By Vinny Messana and Vinny Gaetano

• The earliest known sports stories appeared in the magazine on March 5th, 1733

• It was a description of a prize fight held in England, and it was copied from a London newspaper.

• Some of the other notable publications were ‘American Turf Register’, ‘Sporting Magazine’, and the ‘Spirit of the Times’.

• Sports were closely associated with class identity, reflected in different periodicals that covered different sports.

• For example, boxing was popular among the working class which was covered by the Police Gazette

• It was initially believed that sports would not become mainstream, however, after the Civil War it increased exponentially.

• The Police Gazette circulated 150,000 copies per week.

• Eventually, every newspaper had its own sports section, some less prominent than others.

• He began his career in San Francisco. He introduced the use of slangy language, wit, and humor into the field.

• He came up with nicknames for the players that stuck.

• His style was imitated, but few could match his skill.

• Wrote what is considered to be the best lead to a sports story which was about the four running backs on the 1926 Army football team.

• Just as Dryden, many copied his style but could not duplicate it

• Longtime sports editor at the ‘Chicago Tribune’.• He is responsible for founding the MLB All-Star Game• He relished his role of influence and often exchanged

favorable stories for access and exclusive information.

• The ‘Gee Whiz’ form of journalism portrayed the games to be larger than life, which caused this method to be criticized.

• The ‘Aw Nuts’ was more negative, painted bleak pictures of the athletes.

• Naturally, players and fans preferred a more positive outlook on their teams.

• Sports writing received a great deal of criticism for failing to report controversies such as the gambling scandal involved with the 1919 ‘Black Sox’.

• Newspapers were unhappy that they had to assign normal writers to cover these stories.

• The first radio broadcast of competitive event was heard on August5th, 1921 over KDKA in Pittsburgh.

• In 1923 the World Series was broadcasted across the country.

• Fans no longer had to wait until after the game to find out the score.

• Television allowed sport fans to experience the games with greater detail could possibly provide.

• Newspaper now was forced to provide greater analysis because fans already knew what happened.

• Dick Young became the first journalist to seek post-game comments which became normal.

• No newspaper responded as effectively to the challenge of television as the magazine Sports Illustrated.

• It debuted in 1954, part of Henry Luce’s magazine empire.

• Originally aimed at fans of upper-class sports like yachting, it soon became the dominant news medium for the middle-class.

• On September 7th, 1979, the landscape changed yet again with the debut of ESPN.

• It was the first 24 hour channel covering sports exclusively.

• It aired a nightly highlights programmed initially called ‘Sports Recap’ which eventually was re-named ‘Sportscenter’, which still airs to this day.

• Over the years, Sportscenter has become more and more a part of mainstream culture.

• It now broadcasts live, which enables fans to literally become informed as soon as action occurs, and they have the ability to feature live-coverage of games during crucial moments or record-breaking events.

• As players began to sign larger contracts, they’ve become targets for the fans and media.

• Players like Alex Rodriguez and Tony Romo are prime examples, their relationships and off-the-field endeavors have become widely publicized.

• Fantasy sports are immensely popular, primarily football.

• Gives incentive to watch out of market games.• Most sports shows devote a segment solely to

this topic.• Many people gamble money while playing.

• With the popularity of web logs, basically anybody can consider themselves a journalist.

• Some bloggers have actually created such a positive reputation they’ve been offered job in the journalism industry.

• Be skeptical of the information on the website.

• With the creation of MSG Varsity, local high school students can now have the oppurtunity to be publicized on television.

• The coverage of high school sports began with Newsday in 1961.

• Select few have gotten national attention, primarily Bryce Harper and LeBron James.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQqIQyT-RuM&feature=related

• Females in sports journalism has increased significantly in recent years.

• They are primarily sideline reporters, however, women like Suzyn Waldman have bucked the trend.

• Knowledge reigns supreme