The start of it all: Why did I take Communications 439?

If I remember correctly, my connection with blogs started when Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr stepped down after the 2007 football season. Michigan football had a vacancy at the top of the top--the heading coaching position at one of the premier programs in the country was open for just the sixteenth time in the program's almost 130 year history. This was huge news, seeing that Michigan had only had three coaches since 1969, and all three had risen through the Michigan ranks and were consummate 'Michigan Men'. Meanwhile, I was a freshman living at West Quad coming off a season filled with disappointment, yet I was excited to see what the next coach could bring to the program.

The only question was, who would that coach be? I hunted for information on the Internet, watched ESPN, and frantically checked Michigan's official athletic department website for updates but didn't find enough to cure my insatiable appetite. Then, and I even forget how I came across it, I started reading mgoblog.com, a blog created by a Michigan graduate dedicated to Michigan sports, especially football with some basketball and hockey news as well. Needless to say, mgoblog became my go-to source of information about the ever-evolving and intriguing coaching search. With such in-depth information as tracking flight patterns into and out of local Michigan airports, the website was filled with the latest updates and developing rumors, and I was hooked.

From mgoblog, my interest expanded to other Michigan sports blogs such as the now defunct (after joining forces with mgoblog) varsityblue.com and umhoops.com, which focused on Michigan Basketball. I checked the blogs daily and looked forward to new posts and was let down if I was up to date on all of the updates.

Being for Philadelphia, I am definitely out of market to keep up with my hometown sports teams. While reading the Michigan blogs, I thought to myself why I wasn't reading a Philadelphia sports blog as well to make up for the lack of television coverage. After a quick Google search, I settled on the700level.com and have maintained better contact with Philly sports ever since.

Besides the blogs that I became attached to during college, I had previous interest and a personal connection to journalism that led me to taking Communications 439. Back home, although she does not still go into the office every day, my mom is a journalist and has a weekly business column for the local paper among other work. Ever since I was young, I have been exposed to journalism, and it had interested me from the start. However, my mom is very much an old-school journalist, for, as even she would admit, she is the opposite of technologically savvy. Take for example my first call to her on her new phone, the Motorola Droid:

"Ring, Ring"

(She picks up but is silent and then hangs up)

(My phone rings...)

"Hey, mom"

"Hi, Peter. I think you just tried to call me, but I have not learned how to answer my Droid yet."

Generally, I wanted to take this class to learn the basics behind the blogs I read. More importantly, I am coming to realize that the class also provides an excellent opportunity to immerse myself in the new age of journalism and contrast it with what I know from my experiences with my mom.