Playground courts big draw for Chicago ballers

By Calvin Williamson and Julian Zeng

Audio Slideshow: Check out more at Chicago Storytelling

The Chicago playground. Where NBA superstars like Dwyane Wade and Derrick Rose first developed their games. Where some still chase the dream of basketball fame and recognition. But you don’t have to be a rising star to join a pick-up game on a court in the Windy City.

“Some people can’t play it, but they play hard though, all they gotta do is watch,” said Darnell Triplett, shortly after a 4-on-4 game on the court at Lincoln Park. “You watch and you learn.”

There is no shortage of courts in Chicago, and many people like Triplett travel from place to place in search of a game. Others, like Jarvis Flounoi, have one court they call their own.

“There’s other courts we can go to but we choose this one,” Flounoi said. “The beach is right there…it’s a good place, man.”

Darnell Triplett puts up a shot at Lincoln Park's playground courts (Photo by Julian Zeng)

Some prefer to play by themselves, like Gino Salva, who was listening to his iPod while shooting alone at Wrightwood Park, and had to stray from his home court to find an empty court.

“I live on Campbell, we got [a court] over there…but since it was so full I came over here,” Salva said.

Some courts are maintained better than others, however, and that can make finding a usable court tricky at times. Oz Park, for example, has four hoops, but none of them have a rim. According to Salva, who was shooting on one of the two hoops with a net on the rim out of Wrightwood Park’s eight total hoops, that is not an uncommon situation.

“They take the rims down on a lotta the schools, the grade schools, and you can’t play, so you gotta go around and find the ones that got ‘em,” he said.

Whether it’s alone or with friends, there are as many reasons that people play pick-up basketball as there are courts. Salva, 52, uses basketball as a way to exercise.

“This old guy’s gotta keep in shape,” he said.

Triplett listed multiple reasons why he likes to play. “[It] keeps you occupied, makes you do things, you know. Gets things off your mind, releases stress,” he said.

For others, like Roberto Guzman, it’s all about the environment. He cites “the lakefront view” at Lincoln Park as an important factor when he wants to play basketball, and he isn’t the only one. Triplett and his friends walked across the park to the beach when they finished playing.

Moses Santana uses playground basketball as a vehicle to educate the youth in the community. Santana, a graduate from Robert Morris University in Chicago who is currently pursuing his master’s degree, hails from Puerto Rico and played Junior Varsity and Varsity basketball as an undergraduate. Now he tries to help kids achieve their dreams by teaching the game and advising them to stay in school.

“I never know if I’m going to go pro or not but education is the one plus thing today in the economy,” he said. “I just come out and have fun and teach a couple fundamentals to the kids out here at the playground, motivate them to stay in school.”

Game of pick up basketball at Lincoln Park (Photo by Julian Zeng)

Basketball can also be used as a tool to stay healthy and out of trouble. Santana plays not only to motivate those around him, but himself as well. His dream is to represent his home by playing on Puerto Rico’s national team.

“Many have dreams but you gotta be motivated to keep them.  Stay away from violence, drugs and you know, just get motivated in what you do. I’m motivated to stay in school and play for my national team,” he said.

The rapid growth of social media has had a noticeable effect on pick-up basketball. Elias Martinez, a student at the University of Illinois in Champaign, uses Facebook to recruit players, especially during the school year.

Websites dedicated solely to helping players find a game have sprung up as well. Courts of the World, for example, maps out the locations of public courts around the world. Members of the site can add new courts, rate the courts they have used, and even upload videos of game action on that court’s page.

Courts of the World is also active in other forms of social media. Over 1,000 people “Like” their Facebook page, and members include people from across the globe, including Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Lithuania. The iPhone App Store even carries a Courts of the World mobile app.

But no matter how players find a game or where they play, whether they are a casual player or a rising superstar, they all have one thing in common. They play for the love of the game.

As Salva succinctly said, “It’s a good sport.”

Coverage of Here We Rally in downtown Sacramento

In light of last week’s news the Sacramento Kings will remain in Sacramento for at least one more season, fans gathered downtown from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in Cesar Chavez Plaza to celebrate Here We Rally. More than 3,000 people arrived for the event, which was held in conjunction with the Kings and the NBA.

[View the complete story "Here We Rally" on Storify]

Club Baseball: DePaul Blue Demons defeat Columbia Renegades 14-1

The DePaul club baseball team, in its inaugural season, has gotten off to a strong start. Since  dropping their opening game against Northern Illinois University, the Blue Demons have won their past four games, all coming against the Columbia College Renegades.

On Saturday, DePaul took advantage of Columbia’s shaky pitching and fielding woes on their way to a 14-1 victory over the Renegades, the first game of their doubleheader.

DePaul quickly jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, with Columbia starting pitcher Luke Warnken struggling to maintain consistency and locate his pitches. From that point on, the Blue Demons dominated, scoring another 10 runs on 11 total hits.

Meanwhile, DePaul starting pitcher Nolan Meehan showed great command, allowing only one earned run over five innings, striking out six. Meehan also contributed with the bat, getting two hits and driving in three runs.

“We just take it one pitch at a time, I guess,” said Meehan after their first game against Columbia. “We’re pretty rag-tag as it is, and we don’t have much in coaching, we can basically do whatever we want.”

With a lack of a distinct coaching philosophy, DePaul simply adjusted to Columbia’s poor pitching by swinging away, driving in plenty of runs throughout the game, which was called in five innings because of mercy rule.

When asked about specific plays the team made during the game, Meehan couldn’t recall anything that really stood out to him.

“I can’t even remember, it was really a blur, scored a lot of runs.”

At the receiving end of this onslaught of hits was the Renegade infielders, who not only often made questionable decisions throwing out runners, but were continuously forced to play well-hit grounders. Mackinley Salk, Columbia outfielder and team president, was disappointed not only with their five errors, but with their effort in general.

“It was piss-poor on our part, we need to go out there and actually play baseball,” said Salk. Though Columbia struggled, they were severely underhanded from the start, as they normally have over double the amount of players they did on Saturday.

“Today’s really, really rough because we have nine guys here, usually we come to the field with about 20 guys, and we’ve got enough for any situation that happens,” said Salk. “When I had to take the starting pitcher out, I had to shuffle everything around.”

The team absences were mainly due to finals rapidly approaching for Columbia, with players devoting their time to schoolwork instead of baseball.

“We’ve got finals coming up and people have got film shoots, stuff like that, and since these kids aren’t on scholarship, you know, not scholarship athletes, school comes first, and we preach that,” said Salk.

Warnken, a freshman, still has plenty of time to gain experience and become acclimated to the college-level game. Saturday was simply a day for him to forget.

“I just couldn’t locate my pitches. When I did finally locate it, they were just making good hits,” said Warnken after the game. “Today’s a day where you just don’t have your stuff and tip your hat to the other team and say, ‘You got me,’ and you just gotta get over it.”

“All season long and last season we’ve been preaching the same thing, and that’s flushing,” said Salk. “Any mistake you make, it’s over, that’s it. It’s done. This is a game of amnesia, and you need to have it.”

For DePaul infielder Steve Friedberg, who scored twice and drove in three runs, Saturday’s win over Columbia was a testament to their hard work practicing over the past few weeks.

“Us as a team, hitting the ball more frequently has helped us,” said Freidberg. “Obviously spending more time practicing over the past two weeks has helped us out. Our president Kevin Crittenden has gotten on us.

“Recently we’ve seen a lot of live pitching, so I think live pitching helps, the in-game situations help.”

With only one game against Purdue remaining on their schedule (5/7), the Blue Demons will look to build upon their successes thus far and finish the season on a high note.

Trip to Comcast SportsNet-Chicago

With sports reporting on the Internet and television converging to become a mass conglomeration of information, facts, statistics, etc., many organizations like Comcast SportsNet are at the forefront of this trend.

During our visit to the Comcast SportsNet – Chicago headquarters, we toured the facility and were spoken to by Chris Clark, senior editorial producer, and Chuck Garfien, reporter/anchor for SportsNet Central.  Both gave us their perspectives on online sports journalism, blogging, and convergence, topics which they both had extensive experience with.

Clark, formerly an editorial producer at MLB.com and one of the founders of the original whitesox.com, spoke about the old days of working online. The Internet, an entity continuously changing and evolving, forced Clark and other producers to “reinvent the wheel,” creating content and posting information with no predecessor to adopt ideas from.

Now that technology has become more advanced, Clark has grown to appreciate the immediacy with which information can be published, rather than suffer through the doldrums of slow dial-up connections. Clark did admit he missed some simpler aspects to creating content on older servers; for producers, “so much goes into building up a simple website, like packaging content, coding, etc.,” said Clark.

Despite these more complicated intricacies, Clark said it is “nice to have editorial control.”  Flexibility is also crucial to a producer’s success, as they can be asked to accomplish any number of tasks. This is especially important to someone working in this industry, as Clark warned us to not “think [you'll] be settled in at a job in this business for more than a few years.”

Garfien addressed his responsibilities as a reporter for Comcast SportsNet. Not only does Garfien host White Sox Pre Game and Post Game Live, he also runs the Sox Drawer blog on CSN’s website. Garfien cited this versatility as an important characteristic of any successful reporter today, especially at CSN.

Garfien noted that one cannot succeed as a one-dimensional television personality to succeed in the business. Instead, they must also be strong writers while at the same time be connected on a variety of social media platforms, Twitter in particular. (Link to Garfien’s Twitter account)

Garfien also discussed CSN’s ownership, which is a possible controversial issue. The CSN Chicago branch is jointly owned by NBCUniversal, as well as the owners of the Big 4 team owners in Chicago (J. Joseph Ricketts family, Cubs; Jerry Reinsdorf, Bulls and White Sox; and Rocky Wirtz, Blackhawks).

Thus, as an organization affiliated with the teams they cover, CSN Chicago must weigh sometimes weigh the influences of reporting objectively and having a bias towards the Chicago teams. Garfien said it is key as a reporter to “not be a mouthpiece for the teams, and that he should choose his words carefully.

“We have to be fair to the people we cover, since we’re not a 100 percent independent TV organization,” said Garfien. Despite this, CSN Chicago has offered unparalleled access to sports teams and content that is among the best on the Web. The trip to the CSN Chicago offices was a great experience, and Clark and Garfien really opened my eyes to the ins and outs of this difficult but rewarding industry.

Great Online Sports Storytelling

In the age of blogs and other online sites dedicated to covering the lighter side of the sports, like Deadspin.com, traditional sports storytelling has become somewhat forgotten, especially to the casual sports fan. However, hard-hitting sports journalism still exists on the Internet, with many talented writers covering the ins and outs of the sports world.

One example of great sports storytelling on the Web is at ESPN. While ESPN is a leader in sports “entertainment,” it is still a great source of sports writing, and has a host of accomplished writers that dig to the bottom of stories to provide readers objective content, as well as include interesting anecdotes when necessary.

J.A. Adande, a writer who covers the NBA, most recently wrote an article about small markets in cities that host a team in the league. In light of the current situation with the Sacramento Kings, who are on the brink of relocation to Anaheim, Adande discusses the issue with having larger market teams dominate talent in the league, leaving small market teams with less advantage.

ESPN has branched out to large markets itself, starting up sub-stations in cities like Boston, New York and Chicago. ESPN not only casts a wider net in its sport coverage, but also allows more talented writers to be brought on to write pieces for the sites.

Another example of good online sports storytelling is a John Feinstein article on the Washington Post online. In his article, Feinstein states the dismal NCAA basketball title game was a result of years of neglect for the sport’s well-being by those who run it.

Feinstein presents a great argument that states the sport’s decline can be attributed to the NBA cop-out one-and-done deal, the “AAUization” of the game, and a too-close three-point arc that does not force teams to work for better shots.

The New York Times is another source of great sportswriting online, and a recent article by Howard Beck covers the Sacramento Kings relocation affairs in great depth.

Finally, Sports Illustrated has been a leader in sports feature writing for decades, and its online content is not to be overlooked. While it offers lots of quirky material and non-sports related matters, works by its dedicated writers still shine in this age of online journalism and immediacy, with thought-provoking pieces on any major sport.

The sports blogosphere may be as popular as always, but great online sports storytelling can still be found at reputable sites.

Old School Meets New School: Sports Writing Today

Sports writing, like other aspects of print media, has suffered somewhat from the immediacy and sensationalism with which information has been delivered through various online mediums, in sports journalism’s case on ESPN or sports blogs.  In the early to mid-1990s, sports were reported in newspapers, delivering game recaps and box scores along with game stories that provided rich detail and description.

Yet since the mid-1990s, classic sports writing has been “diminished” by the all-day television coverage of ESPN and SportsCenter, and many stylish writers “migrated toward higher-profile and better-paying radio and television gigs,” according to Gary Andrew Poole’s article “Back to the Future” in the Columbia Journalism Review.

In today’s world of sports writing, old school journalism must be forced to adapt to the new school.  For example, newspaper beat writers now must constantly be on top of the rumor mill on blog-based sites, while at the same time updating their own blogs.  These reporters are forced to field a vast array of news bites and feeds searching for the latest tidbit already recycled through other outlets.

Red Line Project neighborhoods

Here is a map of things to do around the Belmont and Lake red line El stop neighborhoods in Chicago, IL.
View Red Line Project neighborhoods (Belmont, Lake) in a larger map

The L3C Newsroom and Funding Models

The L3C (low-profit, limited liability company) is a term used to describe the hybridization of non-profit and for-profit organizations. The L3C’s purpose is to provide a business platform that attracts private investment in socially responsible news organizations.

In terms of its use in the realm of journalism, the L3C newsroom is primed to become a potentially successful model that could provide a solution for newspapers, as it encourages foundation while still allowing a profit. A particular corporation could take on investors who are willing to accept fluctuating returns. Under tax laws, foundations could safely bet investments on L3C companies that would qualify as program-related.

Sally Duros, an independent journalist and leader in pioneering the L3C in Chicago, spoke Monday about the benefits of journalism reinventing itself with the assistance of the L3C newsroom. The L3C newsroom is a specific structure for creating business that serves a purpose through its social integration.

Previously, according to Duros, “news was a byproduct of profit.” Today, social benefit is the main thing we care about. The theme of this socially responsible reporting is that it is not driven by a need for money. Anyone can contribute to the news site or organization, and its non-profit characterization makes it appealing to investors as well as consumers.

As for the L3C newsroom model’s potential influence on our own Red Line Project, the plan is certainly viable in this day and age of primarily digital content and information gathering. With the Red Line Project, our class has been given a chance to create a self-sustaining site with current news and events presented in a hyperlocal style.

As newspapers switch from the old, “zombie newsrooms,” as Duros calls them, to L3C socially-driven newsrooms, a greater number of organizations will be inclined to participate in this new movement. Their investments will power the inherent non-profit characterization of the news sites, and ultimately all will benefit from these universally accessible, self-sustaining enterprises at a time when newspapers and other old news sources are slowly dying off.

El Stop: Community Update

For our Red Line Project in Online Journalism II, I was assigned to cover the Belmont and Lake stops and their respective neighborhoods.  For each El stop, I will look to cover its history (stop construction and renovations), surrounding location, local institutions that are mainstays in the community, and will include certain media elements like a SoundSlides presentation and maps.

Concerning the El stop histories, Chicago-L.org will prove to be invaluable as a source of information.  Chicago-L.org provides extensive historic entries on each El stop, not only on the Red Line.  In addition, the website posts news headlines that I could potentially use as tips to cover upcoming events or past stories.

Belmont

One possible story idea I have for the Belmont stop area is about the Japanese Cultural Center located at 1016 W. Belmont.  The Cultural Center serves as a training facility for traditional tea ceremonies, calligraphy writing, and flower arrangement, which has always interested me.  The center’s mission statement is to present Japanese culture in an accessible manner to the general public, though not like a museum “where lifeless objects are displayed,” according to their website.  Skills are passed on from one person to another, and Japanese arts and culture are taught through courses that cover a wide range of fields.

Another story idea for the Belmont area is about the Vic Theatre and its continued influence on the neighborhood.  When it doesn’t have live music events, customers continue to flock to the venue for Brew and View events and other films that are out of mainstream theaters.  The Vic is a well-established institution that has draw for loyal customers and audiences, and getting further information would make for an interesting story.

Lake

The Lake El stop is on such a busy and famous street in State St. that I was unable to pin down an exact story that I could write about the neighborhood.  I will have plenty of time in future to focus my attention on a specific venue or location of interest.  For now, there is simply a wealth of possibilities that I can choose from.

Ken Doctor to Local Journalism: Remap and Reload

It is now the year 2011, and we are in the midst of a news revolution.  Once a business in which the information and content consumers were able to obtain was once restricted by their budget and region, news is now a largely free and universally accessible entity.

Ken Doctor's "Newsonomics"

As a result, users flock to Web sites, blogs, and other news feeds for instantaneous, up-to-date stories and features. Consequently, local, daily newspapers have suffered from this Internet competition.  In Chapter 3 of “Newsonomics,” written by media industry analyst Ken Doctor (click to see his personal blog Content Bridges), Doctor describes how many local news companies are striving to compete with the immediacy of online news.

The chapter, entitled “Local: Remap and Reload,” explains the effect technology has had on traditional print journalism.  Local newspaper companies have shrunk in size across the board, or have been put completely out of business.  Far-reaching, regional metro publications have had circulation numbers cut considerably, with budget restrictions preventing them from sending reporters to cover worldwide stories.

As Doctor states, “If they can’t see it from the top floor of their newspaper building, they probably aren’t covering it.”

The Internet is forcing local media companies to redefine themselves.  How?  The Web allows users to determine how local they want their information to be.  Next town over?  Next city?  This info can be accessed instantaneously through any outlet.  The solution for many local newspaper companies is focusing on the hyperlocal.  The key to pursuing coverage of the hyperlocal is incorporating work of both professional journalists and contributions from community members, including it in blogs that pursue “niche audiences and multimedia production.”

According to Mark Potts, a notable pioneer in journalism, hyperlocal is a difficult approach.

“Hyperlocal is really hard…You don’t just open the doors and hit critical mass…Anybody who’s run a hyperlocal site will tell you that it takes a couple of years just to get to a point where you’ve truly got a vibrant online community.”

Despite the challenges hyperlocal news presents, many local dailies have pursued this avenue, having their remaining condensed staff members to focus strictly on local news and engaging community members to offer their own content.  Sites like WashingtonPost.com and Boston.com have already asserted themselves as forerunners in re-creating the new idea of “local” news, though Doctor believes the current state of newspaper sites moving from print to online is incomplete.

In this age of technology and universal access to information and news, newspaper sites are fighting for survival against Internet competition.  It remains to be seen whether or not they can successfully incorporate Doctor’s third law of Newsonomics: Remap and Reload.