The Real Winners Of The NCAA Basketball Tournament
In every competion, they always have to be a winner and a loser. That was no different in the NCAA National Championship game that transpired between the University of Kentucky Wildcats and the University of Kansas Jayhawks.
Though it was a good game, the Wildcats defeated the Jayhawks by the score of 67-59 to win the national title.
The championship was their eighth in school history and one would conclude that they are the real winners of the NCAA tournament.
The Jayhawks were the losers, they had a chance to represent their school and to play for the national championship.
However, the real winners of the NCAA Basketball Tournament are the student journalist who represented their college newspapers.
The reason is because they have covered each of these basketball teams for the whole season and with the Final Four taken place, each of these student journalist got the opportunity to sit side by side with sport journalists represent well-known national television and print media that includes ESPN, CBS, TNT, The Houston Chronicle, Yahoo Sports, USA Today and a whole lot more.
With them covering these teams for their school newspapers, they took advantage of the opportunity to network with those that have succeeded in their respective fields, putting themselves in position to get a job once they graduate from their respective universities because in the end, employers are looking for those who have experience along with the degree.
Wouldn’t you want to say that I have met Dick Vitale at the Final Four?
Here is the video tribute to the 2012 National Champions University of Kentucky:
The Reason Why I Did A Guest Blog Post
Stephanie Bennis, owner of Bennis Public Relations
I want to first of all say thank you to all of the visitors who visited my site. As you well know, this news site Vallano Media, LLC, started out as a blog called “What’s The Word?” over a year ago. Before, I had a vague concept about blogging, thinking it was just a place that people write rants in order to get things off their chest.
But since then, I realized the importance of blogging and the many ways it can be used to get stuff done.
What I also came to discover is by doing a “guest blog” for someone else can help you to get new audience that you would not get by yourself and it is also the best way to network with others that have been there before.
For example, I have done a guest blog post called “Your Brand Is Your Identity” for Stephanie Bennis, owner of Bennis Public Relations, as part of her “Bennis Blogger Battle” that will appear tomorrow at http://bennisinc.wordpress.com under the category “Guest Blogger”. The purpose is to get as many likes as possible from the readers and the one who have the most “likes” gets a $25.00 gift card from Starbucks and a promotion from Stephanie herself on her blog about our sites.
The reason why I decided to participate in the contest is because Stephanie is a talented and gifted person who knows what she wants out of life and it is my second time doing a guest post for her.
She was a member of the Coalitions Committee that got Tom Corbett elected as Governor of the State of Pennsylvania in 2010. After her stint, she worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Health from January to July of 2011.
She started Bennis Public Relations as a side business in 2009 and after leaving the Department of Health, decided to pursue it full time and in the process started a blog about her experience as a business owner and life lessons along the way.
She holds dual Bachelors Degree’s in Public Relations & Advertising and Communications from Pennsylvania State University (Penn State).
For more information about Stephanie, visit her at www.bennisinc.com.
The Grass Is Not Always Green On The Other Side
by Cheval John
After the University of Texas Longhorns was knocked out in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tourmanent, Gail Goestenkors resigned as head coach of the Longhorns yesterday due to “fatigue.”
In her five seasons as head coach of the Longhorns, she has taken the team to five straight consecutive NCAA tournaments.
However, that was not enough for the Longhorn faithful because of various reasons: 1) She has take her previous team, the Duke Blue Devils to Four Final Four Appearances and played in the national championship twice during her 15 years at the institution and
2) She was replacing legendary coach Jody Conradt, who was the head coach for 31 years, has guided the Longhorns to 21 NCAA tournament appearances, including three Final Fours and winning one national championship in 1986.
In addition, the university launched the Longhorn Network this past August and they want to showcase their excellence to the world on a daily basis, so that they can continue to attract quality recruits to the university.
In retrospect, Goestenkors should have stayed at Duke because she would have become an iconic figure for the women’s basketball team as the current men’s basketball head coach for Duke Mike Krzyzewski.
Instead, she is just another casuality because she could not meet the expectations from the Longhorn faithful and it was difficult to duplicate the success of Jody Conradt.
Always Look For The Positive In The Negative
Photo courtesy of the Huntsville Item
by Cheval John
“She is as good as anybody in the state of Texas. She is everything that everybody wants and we are lucky to have her.”
Those were the comments of Sam Houston State Bearkat head softball coach Bob Brock after the Bearkats (3-13) run ruled Prarie View A&M Tigers by the score of 11-0 in the first game of the double header to get their first win of the season.
The person that he was referring to was first baseman Kim Damian.
In the last 16 games, Damian has batted .358 with a career high 4 home runs and 11 RBI.
“I basically came up with a different approach and try to get ahead in the count,” Damian said. “With coach Brock switching me to bat first, I get a better selection on pitching compared to when I was batting third.”
The junior from Angleton, led the charge in that first game against the Tigers, going 3 for 3 with a double, a two-run triple and a grand slam that capped a 6-RBI game.
“Kim is having a great year,” Brock said. “I made a change in putting her at lead-off and she has really took off.
Damian started playing softball since she was five years old.
In addition to softball, she played volleyball and basketball while she was in middle school.
“Playing volleyball and basketball kept me in shape,” Damian said. “Especially with basketball, there’s a lot of running and it helped when it came to softball.”
Though those sports helped, softball was her main sport because she was really good at it and she pursued it full time when she entered Angleton High School.
During that time, Angleton won the district championship in 2006. She improved tremendously as she was a Brazoria County and District MVP after leading them to a Texas 4A state runner-up finish and another district championship in 2009. She was named to the first team All-State and All-District that same year.
She also played for club teams, the Texas Connection and Texas Sting.
She received many offers from different universities, but it was a no-brainer as she choose to play at Sam Houston State.
“I always thought of coming to Sam Houston State, mainly because it was closer to home,” Damian said.
In her first year, she had a batting average of .195 with two home runs and 6 RBIs and had a total of 17 hits.
She improved in her sophomore year with a .347 batting average, with 3 home runs and 24 RBIs. She totaled 43 hits during that season.
Defensively, she was error-free at first base with 331 putouts and eight assists in 339 chances.
Though she has been successful during her softball career, she always know that her biggest fans will always be her parents.
“I owe a lot to them because they were always there for me,” Damian said. “They always backing me up no matter what happens in a game, whether I do good or bad. I am thankful for them being there for me.”
The Bearkats will play one game against Liberty University and a double-header against University at Buffalo at Bearkat Softball Complex on Wednesday. Start time is at 2 p.m.
The Balancing Act of Being A Reporter And A Public Relations Practioner
by Cheval John
A reporter’s job is to be as objective as possible and to get as much information as possible to release to the general public.
On the other hand, a public relations practioners job is to promote an entity and showcase what they’re brought to a community.
Trying to balance both professions at the same time is a huge challenge, but one worth attempting.
As a freelance reporter for The Huntsville Item and Vallano Media, LLC, I’ve had the opportunity to cover Sam Houston State Bearkat sporting events and interviewed important people ranging from the mayor of Frisco, Texas to Nashville Songwriter Hall of Famer, Allen Shamblin.
Also, as a member of Priority One Public Relations, a student-run public relations firm on the campus of Sam Houston State University, we have created communications plan for clients on the campus and produced events featuring media personalities from Dan Rather to Hall-of-Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan.
In conclusion, it is not easy at times, but in the end, it is worth it.
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