Box Score Beat

Just Click It — 6/21/09

Posted on 21. Jun, 2009 by Collin Orcutt in Golf, Just Click It, NBA, Shifting Journalism, Sports Journalism, Tennis

Only a week in and we’re having identity issues with this “Just Do It” idea. Apparently there is a little company called Nike with a similar slogan. While we’re pretty sure Nike has bigger fish to fry than this website’s best sports stories round-up, the braint rust here at Box Score Beat thought it prudent to change the name just in case. So, for the second week in a row, a new feature for you: Just Click It. Enjoy the journalism.

• Jon Wertheim is a busy man. Between writing non-tennis features for Sports Illustrated, releasing a book, tweeting like a champion, and now jet-setting out to England for Wimbledon, it’s a wonder he still has time to file regularly at SI.com. But, he does, and the story he wrote last week on the place of grunting in tennis is a must-read.
• If you haven’t heard of FLYP magazine, your eyes haven’t been opened to the possibilities the internet allows creative thinkers. Utilizing a gorgeous layout and a fully interactive experience, FLYP could very well be the direction that magazines head in the next few years. Need an example? Here’s a cool story from their latest issue (did I mention it’s free?) about a guy who’s snagged over 4,000 baseballs from pro games.
• Here’s a gem from perhaps the hardest working NBA blogger in the business, ESPN’s Henry Abbott. I’ve fallen a little behind on TrueHoop this year, but posts like this one analyzing the Laker’s Final’s victory through the lens of cycling team time trials will bring me back.
• You’ve probably seen this Times Magazine piece on Rafael Nadal by now, but this is your reminder to give it a read if you haven’t done so yet. Yeah it seems prescient since Nadal withdrew from Wimbledon on Friday (the story hit the web early–before that announcement came), but I was more interested in the minute details Cynthia Gorney unearthed, like the fact that Nadal’s devastating top-spin forehand averages 3,200 rpms compared to Sampras and Agassi’s 1,900 range (and Federer’s 2,700). A dearth of reporting went into this piece.
• Here’s a nice father’s day piece Sally Jenkins wrote about her Dad, Dan Jenkins, and his leap into Twitter. Jenkins covers golf for Golf.com. He’s almost 80. And after following him all weekend as he updated from the dreary Bethpage Black, I can second everyone else’s claim that he twitters like he was born with a smartphone in hand.
• Sticking on the Twitter theme, MinnPost.com’s BrauBlog gives a behind-the-scenes look at how various journalists handled Kevin Love’s goodbye McHale tweet.
• To end, an excellent gallery of some superb shots by photographer Dylan Coulter. Happy Father’s Day all.

Tags: Cynthia Gorney, Dan Jenkins, Dylan Coulter, Henry Abbott, Jon Wertheim, MinnPost.com, Sally Jenkins