Sports: For the love of the game?

It's often thought that there's a direct correlation between being a sports fan and playing sports. In a brief sampling of students at SF State, that thought was proven to be mostly true.

While all four students who were chosen at random to be interviewed admitted to playing sports when they were children, only one defiant rebel confessed that just his experience playing soccer when he was younger didn't translate to an obsession with sports later on in life.

"I'm just not very competitive by nature," said freshman Dillon French. "The only time I watch sports is with my parents when I'm home."

French proved to be the exception to the rule, however, as the rest of the students, like sophomore Andrew Mozac, were happy that sports like basketball were still a big part of their daily lives.

"Basketball keeps you in great shape," Mozac said. "I look forward to playing it and the teamwork involved."

The main reasons students cited for their love of sports were the most blatant ones: the ability to be competitive, the "fun" factor and exercise.

So why does playing sports in your youth translate to a love of sports as an adult? Exposure. Like with anything we're exposed to as children, the more we're around something, the more we become comfortable with it.

"If you see something enough, you might like it," said freshman Carlos Robles, an avid soccer fan. "It's like food, the more you try it, you might like it."

Ratto recommends writing

With journalism students in a tizzy trying to find their next big opportunity, advice on how to get jobs is going around like a bad flu. From learning different languages to becoming a walking news production studio, it seems that skills for these journalism jobs is becoming less about the craft of reporting and more about becoming a software engineer.

San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist Ray Ratto, however, thinks the answer is much simpler than becoming a technological guru. His advice to the class? “Write, write a lot, and be brutal on yourself.” So journalism students should focus their attention on becoming good writers? What a novel concept.

It’s funny how something so simple, something journalism students do everyday, yet something that can be so refined, could be the key to landing (gasp!) a journalism job. And even if newspapers are still on life support for the foreseeable future, Ratto insists that, “There’s still a need for content, still a need for ideas and still a need for brains.”

The birth of alternative media

Ever wonder where the roots alternative media outlets like Air America Radio and Democracy Now! stem from? Look now further than America's first and most influential alternative news publication of its time, Ramparts Magazine.

The publication, which had its headquarters in the very liberal city of San Francisco from 1962 to 1975, was the flagship for what many have dubbed, "The New Left." During its hay day, the magazine featured and received contributions from esteemed liberal minds like Noam Chomsky, Cesar Chavez and Angela Davis.

Perhaps the most important breakthrough Ramparts achieved during its 13-year span as a publication was making their magazine accessible to those who may have been intimidated by the more gritty and hardcore leftist publications of the era. Unlike many of Ramparts' alternative counterparts, it managed an expensive production budget and professional design.

So why should you care about an alternative publication that's been long extinct? Simple, really. With mainstream and corporate media outlets being suffocated and cut down by a lack of profits and a lack of connection with the public, the Rampart serves as a model for new publications. The growing absence of these mainstream sources of news and opinion leave a void that could be filled by new media publications, not unlike the role Rampart served during its era.

Rampart Magazine was able to succeed and hold the public's attention at a time when the major corporate news outlets where at the height of their popularity. Just imagine what kind of impact of impact an alternative news outlet with the right model could have with this much mainstream journalism blood in the water.

While Rampart provides a good example on how to run an alternative news publication, its influence was not simply economical. It was one of the first publications to voice dissent against the Vietnam War, while also giving a platform to many fringe figures of the time like Che Guevara and Cesar Chavez, something mainstream media outlets didn't have the backbone or permission to do.

Candlestick Needs to be Blown Out

Photo courtesy of NASA

As I drunkenly stumbled down the cement stairs to my puke-orange seat at the last 49ers home game, there was only one thing on my mind: finding a place to set down my ice-cold beer so I could scarf down my garlic fries. Plopping myself down, I reached in front of me to set my beer in the cup holder, except, to my horror, there wasn’t one.

Blasphemy!

Until that point, I was unsure of the 49ers’ attempts to build a new stadium in Santa Clara, citing nostalgia of times past as my rational for keeping the decrepit 49-year-old Candlestick Park. But in light of my recent incident and the 49ers fairly recent announcement that they’re fully committed to setting up shop in Santa Clara, consider me off the fence.

No longer should 49er fans have to put up with dirt parking lots, swirling winds, accommodations fit for the 1960’s and waiting in traffic for hours after the game just to exit the stadium.

Instead, Niners fans deserve a modern fan experience, accompanied by easy access to freeways, up-to-date luxury boxes, and yes, even cup holders.

But how much will this cost taxpayers in a time when the California state government can’t even balance its own budget? Not a whole lot.

According to the 49ers official stadium website, 90 percent of stadium costs will be financed by the team, the NFL and corporate sponsors. The remaining $79 million would be covered by the city of Santa Clara with no new taxes to residents.

In this economic climate, you can’t ask for much more.

Besides being a benefit to fans, a new stadium is essential to keeping the 49ers competitive on the field.

In 2008, the 49ers ranked 30^th in total team revenue, $126 million short of the team with the most revenue, the Washington Redskins who opened a new stadium in 1997. With more revenue, teams like the Redskins are able to spend more money on coaches, team facilities and free agents.

And no, renovating Candlestick Park or building a new stadium at Hunter’s Point is not a sensible solution. The 49ers and its fans will still be left with the same problems currently plaguing them.

Where will the team play while renovations take place? How will the stadium access issues be fixed? There’s still the issue of having a stadium near one of San Francisco’s worst neighborhoods in Hunter’s Point, another issue entirely.

The Stick is like a Band-Aid. If you try to take it off slowly, it’s going to hurt even more. It’s better just to rip it off all at once and cut your loses. Now let’s rip this baby off, we’ll do it together on the count of three.

One… two… three…

Mark Follman visits class

Another opinion writing class, another guest speaker. This time, freelance writer and former Salon editor Mark Follman graced us with his presence.

While most of Follman's spent most of his time in class discussing two articles he wrote on safe havens for drug users, he did bring up an interesting point.

Follman confessed that he didn't believe objectivity existed in journalism.

The public may agree.

A recent poll found that more people than ever believe that news coverage is inaccurate and biased. This should alarm many current and prospective journalists. If news organizations don't have readers, then readers will no longer have news organizations to complain about.

The question of objectivity is a tricky one. Can a reporter covering a story really by unbiased? Each journalist is human, with a set of past experiences that shapes the viewpoints they have. Preconceived notions and biases are natural, and no one can expect a reporter to turn off all emotion and become a robot. Besides, does a journalist who pretends to make an attempt to get the other side of the story when their heart isn't in it really give the other side a fair shake? Hardly. Even if reporters could put their feelings aside when covering a story, they still make daily decisions on what to include and what not to include in the stories they write. Isn't that a form of bias?

What do you think? Is there such a thing as "objectivity" in the news media?