Obstacles along the way

I've had a pretty good idea about my second story since well, story one.  James Augustine's career struggles pose a very good story that I think will interest a lot of people. I wasn't too worried about getting people to talk to me considering my family used to live down the street from the Augustine's and our families know each other. However, it's getting hold of people outside of the Augutsine's.

I know for a fact I'm going to have a problem talking to his agent. He already told me that he is really busy and would more than likely not give me an interview. I'm used to being rejected for interviews so I guess it's not a huge deal but it would be a good source for the story. I'll just have to make it work. 

It is difficult that my main source and well, the focus of my story is in another country right now but he has been nothing but cooperative and willing to help. If I have to have a phone interview at three in the morning, then so be it.  I cant sleep these days anyway. 

All in all I'm not too worried about story two. Everything is going to come together nicely and I don't think I'll be as stressed about it as I was for story one. 

It's wise to be patient, will it ever happen?

Sorry for the pun, but as I said before, Dewayne wise said himself he needs to be more patient at the plate, and even though we're only 3 games into the season, he needs to follow through.  Wise started as the leadoff but it didn't last long. Actually, only 8 at-bats. After a second 0-4 night, Wise was pushed down to the 8th spot. Even though they lost on Wednesday, Wise redeemed himself a little defensively. However he was still booed as we went up to the plate which was kind of unexpected in my opinion. Here come the bipolar Sox fans.

Yup, my brother is one of them. Loves the Sox when they play well, hate 'em when they're in a slump. A nicer way to put it would be fair weather fans, if you will. Just wait, once the Sox learn how to use their bats and Ozzie learns to use Jenks for only save situations, everything will be peachy keen. You think Ozzie would know by now that Jenks always gives up base-hits and home-runs in  non-save situations. It's been how many seasons? 

Anyway, in no means is Wise the only one who needs to step up his offense. The whole team started off slow. If it wasn't for Fields' bunt and Thome's home-run we more than likely would have lost the opener. But that's how the Sox play, they wait until the last minute when you've given up and (well, not so much now) occasionally come back.  Hopefully they'll step up their game soon, they had all of spring training to screw up (which they did). If not, it's going to be a loooong season. 

Spring Training Slump: Get it out of your system

Spring training games are definitely not as important as the regular season, however fans like me prefer to see their team win during spring training AND the regular season. This has not been the case for my beloved White Sox. What's the deal?

When I flew in to Arizona March 19, I came right in the middle of a Sox slump. At that point they had lost five consecutive games and made it 6 against the Cubs on March 21. That was just plain brutal. I actually left the game early because I couldn't watch it anymore. Granted it's spring training, but it's still not to be taken lightly.



The players know they have things to work on, but will they get this out of their system before opening day? Dewayne Wise was the only one who really opened up on specifics of what he needs to improve in his game. He told me that offensively, he needs to be more patient at the plate and try to get on base more, and defensively getting jumps on balls. The whole team needs to patient at the plate and get on base more. That, and some defensive mishaps (I'm sorry Fields, but you really need to dive for those line drives at third) are basically why spring training wasn’t pretty. We had the worst of both worlds.



The Sox ended spring training with a 16-20 record, tenth in the Cactus League. Fantastic. Now that they came back healthy like they were worried about, hopefully they left their poor game behind.

Age is Just a Number.. Or is it?

So we have Dayan Viciedo, 19-years-old, hoping to play for the White Sox, and now we have 19-year-old Esmailyn Gonzalez for the Washington Nationals. But wait..he's not 19 and that's not even his name! He's actually 23-year-old Carlos Avarez Daniel Lugo. (According to Sports Illustrated). 

Fantastic! Like we need any more corruption in baseball. Lying about his age definitely devalues him as a player and sources from SI said that he couldn't run very well and only had an average arm. For not being so great, he was definitely paid well. He earned at $1.4 million signing bonus on July 2, 2006. 

Even better, the kid err well adult, was well-known and pretty darn good. In July 2006 the Nationals signed a "16-year-old" shortstop and general manager Jim Bowden compared him to Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith. When he was still known as "Smiley" Gonzalez he was honored as the leagues MVP in 2008.  Kind of ridiculous for a youngin' if you ask me.

Team president Stan Kasten is clearly ticked off and said in a Mercury News article, "Im very angry. We've been defrauded. And make no mistake: This wasn't a college kid with a fake ID."

This is just another thing to add to the baseball fraud list. What happened to the game we all knew and loved?

He's how old???!!

Scrolling through the roster on The White Sox website, I notice a new infielder, born 3/10/1989..wait what? Shoot, this kid is younger than I am and is playing for the White Sox? Really? He better be good..

Dayan Viciedo is from Villa Clara, Cuba and just signed a four-year, $11 million major-league deal, guaranteeing him more money than any player under 21 signed as an international free-agent. (this is how I know) Are you kidding me? Even better, rumor has it that he'll take Joe Crede's place at 3rd. (I know the ladies are upset).  However, there is a lot of talk out in the web world how Viciedo is a baseball prodigy and MLB's next Cuban star.  Just look at this video..

I think we all get a little too excited and quick to judge when a young hot shot comes into the roster, and while I'm not suggesting that I'm not excited about him, I just think we should wait to see what this kid has. Is he really a baseball prodigy? Alexei Ramirez seems to think so.. Let's take a look..

Maybe he'll prove me wrong.. I hope so..

Who's the real journalist?

Blogging has become an entirely different world nowadays. Anyone can post their opinion about absolutely anything at anytime. While this doesn't necessarily make their writing creditable, bloggers still play an important role in the sports world. I highly disagree with the video of the guy complaining to the owners of Deadspin about blogging. It is not journalistic dishonesty yet I'm not quite sure I'd consider it journalistic at all. 

I agree with Will Leitch when he said its hard work to keep up a blog. Considering I had one with CSR and you needed to bring up important issues, back up your facts, and be serious about whatever it is you're writing about. I don't really consider it journalistic because it is my own thoughts and opinions, and sometimes me just rambling about things. With journalism, you do more research, interviews, etc. There is a lot more that goes into journalism than what goes into blogging. 

Blogging has become important to sports teams for sure, mainly because it keeps their fans updated and connected with their favorite teams. Plenty of beat writers have blogs, like Sun-Times writer Joe Cowley , who keeps readers informed about the Sox and his opinion on things, which he definitely has. They're fun to read and they definitely get people talking. 

Someday blogging might take over for online news and media, but I sure hope not. You never know what idiot is out there yanking your chain and making things up. Shoot, who says I even know what I'm talking about?

Let's Get This Write

There are tons of different ways to report about sports and other topics in journalism in general. I think print journalists kind of have it a little easier considering we have more space to tell a story and less worries bout visualizing everything with photos or video. However, I think it's a good idea to do a photo essay instead of a regular beat or profile once in awhile. Sometimes a story is better told through a visual medium.

Content can be very different depending on which way you want to take the story. For example, a while ago there was an issue with blow up dolls in the White Sox locker room. It was extremely controversial and there were two completely different biased perspectives. Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times reported it just how it was. He stated the facts and didn’t take any side. However, Kara Spak took the side of well, a woman. I wrote a blog about how much I disliked her viewpoint and she told me I didn't know the difference between a column and a news story. Well, sorry but I definitely do, and I don't know if she realized it or not but she took a feminists perspective on it. She interviewed mainly women and other feminists and she didn't even see the dolls. Who you interview can definitely twist a story. I think Spak's was definitely more biased than Cowley's.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that as a journalist, I have to make sure I do not appear to be biased in any of my articles and make sure I get both sides of the story.