was pretty funny because I know the two students in the pictures, but if somebody who didn't know the students just saw it, I could see how they thought it was stupid because it didn't really provide anything to the readership as a whole.

The "Got illegal tunes?" article below the fold on the second page was very interesting. The article did use a survey of 122 students, which is an O.K. size of sample audience but in high school news papers the writers should avoid using surveys and polls because many times the one doing the survey doesn't get a large enough sample audience or an equal showing of all the students. The article also relates to a news story outside of edina, which is well done because it shows that downloading illegal music does have consequences.

To finish later..

Sunday, October 21, 2007

1) Slug:
college choices
2) Section of newspaper story would appear (no Op-Ed):NEWS FEATURES CULTURE SPORTS
Features
3) What are the most dominant news elements in the story? Explain in-depth:

element#1____________Proximity_____________ Why?News The story would be written about seniors at and around Edina and the deciding factors that go into choosing a college.

element#2_____________Localization____________ Why?News While there are seniors around the country deciding which college to attend, this story would be about the people around Edina and why they are going where they are.


4) In a few sentences, describe what the story will be about:
How seniors decide which colleges to attend. Whether it is for athletics, academics, religion, race or other activities (theater, band).

5) Specifically, who will you interview or contact? Why those people?

____________Patrick Michielutti_____________ Why? He is a senior at Edina High School still choosing what college he wants to go to. A male perspective from EHS would be important.

_____________Stephanie Davis____________ Why? She is a senior at Minnetonka High School and the story would have a female perspective of what's important in a college as well as someone outside of Edina.

____________Dane Moore_____________ Why? He is a male senior at Hopkins High School and the story would now have multiple perspectives of the important things looked for in colleges by seniors.

6) What information do you need to gather before you begin interviews?

The colleges in which my interviewees are interested and what special aspects does this college or university have.

7) What questions do you definitely need answered in your interviews? Why?
What made you choose the college you did?
What are some of the things you are considering in a college?

8) What photo opportunities are available to go alongside this story (give names, places, times, etc.)?
Possibly the people in the story...
9) Who should a photographer contact to set up photographs?
Patrick Michielutti, Steph Davis, Dane Moore
10) What concerns or problems do you foresee in getting this story together?
Time to interview all three students because two of them don't attend Edina.
11) Other information?
1) Slug:
CLC fball champs
2) Section of newspaper story would appear (no Op-Ed):NEWS FEATURES CULTURE SPORTS
Sports
3) What are the most dominant news elements in the story? Explain in-depth:

element#1____________Proximity_____________ Why?News
The football team is from Edina and the players all go to Edina High School which make it an interesting story to the community as well as the High School.

element#2____________Human Interest_____________ Why?News
To make the story more appealing I would personalize it and talk about the work behind the team in the summer and the dedication from Mike Rallis.

4) In a few sentences, describe what the story will be about:
5) Specifically, who will you interview or contact? Why those people?___________Kim Nelson______________ Why? He is the head football coach at Edina and it is important to get his thoughts on being conference champs.
_____________Mike Rallis____________ Why? I would make the story a personal interest story and the story would be centered on Mike Rallis and his dedication to the football team.
____________Andy Bartz_____________ Why? He is friends with Mike Rallis and he also plays on the football team. Andy trained with Mike and can give a different view of what it is like playing football with Mike Rallis.

6) What information do you need to gather before you begin interviews?
When was the last time the football team won the Classic Lake Conference title and the last time Edina went undefeated in the regular season.

7) What questions do you definitely need answered in your interviews? Why?
What was the biggest problem the team overcame?

8) What photo opportunities are available to go alongside this story (give names, places, times, etc.)?
A previously taken team photo or possibly a personal picture of Mike Rallis at school or football.

9) Who should a photographer contact to set up photographs?
Mike Rallis

10) What concerns or problems do you foresee in getting this story together?
Possibly setting up a time that would work to interview, either in class or out of class.

11) Other information?

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Soda and Powerade

I don't have much to vent about our school other than getting rid of soda and most notably Powerade. I won't lie, I love Powerade and my favorite is Mountain Blast. I love it with my lunches. It tastes better than water and I like to drink it more than water with my food. I can understand why the school district got rid of soda because it is loaded with sugar and other bad things for your body but shouldn't the students be able to discipline themselves so they don't drink too much soda? I guess I can only hope that the district brings these beverages back for future classes and for now we'll have to suffer.