November 2nd, 2010
weswilson4
George Washington warned against partisan politics in his 1796 Farewell Address:
“The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.”
As our Founding Father left office, Thomas Jefferson was organizing the Democratic-Republican Party to counter Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Party. One party backed Great Britain; the other supported France. That’s perhaps what worried Washington most, but his warning holds merit 214 years later.
Our country is more partisan than at any point in my life. Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle shout down good ideas because in this political climate, the only thing more important than being heard is getting credit.
Perhaps one day we can work together, United once again.
October 6th, 2010
weswilson4
Some like it on the couch. Others like it on the kitchen table.
Once again, women across the country have led a successful viral marketing campaign to raise awareness about breast cancer.
Newspapers turned their first October editions pink. Football players wore pink gloves, cleats and chin guards. And many have already “raced for a cure” in 5K events across the country. But nothing has people talking as much as the viral marketing campaign on Facebook.
The idea is women post where they like to to put their purses. Red-blooded guys like me see the update and comment, sparking millions of conversations across the world that ultimately lead to breast cancer awareness.
But not everyone’s a fan.
October 5th, 2010
weswilson4
Divisional Series
Rays over Rangers
Tampa Bay’s pitching staff will be too much for Texas to overcome, even in a short series. I expect the Rays to close this one out in four games.
Yankees over Twins
Minnesota’s Justin Morneau has been ruled out for the entire playoffs. He’s been gone since mid-July and the Twins have done well in his absence, but I don’t think they match up well with the firepower in the middle of the Yankee lineup. I expect the Yankees to sweep.
Phillies over Reds
What a magical season for Dusty Baker and the Cincinnati Reds. That magic ends after a short stay in the postseason, however. The Phillies just have too many good arms to lose to the Reds. They coast into the NLCS with a three-game sweep.
Giants over Braves
Bobby Cox has been the best manager of my generation, maybe of any generation. It’s hard to imagine he’s been at the helm since 1990, and it’s even harder to believe some of the teams he’s somehow guided to the playoffs. It’s no surprise he did it again with this injury-depleted Braves squad. No Chipper, no Prado, and the Braves still made it. The talent just isn’t there to advance though. I expect errors to cost the Braves severely as they lose in four games to the Giants.
The rest of my playoff picks after the jump:
December 15th, 2009
weswilson4
As newspapers continue to downsize and die a slow death, all those reporters are finding themselves out of work on life rafts as their former bosses steer the Titanic. For news reporters, it’s arguably a little easier to find work on the Web, especially if they’re tech savvy. Sports reporters… the waters are a little more murky.
Newspapers used to be great PR advertising machines for sports teams. It wasn’t unusual for a big city paper to have a sports reporter per team, whose sole job was to find and write stories about that team. Think of all the free publicity that creates. But now newspapers are cutting costs, laying off staff and sharing stories across newspapers. The Raleigh News & Observer and the Charlotte Observer used to write up separate stories about games — now they share stories based on geography.
Sports teams, sports leagues, and Web sites that recognized this shift early are capitalizing on it, and it’s paying dividends. I just want to take a minute to look at a few of those early adopters who have helped turn sports journalism on its head and are leading the evolution of sports journalism as we enter a new decade:
September 29th, 2009
weswilson4
CNN is a little late to the iPhone party but what an entrance it made!
PCWorld writes, “CNN’s new iPhone app puts rivals to shame.“ Wired adds that the new app is “informative and empowering.”
But then again, NPR has a terrific news app of its own, so what makes the new CNN iphone app so special? Social media. The World News Leader now offers it’s legion of iReporters a way to quickly and simply share pictures and videos remotely.
Let’s pretend another incident like the Miracle on the Hudson happens. People who saw the crash right when it happened posted pictures on Twitter and one Twitpic image went viral. Now those same people can send CNN images directly and CNN can turn that around quickly, adding it to CNN.com almost instantaneously and airing it on TV a short time later.
It gives CNN an army of reporters and makes it the go-to source for breaking news.
September 23rd, 2009
weswilson4
So this post isn’t about sports, social media or journalism, but those things aren’t on my mind right now…
I got a phone call early Tuesday morning at 2 a.m. It was my mom and she was crying.
“Your uncle Mark passed away,” she said.
My uncle died Monday night, the youngest of five children. He leaves behind three kids – ages 15, 16, and 17.
