NBA Playoffs

So far this NBA season there has been wins and busts. Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls have proved that they're motivated to make a finals appearance. The Memphis Grizzlies took a 3-1 series lead on the top-ranked San Antonio spurs. As of the New York Knicks, they have proved to be a work-in-progress by getting swept by the Boston Celtics. The start of the playoffs have really shocked the league and proven that in the playoffs anything can happen.

"The playoffs so far have been exciting because we're usually used to seeing the Celtics, Lakers, and Spurs making it to the finals, but now younger teams are contending and making it much more exciting," Kyle Jonas says. "It gives the NBA a better look by having far more contenders than years past."

One of his favorite players of the playoffs, Ray Allen, has lead the Boston Celtics to the next round by sweeping the New York Knicks and proved age doesn't make a difference.

The first round of the playoffs has shown winners and losers as to how much talent they may have on their roster and how far they were expected to go. The San Antonio Spurs have shown age on the court by taking a 3 to 2 deficit in the first round to the Memphis Grizzlies.

"Judging by this season I was expecting the Spurs to make a run to the championship. With their record being as it was and being one of the top teams in the league I was expecting a sweep." Sam Ross said. "It's surprising to see a team with that amount of talent go down the first round of the playoffs."

"It's understandable to see teams like the New York Knicks go down because that is a work in progress. I mean they have only been together for half the season." Said Jonas.

It's true that to make it to the NBA finals the team must have enough experience to show that they can contend through a 7 game series to battle for world champions. But sometimes with teams like the San Antonio Spurs or Boston Celtics they can show their age on the court and dig themselves in a whole. Despite numerous tellings in the media that the Celtics are too old, Celtics fan Kyle Jonas is still positive that they're favorites.

"I mean, I know they're getting older but with Ray Allan shooting lights out and Rajon Rondo running the offense up top, there’s no way they can't win," says Jonas.

But with the Boston Celtics they have to get past a team that may be the most hated in the league, the Miami Heat. Before the start of the 2010-2011 season, the Heat were very busy acquiring two big off-season trades, to contend with the big 3 in Boston. They also had to get a big 3 of their own, by acquiring Chris Bosh and LeBron James. The trade was so big that LeBron James had his own televised show called, "The Decision." Along with them Dwayne Wade also signed another contract extension and the team held a "Welcome Home" party to the new "Big Three" of Miami.

"The Heat WILL win the NBA championship game, they have too many stars to contend with on that team. They have pure talent." Says Sam Ross who has spent countless seasons as a Minnesota Timberwolves fan, devoted that some day things might take a turn for the better.

It's great to see the playoffs as they are now. With the series as tight as they are it is difficult to pick an actual winner of the league. The younger teams are able to stick with the older teams now and might even surpass them in the end. Overall the NBA has made a turn for the better. There is better competition as of now and proves that the playoffs are where amazing happens.

NBA Playoffs

-Suprising teams that are contending with the #1 seeds.
-Who will make it to the NBA championship game? 
-Opinions on players, teams, series.
-Which team is the most hated in the playoffs? 
-Which team has the better chance of making it to another finals appearance, the Lakers or Celtics?
-Winners/Losers in playoffs. 
Sam Ross:
         -In your opinion, which 2 teams will make it to the NBA Championship game?  Heat and OKC because both teams have the superstars to carry them to the next round.
         -Which team is the most hated in the playoffs?  Heat because there is an infinate amount of people that hate Lebron.
         -Which player is the most hated in the playoffs?  LeBron James because of his off-season antics.
         -Who will win the NBA championship game?  Miami heat because of how many stars they have on there team and amount of experience.
         -Winners/losers:  Winners: Thunder and Celtics because of most experience.
                                    Losers:  Knicks and Nuggets because of the amount of talent they had on their teams but didn't contend very well with the other teams.



Soup:
         -Which team has the better chance of making it to another finals appearance, the Lakers or Celtics? Celtics
         -Winners/Losers in the playoffs and why?. Losers: Spurs because theyre playing terrible and Memphis is heating up.  Knicks, getting swept and crushed every game. 
Winners: Celtics because there roster got out of a quick 4 game series so they have time to rest.
         -Who will win the NBA championship game?  Celtics because theyre the most experienced with Ray Allan playing lights.
         -In your opinion, which 2 teams will make the NBA championship game?  Celtics and Oklahoma City becuase OKC has youth and fresh legs and Celtics have experience.

Steps in writing a news story

Hard news: (+/-) 600 words
        -Lead: Who, what, where, why and how. 1-2 sentences. 5 W's should be in it
        -Body: Combining opinions from interviews, factual data, and a narrative to help the story flow.
        -Gather news and interview questions and begin collecting articles on your topic.

Law/ Ethics notes

We will take notes on Broadcast Journalism Law/Ethics

1. What are the 5 freedoms of the 1st amendment?
           Speech, press, religion, assembly, petition.


2. What is the Tinker Standard?
           Student speech cannot be censored as long as it does not maternally disrupt class work or involve substantial disorder or invasion of the others rights.


3. What is the Frasier Standard?
          Because school officials have an interest in teaching students behavior, "They can censor student speech that is vulgar or indecent, even if it does not cause a "material or substantial disruption."

4. What is the Hazelwood Standard?
         Censorship of school-sponsored student expression is permissible when school officials can show that it is "reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns."

5. What is the Frederick Standard?
         -January 2002, Olympic torch travels through town.
         -Principle Morse cancels school
         -Senior Frederick unveils banner on the sidewalk across street which reads, "Bong hits for jesus"
         -Suspended for 10 days.

6. What is the definition of libel?
         Legal terms for flase statements pf fact about a person that are printed, broadcast, spoken. Libel=Written, Slander=spoken
         1.Defames someones character
         2. Published to at least one other person
         3. False statement of fact

Journalism Notes

Definition:
Define “Journalism” in 1-3 sentences.

The telling of current events that are news worthy through newspaper, magazines, and the internet.



List and describe the six criteria of newsworthiness.

TITLE DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE
1  Timeliness-Care about things that are current. Ex. Weather, sports scores

2.  Prominence-Care about important/famous people. Ex. Obama buying a dog, Spears shaving head.

3.  Proximity-Caring about news that is close to us. Ex. Weather or traffic that is close to us. 

4.  Significance- The bigger the event, the more news-worthy it is.  Ex. Japan earthquake, Libya, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina.

5.  Unusualness- Care about things that are out of the ordinary. Ex. Fires, murders, hurricanes.

6.   Human Interest-  Feel good stories, making you feel uplifted.  Ex. Rescue, Michael Sheridan, Dolphin born at zoo.




What are the advantages of print journalism?
1.  Stories go much more into detail.

2.  You control what you read and how much you read.

3.  Easier to archive.


What are the advantages of broadcast journalism?

1.  Much more current and on the spot.

2.  Power of video and sound.

3.  There are generally more interesting topics.


Why has online journalism (convergent media) become so popular?

It’s the best of each media.  It takes the best of print journalism and the best of broadcast.  You can watch videos and read articles that may be more in depth than the regular story in the newspaper.

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