"Sports Illustrated broke the biggest sports news of the summer July 11 when it posted a 950-word piece by LeBron James as told to Lee Jenkins, announcing James' decision to leave the Miami Heat and return to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers," Bob Wolfley begins a recent column, "Sports Illustrated Catches Flak for LeBron James Piece, for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Wolfley asks "four experts in the field of journalism if what Sports Illustrated did here with the James story was good journalism." Yours truly is among his sources, though no one should consider me an expert. Here's an excerpt from the column:

Check out this video profile of Kal Riebau, a student manager for the Marquette University men's basketball team.

Perhaps final projects show how well students have been taught as much they have learned each term. So I was quite worried about the projects the 18 students in my Digital Journalism III course would produce this semester. OK, I expected nothing short of a train wreck. But as is often the case, my students exceeded my expectations.

Each student had to do create a multimedia package focusing on anyone of their choosing within the Marquette community; it could be another student or an administrator, faculty member, employee, etc., on or near campus. The New York Times' "One in 8 Million" collection of audio slideshows served as inspiration and the projects were to each consist of two parts: a 650-word profile and a three-minute video created using Final Cut Pro X. The videos were uploaded to YouTube, then embedded above their text stories on a page on their individual Weebly websites.

The class focused considerably on writing profiles this spring, but spent just a couple periods on using video. One day we looked at examples from TheMorganList.com, a collection of videos about people at Morgan State University and produced by students taught there by my friend, Jerry Bembry; another day we reviewed "Al's 10 Video Commandments," a presentation on the do's and don'ts that Al Tompkins shared atthe inaugural Teachapalooza in 2011.) The class also had the "Video Storytelling for the Web" and "Reporting, Writing for TV and the Web: Aim for the Heart" modules as part of a certificate program offered by the Poynter Institute's News University.

Making me even more nervous: The students insisted on using the higher-end cameras they could sign out from the Diederich College of Communication's technology center instead of their smartphones. Good for them! Unlike in past semesters, though, we spent no class time learning how to use the equipment. Anyway, after turning in three full-fledged story ideas each – just in case a preferred one fell through – the students went about doing their projects.

After three weeks of working on them, the class helped me critique each effort. To my relief, they all were credible, if not more so. Several focused on Marquette peers. They included the state governor's son; one focused on serving others; a theater set designer; an international student; a Muslim; a hip-hop dancer; one hundreds of miles from his family still reeling from superstorm Sandy; one with cerebral palsy and one needing a guide dog because of blindness. The other projects featured the owner of a popular eatery; a diversity counselor and social justice instructor; a music curator and three faculty members who teach law, political science and German, respectively.

Two of the projects particularly stood out and deserve a look from anyone reading this post. Benjamin Greene profiled Kal Riebau, a student manager for the men's basketball team despite having only one arm. Given that his video was done after basketball season – that's why there's no footage of Riebau doing his manager duties or engaging with the team – Greene's classmates and I agree that any criticism from this instructor would be nitpicking.

Then there's Christopher Chavez, who is always trouble. "I know we're not supposed to use music," he said to me the week before the projects were due, "but I made it work." After watching his piece on Tyler Leverington, a track team member who is also a first-year law student, I agreed: Chavez made it work. The music level could be reduced some more, but just like with Greene's effort on Riebau, the editing quality in the Leverington piece is outstanding. 

And, never one to miss an opportunity, Chavez has taken his coursework international. "Had a little too much fun with my One @Marquette project that I extended it to eight minutes and released it as a feature on Flotrack," he wrote in a status update in the #loweclass Facebook group last week. As of Saturday, that version had 4,465 page views from www.flotrack.org, a website dedicated to news about track and field. Once again, that's making it work.

I have been dreading this blog post for some time. Early last fall, I made a bet with Diana Dombrowski, a former journalism student now studying communications studies. Here's how this otherwise nice sophomore from Cudahy, Wis. – who seemed to wear her Aaron Rogers jersey to class just to annoy me – explained the wager in an email:

I honestly expected a bounce-back season for the Eagles, given their disappointing 8-8 finish in 2011. Naturally, Dombrowski made herself scarce as my team won three of its first four games, while hers started off 2-2. But the Eagles then lost eight in a row before finishing 4-12. Meanwhile, Green Bay won 9 of its last 12 to end at 11-5. Basically, the Eagles' season was over before Thanksgiving. So, too – to the delight of Dombrowski and every other NFL-loving #loweclass student eager to see me in (sports-related) distress – was the bet.

I cannot find the words to explain why Dombrowski is an awesome Packers fan. Let it suffice to say that she is. As for me being a Packers fan? Not going to happen. But as you can see above, true to my word, I donned the jersey. 

"I hope you're happy; I hope this brings you joy," I said after Gee Ekachai, a Diederich Colleague colleague, took the photographs in Johnston Hall. Dombrowski replied smugly: "It has. You look so defeated. I like to win. I really do."

Students in my sports journalism seminar this semester have learned about the impact of social media from both sides of press row. Don Walker and Sharif Durham, a veteran sportswriter and social media editor, respectively, talked during separate visits about how beat writers at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel use Twitter and blogging to cover major league teams and players. Gord Ash, assistant general manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, said during his visit to #loweclass #sports that social media presents challenges for his job that didn't exist 20 years ago.

The students will hopefully incorporate what our guest speakers have shared into a significant class assignment drawing near. According to the course syllabus, "each student will write and submit a six-page, double-spaced analysis (approximately 1,500 words) that considers how journalists covering high school, college and professional sports use social media, and what might journalists do to improve their use of social media to cover all such sports."

They might also draw upon "Sports Journalists' Use of Social Media and Its Effects on Professionalism," an article in the Journal of Sports Media (fall 2011, Vol. 6, No. 2). The research conducted by Sada Reed, a graduate student in the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, begins with this abstract:

"Tweeting With the Enemy? The Impacts of New Social Media on Sports Journalism and the Education of Sports Journalism Students" is another article that might prove useful. Published by Journalism Education (April 2012, Vol. 1, No. 1), the work by three scholars from Sunderland University addresses 1) how are sports journalists adapting to and using Twitter in their work, 2) what do these journalists perceive to be the major benefits and drawbacks for their profession so far, and 3) what lessons does this have for the training of future sports journalists?

I also urge the students to read about the role of Twitter in covering sports scandals, how sports journalists use it to develop and promote their stories and whether it can detect bias among them. Meanwhile, Ronnie Ramos and the National Sports Journalism Center offer "Social Media Still Challenges Journalists, Understanding on the Rise" and Four Ways Social Media has Deteriorated Traditional Journalism." And from Yahoo News there's "NBC Sports Journalists Now Using Social Media and Web Video Reporting to Bring NFL Fans Closer to the Game."

Here's hoping that Walker, Durham, Ash and I have given the class enough to get started on their assignment.

For the fourth time in my six semesters as a faculty member, I am teaching a new course. It's another journalism seminar called "Outside the Lines: How the Media Report on Amateur and Professional Sports." Disclosing here that I didn't cover athletics full time during my newspaper reporting career. But as a lifelong fan of sports in general, and Philadelphia teams – Phillies! Sixers! Eagles! – in particular, definitely aiming for a worthwhile course.

The course objectives include learning the basics of media coverage of sports on the high school, college and professional levels; developing critical thinking skills about issues and dynamics impacting and caused by sports; gathering and curating social media to tell and present stories about sports and athletes, and evaluating how these highly paid performers use the media to shape their public persona and legacies.

The 10 students will also discuss sports journalists' ethical obligations and the business implications that technology brings to the media's coverage of sports. They also will develop a blog with regular posts that analyze a topic or task assigned by me, and take stock of their respective news media website's sports coverage.

Each student will do two Storifys demonstrating their capacity for live tweeting. They will also each research and write a 1,500-word analysis on social media and sports journalism; and do likewise related to media coverage of a sports-related issue of their choice as well as offer a 15-minute presentation on the matter in class.

Here are the issues the students chose: cheerleading, concussions in hockey, track and field between Olympics, double standards related to male and female sports journalists, compensation for college athletes, the black quarterback, the Miami Heat's "Big Three," fantasy sports, sports scandals and paralyzing injuries in football.

The course textbook is "Field Guide to Covering Sports," by Joe Gisondi, who has a fantastic blog, "Sports Field Guide: Tips and Suggestions for Covering Sports." The course will also take advantage of helpful and relevant modules offered by the Poynter Institute's News University, including "Introduction to Sports Reporting." Here's hoping my misguided students rooting for the Jets, Packers, Raiders, Rams, Seahawks and Titans enjoy the course – even as they scheme for seats on the Eagles' bandwagon as my team moves toward Super Bowl XLVI.

Count me among those who consider the first week of the Summer Olympics as preliminaries to the main events that happen the second week. Don't get me wrong: I admire the talent, skill and dedication of the amazing athletes vying to be the world's best in gymnastics, archery, horseback riding, diving, badmitten, etc. But I eagerly await the track-and-field events – particularly the sprints – and the medal round games for men's and women's basketball.

So I wasn't paying attention to gymnast Gabby Douglas before yesterday. My wife, Mira, was beaming through the telephone each night from Atlanta about her performances. Still, I declined to watch NBC's tape-delay coverage. I did take note, though, when someone posted the other day on Facebook a digital image of Time magazine's cover featuring Douglas. I quickly shared it with others, then glanced at my autographed copy of Time's cover of figure skater Debi Thomas, who earned a bronze medal in the 1988 Winter Olympics. She's also Mira's first cousin!

Of course, when word spread across social media that Douglas had won the gold medal for the all-around competition, I knew what that meant: my night would be lost to watching tape-delay coverage. And I would be happy to do so. Any achievement by an African-American teenager on the world stage – especially a sporting event, even if gymnastics – is something I want to support. (OK, even if later rather than sooner.) I enjoyed learning about her family's bond and sacrifices and witnessing her humility and the collective joy amid Black America. As for the nonsensical matter of the athlete's hair, I'll defer to Monique Fields and her well-stated commentary on NPR.

I imagine many reporters across the country were assigned today to interview black girls about how and why Douglas inspired them, just as gymnast Dominique Dawes inspired Douglas and Thomas inspired her share. Indeed, I fondly remember telling my editors at The Press of Atlantic City, the day after the figure skater had won her medal, that should do just that story. It ran on the newspaper's front page the next morning. I'll post that story on this site later, just as soon as I find the scrapbook of press clippings packed away in storage.