Special iPad section released for Thunder season review
It’s the end of July, and you’re finally rested up from all those late nights cheering for the Oklahoma City Thunder. And now that you’ve caught up on your sleep, you’re a little depressed at the prospect of the NBA season being delayed because of the lockout.
We have produced the perfect solution for you.
It’s a 50-page special digital edition in PDF format that is optimized for viewing in iBooks on your iPad. You can find the special section in The Oklahoman’s tablet editions for iPads and Android devices.
But you don’t have to have an iPad or another tablet to see this. You can also find it on our Thunder coverage page, which just so happens to have the most complete daily coverage of the Oklahoma City Thunder anywhere.
The best thing about this special section on the 2010-11 season? It’s much more fun to read about than the depressing lockout.
Steve Lackmeyer column well worth the read
Steve Lackmeyer took a moment and wrote a powerful piece related to his recent interview with a Swedish radio network.
He agreed to the interview with the Swedish Broadcasting Corp., to talk about how Oklahoma City has grown since the 1995 bombing and what the people in that area of the world can expect after the recent attacks in Norway.
I reported on that 1995 attack. I’ve covered the recovery of downtown ever since. But I’ve always been a bit skittish about the whole thing. A week into the tragedy I fled Oklahoma City, naively thinking I could escape the story. On the second anniversary of the bombing I literally lost control of my emotional well being — I just couldn’t bear to watch the procession of victims’ relatives and survivors marching down Robinson Avenue.
Great stuff. And it gets even better from there. If you read anything on NewsOK this week, please read this.
And then visit Steve Lackmeyer’s page on NewsOK to see everything he produces with his blog, articles, columns and videos. He know what’s happening downtown Oklahoma City better than anyone.
Today’s ‘small dog with an attitude’ video on NewsOK
It’s amazing the kinds of things you run into as you dig through the NewsOK site. Today, I was browsing our AP video player through our partnership with NDN Video.
NDN offers more than just the AP video, and the one below is from the N.Y. Daily News. But the story of Paco the chihuahua has been covered by ABC News, Huffington Post, the L.A. Times and plenty of others. But I hadn’t seen anything about it until I saw our video. I only did more searching to verify that it wasn’t some sort of silly stunt on YouTube.
Frankly, a funny video of a small dog chasing some bad guys never gets old. And no … this apparently isn’t a Saturday morning cartoon or a silly stunt. It is, indeed, a real-life chihuahua with an attitude.
I think.
These NewsOK stories will make you feel good about our little planet
I posted yesterday some of the stories in my ‘we-can’t-make this-stuff-up’ category.
Today, I’m posting stories from the ‘the-world-is a-good-place’ category to be certain I give a fair account of our coverage.
(Though, to be fair, the stories from the ‘we-can’t-make-this-stuff-up’ department traditionally generate more article page views than the stories from the ‘world-is-a-good-place’ department).
Let’s start with this harrowing tale. We had a story yesterday about a woman from Stonewall who was honored for here efforts in helping rescue a man from a pack of wild dogs attacking him.
At the time of the attack, Jennifer Sweet, 28, of Stonewall, was on her way home from dropping off her husband at work. Her toddler was in the back seat of the car when she drove up on the horrific scene — a man covered in blood surrounded by a pack of animals acting more like hungry wolves than domestic pets.
He lived, and she’s a hero. That makes me feel good.
Then there’s this tale about a much friendlier dog named Tigger, a service animal who alerts Deona Boyle when she is about to have an epileptic siezure.
Tigger can sense the onset of Boyle’s seizures before they happen. “He puts his paws on me, nudges me with his nose,” she said. “That’s my signal to sit down, wherever I’m at.”
And there is this great story about a 10-year-old entrepreneur who sells unique homemade parachute cords to support an initiative to send care packages to her brother during his deployment with the Oklahoma National Guard.
At first she wanted to raise money to buy herself a golf cart. Then she decided half of her proceeds could be used to send care packages to her older brother and his Oklahoma National Guard buddies, who are serving with the U.S. Army’s 45th Infantry Brigade in Afghanistan.
I have a wonderful 10-year-old who is learning to save his money and use it wisely. I understand how the fact that this girl wants to give some of it a way to a cause is quite impressive.
And my personal favorite, which I posted on Twitter about earlier in the week, is Jenni Carlson’s column about the exceptional sportsmanship displayed by the U.S. women’s soccer team after losing a heart-breaker to Japan on Sunday. I’m a soccer fan and a patriot, but I frankly didn’t care much about who won that game as I watched it … until it was over. That’s when I became a big fan of the U.S. women’s soccer team.
In the moments after Team USA suffered heartbreak like never before, Wambach was the model of grace and class. A sports world that is often void of common decency should take notice.
Four happy stories that will allow us, for a few moments this afternoon, to look past some of the other important stories we have on NewsOK — like the story about woman accused of abusing a 5-year-old girl or the story about the New Mexico judge arrested on charges of raping a prostitute.
From the ‘we-can’t-make-this-stuff-up’ department
Sometimes, visiting the top stories on NewsOK can make it pretty difficult to believe our world is a good place.
And the social media and pop culture world, which I’m happy to be a part of, is often the backdrop for bad stuff in the world. See from these recent stories on NewsOK.
First, we have the story about the former youth minister in Lexington (a person still active in the church) who is accused of posing as an 18-year-old woman on Facebook in an effort lure boys to send him nude photographs on themselves.
The wife told the FBI she recognized many of “Terri Smith’s” Facebook friends as individuals from the church she and her husband attend. She said she recognized others as individuals from summer church youth camps they had attended.
That marriage is likely to not end well.
Second, we have the wire story of a Florida teen accused of killing his parents and then having a party that was advertised on Facebook.
He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Blake and Mary-Jo Hadley, who police believe were struck on their heads and torsos on Saturday, sometime after their son posted on Facebook to tell friends about the party.
And finally, our current most popular story on the site from the last 24 hours is the story about the suspect in last week’s firebombing deaths saying, according to police, that he got the idea from the recent “Jackass 3″ movie.
What part of the movie the boy referred to was unclear. The 2010 movie is a series of often raunchy pranks, stunts and skits. It ends with fiery explosions that propel the stars into the air. A version called “Jackass 3.5” was released on DVD in June and features skits not shown in the theater. One skit features shaken pop bottles rocketing across a room.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not blaming the Internet or Facebook or movies. Those places aren’t so bad on their own.
But the world? Not so good.
But just to offset this post, I’ll make a point to find some happy stories to share in a post tomorrow.
An up-close look at noodling
We’ve had a lot of recent content about noodling in recent weeks.
We’ve had a photo gallery from the Okie Noodling Tournament.
Ed Godfrey advanced that tournament with a column about people from Minnesota who were in Oklahoma for the tournament. The picture … it’s pretty incredible.
We had a feature this weekend from Oklahoman Interns Adam Kemp and Anthony Slater about local noodling enthusiasts and the recent national spotlight the sport has gained.
But watching the video of some of those enthusiasts convinced me. Noodling is unique. It’s something I don’t ever plan to try.
A few takes on Google+
Don Mecoy had a nice take this week on Google+.
Mere hours after I invited my 20-something nephew to Google Plus, he declared himself unimpressed. I also doubt that my mother, already comfortable on Facebook, is seeking a new social media outlet.
He breaks down the features and shares his thoughts on the possible futures for the new social media platform.
Just one day later, one of The Oklahoman’s interns, Brandon Goodwin, had a similar blog post on the Intern Blog that explained why the early feedback on Google+ has been so positive. He breaks down the improvements to this platform as Privacy, Hanging Out, Photo Sharing, Immediacy and Simplicity.
I’m a simple guy with big expectations. Since I started posting on the site, I realized I was reaching my audiences like never before. I have opportunities to meet others with my interests like never before, and I’m a consistent social media user.
And yes, I’m on Google+. And yes, I think it has potential.
More importantly, NewsOK is on Google+.
We’re just getting warmed up.
Veteran sports writer make an impact on next generation
I ran across Ryan Aber’s blog post about Bob Hersom. It was posted on June 30, but I didn’t see it until today.
Bob Hersom
Aber did an excellent job of sharing his and some of his collegues’ thoughts on the recent passing of Bob Hersom. Hersom was a highly-respected reporter at The Oklahoman and, more recently, the official scorekeeper for the Oklahoma RedHawks.
When I moved over to the RedHawks beat last summer, Matt Patterson, who had the beat, offered a great bit of wisdom. Matt said that the best part of the beat wasn’t the occasional big-time player or ex-player you’d get to meet but the day-to-day relationships that come from being in the press box. He was dead on.
Ryan goes on to share insights from some others in the RedHawks and OPUBCO organizations about Bob. It was an excellent read.
And if you want more about Bob Hersom, read Jenni Carlson’s Father’s Day column about Bob as he was in the hospital.
Fun video of a July storm
Well that was a fun little storm we had yesterday, wasn’t it.
Bryan Painter, Randy Ellis and David McDaniel team to tell powerful stories
The top of NewsOK.com this morning was a great example of what we aim to do each day.
Gail and Craig Box discus the loss of their son, OU football player Austin Box, at their home in Enid.
Three veteran journalists (three of our best) told the story of Austin Box’s death from the parents’ perspective.
From Austin’s father:
“You ask who Austin was,” he said, “Austin was my hero…”
From his mother:
“I have wracked my brain. Did I ignore signs? I don’t know, but I do know that Austin was a silent sufferer.”
The stories from Randy Ellis and Bryan Painter came from an afternoon visiting with Craig and Gail Box in Enid. The parents wanted to tell their story.
Randy and Bryan did what reporters in our newsroom love — listen and share a story with clarity and professionalism.
And, of course, David’s photos paint the picture of grief as clearly as the words.
The three of them helped us understand what the Box family has been through.
