Without a doubt, my JOUR 391: Sports Media and Society class during the Fall 2019 semester has been the most interesting class I have taken during my time at the University of South Carolina. This class touched on many ways members within the growing and multifaceted field of sports media play a role in portraying developments relevant to the sports industry to their audiences across the world. I entered this class having been personally affected by sports in many ways, but this class introduced me to so many other ways the sports media, athletes, and everyone else within the overall sports industry affect people of different backgrounds and beliefs.  

             The lecture from my Sports Media and Society class that resonated with me the most was called “Stick to Sports”. This lecture about the history of the sports media talking about other facets of society was fittingly dubbed “Stick to Sports” because that has long been the public response when an athlete or member of the sports media talks about a topic other than sports. Like many of my other classes at the journalism school here at the UofSC, this lecture discussed how the media has long been expected to be impartial and simply report and cover the news in an unbiased way. In this sports media class, I heard the phrase “no cheering in the press box” numerous times, as sports journalists have been traditionally expected not to care who wins the game they are covering and keep their opinions separate from their work. However, today’s 24/7 digital age and divisive political climate combined with the growing field of sports media have made the line between sports and other aspects of society intertwined.

            The role of the modern athlete is not what it used to be, and this is perhaps because athletes wield more power today than they ever have before. Many of today’s athletes view themselves as much more than performers and sources of entertainment and have actively taken steps to be more than that. Moreover, many of them have been very vocal about their intentions despite being told things like “stick to sports”, “keep politics out of football”, and “shut up and dribble”. As the Milwaukee Bucks players and hundreds of other professional athletes who followed the Bucks’ lead recognized by boycotting their games after the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, fans do not have games to watch on TV if the athletes do not play in them. Many athletes today do not heed the “stick to sports” advice because they understand how visible they are to millions of people and embrace their ability to use their platform to advocate for causes they are passionate about. For them, things like taking a knee during the national anthem has never been and will never be about disrespecting members of the military. Rather, they engage in peaceful protests to stand up to the oppression minorities face every single day and call attention to the systematic racism Black people in the United States have continued to face for centuries.

           This lecture also taught me that many sports media professionals do not always stick to sports in their own right, and the invention of the Internet and Twitter have contributed to this of late. As my Sports Media and Society professor explained to our class, Twitter piggybacked on the Internet because it furthered the newfound opportunity for freedom of expression and gave journalists an “instant opportunity to say whatever, whenever”. Editorially, Twitter is unlike a newsroom or studio because there is no producer or editor over a reporter’s shoulder to decide how the public will react to their 140-character Tweet and whether it is or is not okay for them to post messages for the whole world to see. Through social media, today’s sports journalists can comment on many different topics, so their thoughts can get easily amplified on social media.  

           Team media has become a particular sector within the sports media field that has seen significant growth in recent years and furthered the ways sports teams reach their audiences. As I learned during my Sports Media and Society class, many professional and college sports teams have several employees within their organization that serve in roles like sports information director, video and graphic designer, creative media designer, in-game stadium host, social media host, and many more. Athletes are not the only ones within the sports industry who have a greater presence and voice now more than ever.

            On a macro level, working in sports media today is objectively different from working in sports media in the past. From reporters employed by several media outlets covering NBA stars like LeBron James and Derrick Rose wearing “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts during pre-game warmups in 2014 to ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit breaking down into tears while talking about social justice issues on College Gameday in 2020, today’s sports reporters are talking about a variety of things their predecessors never would have.

           In many ways, I have learned a great deal about the far-reaching impact of sports and how many different people working in the sports industry impact their audiences during my time at the University of South Carolina. In particular, I attended a meeting for our university’s National Sports Media Association (NSMA) student chapter during my sophomore year in which Todd Ellis, commonly referred to as “Voice of Gamecock Football” for his duties as the play-by-play broadcaster of Gamecock football games, stopped by as the featured guest speaker. I had many takeaways from Mr. Ellis’s comments about what it is like calling Gamecock Football games and pieces of advice that night for students looking to grow professionally and personally as they work toward a career of their own in sports media. 

           That night, Mr. Ellis outlined five cornerstones to be successful, and I’ll never forget sitting in room 318 of the journalism school as he explained them. The two that most stood out to me (you can see the others below) were “find something you love and get good at it” and “treat people with dignity and respect”. As a public relations major, I love writing about sports and I’m doing my best to “get good” at it. Mr. Ellis motivated me to work even harder than I already had been to become a more effective writer, and I’ve made more concentrated efforts to tell powerful stories related to sports both in and out of the classroom since I heard him talk that night. His words moved me to truly earn a career in sports that allows me to have a positive impact and relationship with the people around me. More particularly, those lessons from Mr. Ellis also motivated me to learn more about college athletics and potentially work within a college athletic department myself someday.

           During my final semester in the spring of 2021, I will intern at Allen University in a sports information role. I could not be more excited for the opportunity and I look forward to writing feature stories for the university’s athletics website, helping to boost Allen’s athletic programs’ presence in the community, and taking advantage of any other things that come my way.

           In sum, the lessons I learned from Mr. Ellis at that NSMA meeting and the ones I learned in my Sports Media and Society class helped me understand the power of sports and motivated me to strive to make a difference in my career. Going forward, I will forever carry the understanding with me that sports is about so much more than box scores, wins and losses, and championships.