Internet introductions are awkward...

But maybe I'm an awkward person.

Anyways, just wanted to introduce myself. Creeped the board a bit anonymously in the past but finally worked up the courage to register today. I'm a 21-year-old aspiring sports journalist, currently in the midst of a summer internship with MLB.com covering the Angels, which has been a blast. In the fall I'll be a senior at the University of Iowa, though courses typically take a backseat to work I do for our paper.

Topics you’ll probably find me most actively discussing include anything and everything college basketball (Particularly the NCAA Tournament), Big Ten football, CM Punk’s next move, Brian Wilson’s beard and its subtle effects on his mechanics and pitching performance, and Danny Granger’s proposed bat cave.

I also must say the series of human verification questions at registration was the toughest I've been through, very vigorous. Nearly bombed the mathematical question.

 

I don't remember there being math involved.

Welcome.

I'll let someone else be the first to ask you to fetch them a beer.

 

Welcome - One thing you can talk about is what really happened to the Iowa Football players that got sick. Seems like they were able to put the clamps on that story pretty quickly.

Oh - We're all pretty much sick of Brian Wilson here so stay away from him.

 

Fetch me a beer, newbie!

Then get the hell out of the business! It's dying! Start a BLOG!!!!!

Just kidding. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com!

 

Be sure to tell us all about your fantasy teams... you'll get a lot of feedback...

 

You live pretty close to Wisconsin. Where do you stand on the issue of deer fucking?

 

If I discovered SJ in college, my gpa would have been below the Mendoza line. Good thing D is for diploma.

 

Beer, me need now.

Welcome...n' stuff.

 

I actually covered it last year for the college paper. In my limited experience and years, probably the most bizarre and challenging story I've covered (Actually the entire Iowa off-season was between that, high-profile drug arrests (DJK, Adam Robinson), and transfers).

I'm not sure how the national following of the story went, but to hear that they 'put the clamps' on it quick, from my point of view at least, is surprising. It was about all anyone talked about, cared about, wanted to know about in this state for about a month, maybe more. Then again, that is the nature of Iowa football - it's pretty much the only show in the state and is essentially a pro team to the people that live here. So I can see how it probably fell out of the spotlight nationally.

To tell you the truth, I still don't have any thorough explanation for what happened, and I'm not sure anyone does. I've come to conclude that it was a freak incident, as unlikely as that may seem. Talking to players, coaches, it seems like it was just a weird, yet innocent event. It's well-documented how Ferentz and the program treats its players. It's a tough program to play for, but no one is going to try to kill you, especially considering some of the guys who ended up in the hospital (ex: Shaun Prater, one of the best cornerbacks in the Big Ten and probably the country).

Was the workout maybe a little over ambitious? Probably. I'm no expert on athletic training, but I think putting players through such a vigorous workout that quickly after a decently long layoff is a little risky. But again, the program had done this same workout before three or four times under Ferentz, and obviously this didn't happen.

Of course, there's always the possibility that it was an extremely well-executed cover up. Maybe this was the first time they did the workout, or they altered it drastically, leading to the cases of rhabdomyolysis. I'm not buying that though. Someone would have cracked by now, be it a current or former player (many former Iowa players were extremely outspoken in their defense of Ferentz and the program, defending it almost religiously). For it to be a cover up, there were too many people that had to be on the same page for it not to get out.

Personally, I had a couple sources within the program who I trust a lot who were just as clueless and curious as everyone else.

So, to conclude my probably overly long-winded response, I think it was a total freak thing. It definitely warranted the coverage it got - 13 players winding up in the hospital is a story, no matter what - but I don't think there was any malicious intent or scandal behind it all.

Funny you should say that. I do have a blog where I produce posts on random topics around sports, at my personal site (link in my signature). But I'm currently working on a much more niched blog that I'm hopeful will be somewhat attractive as my job search goes into full-force during my senior year here. Before you stop me, no I'm not planning on getting hired because of my blog - that's stupid - but I'm hopeful it could at the very least be another selling point if I'm able to successfully run it and build a decent following while also heading the football coverage for a pretty respected college paper. That's if I can get my foot in the door anywhere for any interview, of course

Pft, you defer to Wisconsin for a region-based joke? Why not use my home state? Ask me about meth, corn, or...well that's about all we have here.

 

Things to remember:
--Poin only wants threads on female teachers having sex with students. Never males. And pics or GTFO.
--outofplace will talk your ear off about how salary caps and the Steelers suck.
--BYH is known as sj's tantric love god.

 

And Dooley is known as SJ's ultimate

 

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