Culture & Sports

Great Goaltending Lifts Gaels Over Windsor in Weekend Sweep

Published on The CIS Blog on November 26, 2013

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It probably wasn’t the way that head coach Brett Gibson drew things up, but in the end the Queen’s Golden Gaels walked away from a difficult weekend double-header against the #7 Windsor Lancers with four points.

The weekend’s game plan ultimately ended up going something like this: allow goaltender Kevin Bailie to carry the team, and then capitalize on quick flurries of offense.

That improvisation was certainly in full effect in Friday night’s game at the historic Kingston Memorial Centre.

Bailie was tested early, as Queen’s took three penalties in the first period to Windsor’s one. The Lancers managed to fire 14 shots on net, but Bailie was able to withstand the pressure. Not to be outdone, Parker Van Buskirk stopped all 10 shots he faced in the Windsor goal.

Windsor, the CIS leaders in team penalty minutes, fell back into their usual undisciplined habits in the second period, but managed to keep the pressure up throughout the second frame. Despite having four power play opportunities, Queen’s managed to put the puck on net just three times. Windsor, on the other hand, tested Bailie eight times, but he was able to stand tall.

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Lancers and Patriotes Trade Wins Amidst Penalty Parade

Published on The CIS Blog on November 19, 2013.

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Considering the schools are separated by approximately ten hours of highway, one wouldn’t expect bad blood to exist between Windsor and UQTR. However, with the Patriotes visiting the #7 Lancers for back-to-back games, penalties ruled the weekend double feature.

The Lancers were coming into the weekend having not lost since opening night, and looking to keep their spot atop the OUA West division. The Patriotes, meanwhile, were on a five-game winning streak of their own, and hungry to capture their first road win of the season.

The fireworks started early, with three players off to the box just 34 seconds in. Windsor quickly took three straight penalties in the first, managing to kill off all three, before UQTR made three straight trips of their own. It was the Patriotes who jumped out on the offensive, though, as Thomas Martin scored his first goal of the season on the penalty kill. The Pats took that 1-0 lead into the first intermission, following a period that saw ten minor penalties and a misconduct.

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Top Programs Kick Off Basketball Season in Ottawa

Published on The CIS Blog on November 6, 2013.

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Some of the top men’s and women’s basketball programs in the country opened their seasons in Ottawa this past weekend, including both defending CIS champions. Here’s our recap of those games:

Tough Start for Windsor

Following a strong regular season that saw them finish atop of the OUA West last season, the Windsor Lancers looked to rebound from a disappointing missed opportunity to play in the CIS Final 8 basketball championship last season as they lost to Lakehead in the OUA bronze medal game. However, things looked optimistic for the Lancers, who entered the season ranked sixth in the nation. Unfortunately for them, the schedulers weren’t so kind, forcing Windsor to open their season on the road at the opposite end of the province against the no. 1 Carleton Ravens and no. 3 Ottawa Gee-Gees.

Coming off of their ninth national championship in the past eleven years, it should be no surprise that the Ravens entered the season ranked atop of the CIS Top Ten. Led by legendary coach Dave Smart and a returning class of standouts including Phil and Thomas Scrubb, as well as Tyson Hinz, Carleton looks poised to contend in achieving their campaign of “Again for Ten.”

It was a high-profile affair to kick off the season at the Raven’s Nest, with a good-sized crowd walking into the arena on a red carpet draped with Ravens cheerleaders on either side while the band provided a traditional university sport soundtrack. A rendition of the national anthem before the game topped off the classy beginning, and the game began.

It took only four seconds for Carleton to put up their first points of the season, as Thomas Scrubb dunked the ball on a fast break off of tip-off. From there, Carleton never looked back, in a game that didn’t see a single lead change. Windsor was able to keep it close through the first quarter, trailing only 23-16.

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State of the Journalism Industry – Highlights from the AEJMC

I have the fortunate opportunity to be spending this weekend in Washington, D.C., as I have been invited to the annual conference put on by the Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication to present one of my papers.

This afternoon I was able to attend the conference highlight I was most looking forward to, a panel discussion on the state of the industry featuring Tom Rosenstiel of the American Press Institute; Jim Brady, who is editor-in-chief of Digital First Media and president of the Online News Association; Rob Mennie of Gannett Broadcasting; Karen Dunlap, president of the Poynster Institute; and the host of the panel session, Bob Papper of Hofstra University.

I cannot begin to describe how insightful, interesting and exciting this discussion was. Not surprisingly, engagement was a theme that resonated throughout the session. What was interesting, however, was the idea of a return civic journalism and commitment to communities being regarded in very high standards by news outlets.

Without further ado, I present some highlights from these powerful speakers.

Tom Rosenstiel

  • Previously, consumers had to adapt their behaviours to accommodate the media (in terms of news at specific times, for example). Today, the news media need to adapt their cycle and behaviours to suit the audience.
  • We are in a period of democratization and a type of enlightenment, in this sense.
  • Audiences are consuming more news today, not less. 25% of people state they are consuming more news, while only 10% say they are consuming less. Among those who consume through mobile technologies, 32% say they are consuming more and only 8% consuming less.

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Change is Good

Published in Ottawa Magazine, May 2013 issue.

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How a terrible accident a decade ago turned software engineer and government worker Jith Paul into a key player in Ottawa’s film industry.
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Many filmmakers would say they started on their path the second they picked up a camera as a child.  Others realized if it the first time they watched a film that truly inspired them.  For Jith Paul, however, it was the injury to a vertebra in his back that launched his film career.  In 2002, Paul, who was working as a software engineer at the time, fell while working out at home, injuring his back.  In the aftermath, he worked with an occupational therapist to relearn how to walk.  But as he took care of his physical recovery, Paul’s mental focus was on how to follow his dream of working in the film industry.

Now, just over a decade later, the 41-year-old finds himself overseeing–he jokingly labels himself president, CEO and janitor–Treepot Media, one of Ottawa’s fastest-growing production companies.  But how does someone make such a drastic jump–from a secure job consulting with the government to a player in the notoriously unpredictable film industry?  ”Sometimes you need a catalyst to reorganize your priorities in life,” Paul says.  ”And after the back injury, I decided maybe film was something I wanted to try more than just as a whim.”

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Te’o, Thamel and Deadspin: How the Web Outreported the Traditional Media

With the unraveling of one of the strangest sports stories of recent memory still leaving much to be explained, in the wake of Deadspin breaking the story that Notre Dame Fighting Irish All-American linebacker Manti Te’o’s inspirational girlfriend was, in fact, fake, it strikes a few questions on how something like this could go on for so long.

The circus surrounding this issue started just yesterday when Deadspin, an online sports blog that is part of the Gawker Media family, revealed that Te’o’s girlfriend, who passed away of leukemia just six hours after his grandmother had also passed away, has no record of ever existing. Despite being a graduate of Stanford, having been in a serious car accident that hospitalized her, and having been admitted to a (unnamed) California hospital for months for leukemia treatment, and ultimately passing away, Deadspin journalists’ Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey found no paper trail for Lennay Kekua having done any of these things. Or even being an actual person.

Photo by Flickr user JamesChicago. Published under Creative Commons.

Photo by Flickr user JamesChicago. Published under Creative Commons license.

While there has certainly been swirling tidbits of gossip and speculation as to why such a hoax was pulled off, let’s leave that alone and look at how such a story proliferated through the mainstream media for so long.

Remember, this wasn’t just some hoax that didn’t carry any weight outside of the Notre Dame community. No, the death of Kekua garnered national media attention, especially after Te’o spoke of her making him promise to continue playing no matter what happened to her. That same narrative of Te’o overcoming great amounts of grief (some of it real, as a result of his grandmother’s passing, keep in mind) followed him throughout the entire season, on his way to seven major collegiate football awards, and a Heisman nomination. There is no denying Te’o was a skilled player, yet you must still question whether that emotional aspect played into the minds of voters.

So, again, how did such a story receive so much coverage without this information of Kekua’s non-existence coming to light earlier? There are a few significant problems in the reporting of the story that can be looked at here.

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