10 questions for Howard Bryant and Jemele Hill

1. What types of challenges did you face reporting on race in Boston – which has a stigma of being unkind to minority athletes?
2.   How did working as a beat writer help prepare you for a role as a columnist?
3.  What were some of the things you did to find your own voice?
4.   You wrote two books within a fairly brief span – are you planning on writing another one?
5.   Plenty of students my age are told to build our own brand. Do you believe in that? And if so, how does one find their voice in a mature, responsible manner?

Jemele

1. When did you know you wanted to do this for a career, and what were the challenges of working in a male-dominated field?
2.  Did you feel like you were ever disadvantaged because of that?
3.  Do you have a preference between TV or writing, and why?
4.  Did you think what happened in 2008-2009 would blow up like it did? How did it change you?
5. Did you feel a responsibility to be a leading voice on ESPN after the Ray Rice incident? 

10 questions for Bonnie and T.J.

1. For T.J.: When reporting on PEDs in baseball, did you ever take into consideration how your reporting would alter the framework and history of the game?

2. Was investigative journalism like this something you always wanted to do?

3. For Bonnie, When you continue to track and report on one person, such as Lance Armstrong, who lies and is found to have cheated, what do you think of his character?

4. Was there ever a moment where you were sure you had the story, but couldn't nail down the requisite reporting?

5. How difficult was it to deal with USADA?

6. Did the connection between Bosch and Rodriguez come as a surprise, or was it a chicken and the egg type deal?

7. For Bonnie: How long did it take you to report the Boston Marathon piece, and was it something you knew you wanted to do as soon as it happened?

8. What are the challenges of and the techniques used in reporting on a story as sensitive as that one?

9. For T.J.: What was the public reaction to giving up your Hall of Fame vote?

10. For either of you, if you were fans of the sport you were investigating, do you view it differently once you know its dirty secrets?

10 questions for Eric Neel

1. How do you generally approach writers in terms of finding an angle on a story? Do the writers come to you with ideas or do you generally assign stories?

2. What is a typical deadline like for a longform piece?

3. How often, if ever, does a writer go through the reporting process and come away without a story?

4. Who is the most talented writer you’ve ever worked with?

5. What’s the one piece of advice you’d give a writer who is going out to report out a longer piece?

6. You’ve worked on both sides of the table, as a writer and as an editor. Does having the writing background change the way you go about your role as an editor?

7. What’s the most difficult story/conflict that’s arisen since your time as an editor at ESPN LA?

8. What’s your favorite story you’ve either written or presided over? Why?

9. As a journalism major and someone interested in the craft, I love longform journalism. But it appears society as a whole is gravitating toward quick-hitting topics and short burts of writing. Is the audience for these types of pieces declining?

10. For someone in my shoes, what is the most impressive thing that can show up on the resume or LinkedIn? 

Story pitch 

DISCLAIMER: I actually thought of this during class, but we ran out of time at the end. 

When Marc asked Eric about whether NFL players felt a moral obligation to act as role models, I thought about when Eric said that athletes don't think of sports in the fans perspective, they know each other as athletes.

I took a sport sociology class at UMass and one of the overriding themes is that sport is constructed not for fans, but for competition. The athletes play for themselves and for their teammates. Fans root, cheer and offer their opinion because at some level, they believe they have an outcome on the game. 

With that being said, I'd love to interact with a player and learn what they truly think of the fan. Do fans play a role in determining the games? Do they think of fans as an annoyance? What does it do to their ego? 

If we know what an athlete thinks of the people who watch him or her and idolize him or her, we can then delve into whether they truly have a moral obligation to the fan. Or maybe, fans believe athletes have an obligation to them when, in reality, they're doing their jobs in a very public manner. 

Goodell drops the ball on domestic violence, again

If you read my first blog installment for Issues in Sports, you're very much aware of my views on the NFL, and more specifically, Roger Goodell.

So it comes as no surprise that yet again, I believe Roger Goodell came up short.

Domestic violence -- and the NFL's handling of the subject -- is a derisive topic among pundits and fans alike. It's commonly believed the NFL has handled both the awareness against domestic violence and it's response to violent offenders poorly.

Before suspending former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice indefinitely, Goodell handed him a meager two-game suspension. Later, video surfaced of Rice striking his then-fiancee Janay Rice, prompting Goodell to up the punishment.

Goodell's received criticism for his handling of Rice's punishment and his uneven system of punishing players. It's prompted groups such as UltraViolet to call for his firing and produce an advertisement admonishing the NFL's treatment. The league as a whole has spent a significant amount of money partnering with the "No More" campaign to release Public Service Announcements on the issue.

Still, criticism remained. Goodell had the opportunity to discuss the situation two different times leading up to the Super Bowl. He failed to do so on both occasions.

Goodell wouldn't address the issues at his Friday press conference before the Super Bowl, a presser in which he took his fair share of difficult questions. It wasn't Goodell's finest hour, but he had a chance for redemption.

NBC Sports anchor Bob Costas said in the Sunday pre-game production leading up to the Super Bowl that Goodell was offered a chance to speak candidly in a 1-on-1 interview, and turned it down.

Somehow, I'm not surprised that he'd turn down an opportunity to add clarity to such an important issue on the biggest day of the year in the NFL.

This is the same Goodell that told reporters he is "available to the media almost every day of my job, professionally," according to Thinking Progress. And this is an interview with NBC, which traditionally takes it fairly easy on the NFL and which I've criticized via Twitter for its terminology and treatment of concussion issues.

It's disappointing that we as consumers of the NFL still don't have an answer, or at least a definitive statement from its leader, I'd go as far to say that because of Goodell's evasiveness, the NFL failed in the domestic violence category leading up to the Super Bowl.

And so too did the coverage.