No Cheering in the Press Box! Sports, Media and the American Experience
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No Cheering in the Press Box! Sports, Media and the American Experience UGS 303 Fall 2020 Discussion groups (all times on Friday) section / time / modality / teaching assistant 61560 9-10 Online 61565 10-11 Online 61570 11-12 Online 61575 2-3 Online 61580 3-4 Online 61585 4-5 Online Lecture 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. MW online Zoom link Instructor Kevin Robbins Office hours Noon-2 p.m. MW drop-in online, or by appointment Zoom link Telephone 512-750-2835 (mobile) Email [email protected] Twitter @kdrobbins Welcome, one and all, to No Cheering in the Press Box. I regret that this course is online only this semester. But we will not merely make do. We will make this experience, one of your first as a student at this fine institution, a very good one. It’ll be collaborative, energetic, fun, insightful, inspiring, practical, provocative, surprising, valuable and, I hope, memorable. We will make the best of our situation. As your instructor in this course, I am here for you. I am your biggest supporter, your loudest cheerleader, your fiercest advocate and most caring critic. That is my promise and my pledge. Between myself and our two outstanding TAs, the three of us have enjoyed and endured A LOT in our respective college experiences. There’s nothing we haven’t seen. Use us. We can help. Signature Course mission: The Signature Courses at the University of Texas at Austin will connect students with distinguished faculty members in unique learning environments. By way of this rigorous intellectual experience, students will develop college-level skills in research, writing, speaking and discussion through an approach that is both interdisciplinary and contemporary. University Lecture Series: Designed to create a campus-wide conversation, this series gives first-year students an opportunity to interact with leading members of our faculty – scholars, scientists and civic leaders are are nationally and internationally renowned. You will attend at least one of these lectures as a requirement of this course. Course description When learn about sports through the media – a newspaper, a magazine, film, television, radio, a blog, a podcast, a website, even Snapchat – what do you seek and what do you get? Is it winners and losers? Is it more? The best sports media should give us more. They (the word “media” is the plural form of the singular “medium” and means a range of things, including the news media, which includes journalism) reflect important and substantial ideals, priorities and values. They touch universal themes such as (from broad to specific) humanity, community, family, individualism and, among individuals and groups, the nature of rivalry and the nature of common cause. Through sports, the media explore cultural and social concerns such as art, class, faith, fashion, gender, identity, labor, law, music, politics and race. Sports, and the manner in which sports are portrayed in the media, tell us who we are and where we are. And that’s what this class is about. Course objectives At the end of our semester together, you will be able to: -- Explain the roles, duties, responsibilities, limitations and ethics of a free press. -- Identify the different functions of sports media. -- Identify the larger cultural and societal themes at work in media portrayals of sports. -- Think about sports media with more critical levels of analysis and discernment. Grades Two writing assignments (20 points each) 40 points Three exams (worth 10 points each) 30 points University Lecture Series response 10 points Online oral presentation 10 points Citizenship 10 points Scale A 94-100 C+ 77-79.9 A- 90-93.9 C 74-76.9 B+ 87-89.9 C 70-73.9 B 84-86.9 D+ 67-69.9 B- 80-83.9 D 64-66.9 D- 60-63.9 Exams We will have three exams, each worth 10 points toward your final grade. Each exam will consist of 20 questions, multiple choice and true/false, worth half a point each. Exams will cover material from each previous segment of the course. Such material includes lectures, readings and other media assigned, both in class and out of class. Exams will not be comprehensive. There is no comprehensive final in this course. Remember this! Students may use notes, the internet and assigned reading materials during the taking of exams. In other words, our exams are “open-book” tests – except that we don’t have a book! Writing assignments Assigment I: Choose an inductee from the Texas Sports Hall of Fame website (https://www.tshofinductees.org/). Research that individual to identify how his or her life and/or career transcended sport. Perhaps your subject was a pioneer in race relations or gender equality. Maybe he or she was responsible for some kind of systematic change. Maybe they established a foundation or charity. We’re looking for an unfluence a sports figure had on society, not just sports. Due date: 11:59 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25 Assignment II: A personal reflection on “Medora” (see prompt in course schedule) Due date: 11:59 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23 Remember this! All writing assignments are to be submitted to Canvas. No exceptions please. The rubric for both assignments: Clarity (five points) Organization (five points) Reporting depth and scale of research (five points) Grammar, punctuation and syntax (five points) The idea behind both assignments: Show us who you are. Show us how you think. Stretch. These assignments represent your opportunity to approach, or even accomplish, those three ideals. Please do not think there is an expected “way” to do these assignments. But do, please, do be convincing. In these assignments, you’ll present your own analysis and conclusions, with an emphasis on original and critical thinking. Allow your own writing voice to emerge. The four pillars of great writing are clarity, economy, organization and depth of research (in journalism, we call that “reporting”). Use facts to support your conclusions. Do not plagiarize (in journalism, we call that “stealing,” and it’s an offense that’ll get you fired). Have fun. Take (smart) risks. Be yourself. Stretch. Your assignments will be evaluated on form and content. The quality of your thinking and writing does matter. Sloppy work – misspellings, typos, factual errors, erroneous punctuation and like – will be penalized. (Pro tip: Read your work aloud when you think you’re done. Have a friend read it aloud to you, too. You’ll be amazed at what you pick up when you hear your words.) Also, don’t be boring. Keep your graded assignments until the end of the semester. If you don’t think your evaluation is fair, you may ask for an explanation. This is called agency, and it’s essential that you feel empowered to defend yourself and your work. The first step is to talk with your TA within one week of the return of the assignment. If you want a formal re-evaluation, write an explanation of no more than one page of why you think a higher grade is warranted. Be specific. If you can’t work it out with the TA, you may request a meeting with me. Assignments cannot be rewritten for a higher grade. All writing assignments must be typed and double-spaced on no fewer than two-and-and- half and no more than three pages. Do not write more than three pages; we will not read beyond the third page. Use 1-inch margins, 12-point type and the Times New Roman font. Important! Put your name, your EID, the name of your TA and the assignment number (“Writing Assignment I” or “Writing Assignment II”) in the upper-right corner of each page. Do not use a title page. Staple the pages in the upper-left corner. Unlike other great courses you’ll have the pleasure of taking at UT-Austin, this one does not require Modern Language Association, American Psychological Association or Chicago style for citations. Journalism doesn’t use bibliographies, endnotes or footnotes, so we won’t either. Please credit sources in the body of your writing assignment as a journalist would. For example: “The sun will rise in the morning,” said Kevin Robbins, a senior lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin. Or: “The sun will rise in the morning,” Kevin Robbins, a senior lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin, wrote in his book, The Sun Will Rise in the Morning. Or: “The sun will rise in the morning,” said Kevin Robbins, a senior lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin, according to a story published Sept. 26 in the Austin American-Statesman. Pro tip: “Said” is nearly always the best word to use to express what someone says, and it is nearly always best used in the past tense. Stylized expressions such as “intoned,” “opined,” “allowed,” “suggested,” “ruminated,” “laughed,” “joked” or “pledged,” among many other fanciful options, just seem like showing off. University Lecture Series response You will “attend” a virtual lecture called “Conversations on Race & Justice,” presented by Dr. Leonard Moore, a professor of history and the Vice President for Diversity & Community Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin. The date for this online lecture has not yet been established; you will be notified as soon as it is announced. You will write a one-page response to this lecture. Your response will be evaluated using the same rubric for the other two writing assignments (see above). Oral presentation Beginning in our fifth week of class, you will prepare and deliver an presentation of eight to 10 minutes in the discussion section that analyzes a media portrayal of sports (a newspaper article, a magazine story, a video documentary, an advertisement or advertising campaign, a television segment or an audio piece, such as a radio piece or a podcast).