To the victor belong the spoils…
SU has the largest domed stadium of any college campus
It reminded me of the Greek coliseum as we waited for the warriors to come out, and I could not even hear myself screaming.
We screamed when we had the ball; we screamed when we didn’t. Talk about a sea of orange. Everyone had orange on.
The most popular t-shirt
After the game, I ran into a ‘92 Newhouse grad who still called herself a BJ girl – read: Broadcast Journalism, which made her husband’s head snap. ”What?” He had never heard her call herself that!
Last week, I knew my perspective on grad school was all about to change when one of my professors dropped the f-bomb in my first class of the fall semester. He lectured how the content in his class was not available anywhere else in the country. “I know. I’ve looked,” he said, and my heart jumped. ”That, in itself, constitutes a business advantage. I’m not going to turn you all into some code monkeys, but the stuff you do five years from now probably doesn’t exist now. Let yourself become different.”
He asked, “How many Web pages exist?” The class was silent. “Billions? Trillions?” We settled on trillions. “No, there are no Web pages,” he said. “There are just databases that answer requests.”
Thursday night’s 3-hour ethics class was all about the first amendment when we got right down to it. We talked about utilitarianism and the greatest good for the greatest number of people in relation to a famous photograph by Stanley Forman that earned him a Pulitzer Prize.
Wednesday’s magazine editing class was reminiscent of a real-life situation as the instructor described himself as a professor and not a scholar. Newhouse is a hands-on institution, he said, and basically, if we wanted a scholarly education, then we picked the wrong place. “You’re here to make mistakes,” he told us. “This is a safe place for that.” With less than ten students in the class, I felt like I was seated in the editor’s office, and my smile widened when he said he did not have time for TV. “I’m not making time for TV.” That’s my kind of editor.
In Friday’s 9-5 magazine class, after learning that one of our professors was a fitness editor at Self Magazine in NYC – Sweet! She’s got connections! - we were told to start thinking about a beat we want to cover, since we’re going to reporting six stories off that beat. “It’s not a happy time,” one of the professors said. “I wish I could say it’s going to be a walk in the park,” he said and all forty of us took a deep breath. He encouraged everyone to bring coffee and bagels or doughnuts to class. “It adds to the ambiance. We’re all doing it,” he said and pointed to all three professors armed with coffee cups. Lastly, we were assigned to go cover the Great New York State Fair and dream up with three stories to be turned in the following day. “You have that reporter’s notebook. That’s your license to talk to nuns,” another professor said, and everyone sighed.
The spoils just keep getting better.
It was a day of firsts at the race on Saturday. For me, it was my first time setting foot on a motocross track in New England. It rained the entire day! Go figure! The sands of Southwick were slippery when wet.
Site lap in some rain gear for Australia's Jake Moss
Plastic bags were a mechanic's best friend at "Mudwick"
SPEED TV's Erin Bates has the best job ever! Walking around in the mud, interviewing motocrossers and dating NASCAR's Brian Vickers! Sign me up!
Australia's Chad Reed was that far out front in the first 450 moto
Wet, cold and windy start of the second 450 moto but the fans stuck it out! Gotta love it!
MotoConcepts' Weston Peick (631) bangs bars with teammate Tyler Bowers for the holeshot
John Dowd (16) and Reed (22) with their weight on the rear.
After the start, I tried to find a dry spot to watch and ended up under the treeline on the backside of the track. I noticed who shined through right away, particularly one Florida boy named Ricky Renner, who worked up to tenth overall in the 450 class! I checked his familiar riding style and wondered, “Who’s bike is Renner riding?” According to one news source, it was someone’s old practice bike!
Matt Goerke, from Lake Helen, Fla. who I recently interviewed for the July issue of FLmx, ended up winning his first career overall as a professional after Reed crashed out. Jessica Patterson, from Tallahassee, won both of her motos for the first time this season. Actually, all the girls on the podium, Patterson, Ashley Fiolek and Tarah Gieger, were from Florida, but it’s definitely not the first time that’s happened. (Check out Gieger’s YouTube channel for her gnarly David Knight behind the scenes video!)
JP$ lead each lap from start to finish on the toughest track of the day, since the girls raced after the guys!
One other thing that’s definitely news worthy: A 44-year-old local Massachusetts native and motocross legend by the name of John Dowd went 10-2 for second overall in the 450 class. It was Dowd’s first pro race of the year! A local reporter dubbed Dowd, ”What Gordie Howe was to hockey, still performing at a high level, racing against competitors who are half his age.” The crowd was loving it, too.
FL's Mike Picone was stoked to qualify for the first time this year
Of course, the next day was beautiful. Until next time, New England!
Read “It’s a good time in the rain with Kenny Chesney at the NYS Fair Grandstand.”
That pretty much about sums it up. It rained the entire time, and everyone got wet, but as Kenny said towards the end of his show, and I’m paraphrasing here, “Only the people in Syracuse will stand out in the pouring rain for two hours to hear him sing.” And that’s why he keeps coming back!
Check out his clothing line called Blue Chair Bay.
Today, it’s off to the penultimate round of the AMA U.S. Motocross Championship at Moto-X 338 in Southwick, MA – “Where riders come to play in the sand.” It’s the series only pure sand racetrack, and I’ll be on the lookout for my fellow Floridians who grew up riding in the sand! Tear it up, boys and girls!
Tonight, I’ll be wearing my cowboy hat for the Kenny Chesney concert at the NYS fair! I’m excited for my first country concert EVER and also for my first glimpse at the fair, which just started yesterday and counted 67,000+ people through the gates. I ‘m sure Kenny won’t leave me disappointed…I know the words to most every one of his songs. Then, tomorrow I’m off to Southwick for the pro national motocross race; I’ve never been there, either! Fun filled weekend ahead, folks. School starts Tuesday, and I still have to blog about the things I learned in NYC!
After spending the last week of my life on the road – from Long Island to NYC and the motocross in Maryland – I never would’ve thought my return to Syracuse would be the first thing I blogged about once I saw down in front of my computer. But, alas, I took Mandy out for one last night in New York before she returns to Orlando and I return to the grind of grad school. It was a quiet Monday night. We grabbed a bite to eat at the infamous Dinosaur Bar-B-Que before meeting my roommate at the Blue Tuskon Walton St. They have a fine selection of draughts, plus the place was empty for a change, so we found seats at the bar and kept the bartender busy. After about an hour, the conversation was flowing but the crowd was still thin. I looked to my right and suddenly recognized the white collared DC shirt of Dave Mirra. Wait, what? My head jerked back and I did a double take. He gave me a small smile. I must have looked thoroughly confused, but I had to say something. “Dave?” He nodded and stuck out his hand. “Wow! Nice to meet you!” I turned to my friends. “That’s Dave effen Mirra!” They were like, “Who?” I was like, “Ugh!” I turned to the bartender. “Dave Mirra?!” He smiled at me. “Yep, he’s from Chittenango. He owns an apartment upstairs,” he pointed to the ceiling. “Wow!” was all I could say. My friends didn’t even know who he was, but I was star struck. “He rides BMX!?” I told Mandy. “He was just on the X Games?!” At that, Mandy realized what this meant. “Let’s go take a picture with him!”
Can you tell #1 is happy?
Welcome to Unadilla!
The motocross race over the weekend in New Berlin, NY was a sure sight to see. Unadilla celebrated its 40-year-anniversay with a retro theme, and everyone from the spectators to the racers and crew participated! I saw the SPEED TV girl wearing peace-sign earrings and a hippie headband. The best part of all though was the uniforms that some of the racers wore and the way they decked out their motorcycles. Someone unfamiliar with motocross did not even notice, but I did with my eye on Andrew Short. His bike looked awesome!
The #29 was hot! Short went 5-2 for second overall.
A few of my favorite FL riders were there vying for a spot in the ever-competitive 250 class, including Chase Couture and Lucas Crespi. I caught Couture in staging getting ready for his first practice!
The 886 of Couture looked so good, people couldn't stop staring!
This is the real deal for Lucas Crespi!
New York loves it some Justin Barcia! He grew up in Monroe, NY before moving to Georgia
All the Fox riders dressed in the Retro Moto-X Fox Gear.
The 691 of Lucas Crespi finds his groove after the start in the 250 class
Crespi gets the Muscle Milk hard charger award. He went 25-16 for 22nd overall as a rookie!
“First, the iTouch, and now this,” seemed to be my theme for today.
My professors at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications did it up, and on a Monday morning, too, nonetheless.
Instead of our usual lecture from 9 a.m. until noon, we were issued our usual AP style quiz first, we learned the class would be going on a “campus tour” of sorts.
Alas, something felt off with only one out of our five professors in the room, and none of their teaching assistants were present either. Everyone was reminded that this was boot camp – the vigorous six-week summer session – and anything could happen. Rumors of a staged event surfaced, and after we saw a Syracuse police officer inside Newhouse, and one of Syracuse’s fire safety Suburbans outside, we knew something was up. So, we played along with the tour for a while, taking notes that the Hall of Languages was the first building on campus, on the legendary kissing bench, (If a couple kisses on the bench, they will eventually marry) and the Hendricks Chapel, where two can get married after kissing on the bench. All of this was rather irrelevant once we heard sirens across the quad.
“We should probably go see what’s going on over there,” our tour guide/professor eluded us, so more than 100 of us graduate students rushed the scene.
Well, it turned out that the faculty had staged a fake breaking news event in order to test all of us on our live reporting skills. First, they simulated a hit-and-run accident complete with actors, the Syracuse Fire Department, Syracuse P.D. and the Department of Public Safety.
Where to start? I saw a crashed blue car with people all around, so I walked up to two ladies who were sitting nearby on a bench and asked them what happened, but they just smiled and said they were innocent bystanders. “We haven’t seen anything.”
I kept moving, slowly, while some students ran across the quad to get to the story first. There was a woman and a man attracting a lot of everyone’s attention, so I bypassed them for a second while I continued to observe what was unfolding. The firemen were unraveling their hoses, although there was no sign of a fire. It looked like another eye-witness was talking, so I went over to see what he had to say. After jotting down a few more notes, I managed to track down two more ladies, who confirmed what the witness had just said: there were two men in the car who were armed with guns and they were on the loose.
“There’s also going to be a shooting later,” one of the ladies said with a mischievous grin.
“Don’t tell her!” the other lady screeched.
Well, that cat’s out of the bag. All of a sudden, the car crash story did not seem that important to me because I knew there was more to come, but I gathered as much information as I could before we heard gunshots and raced to another building on the other end of the quad.
All the men in uniform took part in today's drill | Mobile photo
From the third floor of Hinds Hall, hysterical hostages screamed down to us for help, and then we heard another gunshot. The officers rushed inside, and one by one, the hostages were released and into the hands of quote-hungry students. It was tough keeping all of the facts straight, from the shooters names to the victims injured and dead, and then the investigators and emergency responders.
When, what to our wondering eyes should appear?
Once the helicopter came into view, I really had to applaud their efforts. Whoever played the girl on the stretcher being air-lifted to the hospital had the best part! After all the hostages had been found - one of our professors was upset that the police did not come and find her - the investigators gave notice of a press conference to include four speakers from the fire, police, safety and Syracuse University. Then, after lunch, we had to compile our notes into a 500-word news story to be printed in tomorrow’s newspaper, so here’s hoping I spelled everything right! I wondered how the rest of Syracuse was holding up while the force was tied up on campus; I hear sirens all the time in my neighborhood! I’m sure the University notified everyone about the stimulation, but I’m not sure everyone got the message because there was a rather large and unrelated crowd of REAL innocent bystanders, which only added to the confusion. But, all in all, the entire event was very well orchestreated and ran smoothly, and I’m not just saying that. What a great exercise for developing our skills! According to one professor, the drill has come a long way for its eleventh year; picture their first event and the imaginary school bus accident. Today was a day I’ll never forget.
I’m writing my first graduate journalism story on motorcycle safety as it relates to Syracuse, N.Y. At first, I thought about spinning the recession into a local issue – motorcycle sales are on the rise unlike most everything else in this country. But, it came to my attention last week that a SU student died in a motorcycle accident just outside the city, so I changed my focus. The police reported that the victim, a U.S. Army OEF Veteran Sergeant, was wearing a novelty-style helmet, which is not approved by the Department of Transportation, thus sparking some debate. Now, I’m just trying to wrap my head around the helmet law in New York, which is easier said than done. I’m learning a lot though…Did you know motorcycle fatalities increased in 2008 for the eleventh year in a row? Ride smart, people.
Reminder from Syracuse
In moto news, Tallahassee girl Jessica Patterson grabbed her first win of the season in the Lucas Oil AMA/WMA Pro Motocross Championship at Washougal on Saturday. Maybe last week’s interview with Vurb Moto pumped her up!
Glad to hear Red Bull’s Ronnie Renner broke his own quarterpipe height record this weekend in Chicago, but I knew he would.
Renner in Chi-Town | Image by Chris Tedesco | Courtesy of Red Bull
I just learned how to use the audio editing application Audacity in my news editing class, so I’m hoping to post a link to the Ian Trettel interview for next month’s FLmx Magazine.
I haven’t updated my moto news in a while, so here goes:
Minnesota’s been showing some love to Tucker Hibbert and his full-time mechanic Rory Beckman. Hibbert is a four-time Winter X Game gold medal winner and the only athlete competing at the top level in motocross and snocross. “The competition and the pressure are the same,” Hibbert said. “Physically, the biggest thing is you use different muscles, so I’m pretty sore for a couple of months. ”I’ve found that each sport complements the other.” Click here to check out Hibbert’s Web site. SICK!
This weekend in Chicago, Ronnie Renner attempts to break his own world record. Check out this video, and look at his hair!
Read this article on the GOAT’s “infectious fame” as he’s crossing over into NASCAR. He said he needs to be cut a little slack!
