One happy NewsOK visitor
I received this message in my inbox this morning – a forward from sports editor Mike Sherman:
I just wanted to say that this website is looking amazing, and the functionality is great! I especially enjoy the sports team specific pages, as I look at the OSU page everyday, and it is set up great! Thank you for this service, it is greatly appreciated.
Unfortunately, in this business, the people that work hard on providing important information to the public rarely get to hear about the positive impact and the results of their efforts.
So I’ll blog about it as much as I can.
Reporting on Sam Bradford and the ‘know it’ curse
Sam Bradford made his decision public yesterday, ending a week of speculation, debate, cancellations and breaking news turned breaking predictions.
(Yes, that last part is a friendly shot at ESPN and their coverage on Thursday and Friday.)
In the end, everybody reported the truth at about the same time. Sam Bradford was having surgery. It’s scheduled for Wednesday. We’ve blogged about it. We’ve shot videos about it. We sent SMS text alerts. We sent e-mails. We wrote stories.
We have it covered. Reporters Jake Trotter and David Ubben have had it covered from the beginning. On Wednesday, NewsOK correctly reported the facts and reasons behind the news that Bradford’s news conference was cancelled. On Thursday, NewsOK was hoping it didn’t have to report about something that wasn’t scheduled and wasn’t planned, but when talk about an impending news conference became widespread, a report was necessary. It was good work by our local reporters. Jake and David can be counted on for the most complete and most accurate information about OU sports — guaranteed.
And now more about knowing Sam ….
See our ‘know it’ on Sam Bradford. It has everything you need to know about Sam. You can see all the stories, all the blogs, all the videos, all the stats, all the links from around the Web. You can even join the message board about Sam Bradford and talk about everything Sam.
We launched ‘know it’ topic pages on OU quaterback Sam Bradford and OSU quarterback Zac Robinson shortly before the season began. After the first couple of weeks, we thought we had unknowingly unleashed a ‘know it’ curse.
Look at the early evidence:
- Bradford was hurt and the Sooners lost. (See BYU)
- Robinson was looking a bit shaky early in the year. Was he secretly hurt? Did he gain too much weight? Was he just overrated?
Bradford’s luck continued down a unfortunate path, but Robinson has emerged as a strong All-Big 12 quarterback candidate. So I can rest easy — there is no ‘know it’ curse.
However, we also launched ‘know it’ topic on Kevin Durant. If he goes down with injury, I’ll reopen the investigation.
Story Wall No. 2: Another fair in another state
A few weeks ago, I shared a page we produced as a test. It was our first Story Wall – a collection of photos, videos, quotes and text from the Oklahoma State Fair 2009.
I was so inspired that I assigned another wall to be produced for the OU-Texas game 2009. I thought it would be a great way for OU football fans to re-live the biggest game of the year.
Of course, when I made the assignment and helped coordinate the specifics, I expected fans would be re-living and celebration a Sooner victory. Instead, it was a close loss in a demoralizing way (losing Sam Bradford …. again). It might be a game that nobody wants to talk about ever again, let alone re-live.
Alas, we did it anyway. And now that you are a full 48 hours removed from the end of the game, it might be a good time to experience our OU-Texas Story Wall. It truly is a fun experience.
Looking back at September in the middle of October
September was a record-breaking traffic month for NewsOK.com.
It was so outstanding that I had to stay far away from my blog for two weeks just to let the servers cool down. But now I’m back (we’re looking for a strong October, as well).
Breaking traffic records isn’t new. Our audience continues to grow steadily. The opening of the football season in September always provides a nice boost. And unfortunately, when a Heisman-winning quarterback at the University of Oklahoma sprains his shoulder in the first half of the first game, people care – and they go to the one place that covers OU football better than any other place.
It also rained a lot in September. And if people online in Oklahoma are interested in anything more than they are interested in football, it’s weather. We launched a new interactive weather radar. It’s really cool. You can change the settings and see exactly what you want to see — things like warnings/watches, current temperatures and lightning information. You can also scroll across the map and see the live radar for Australia if you want. (I believe knowing the weather conditions in Australia can be a big help).
We also shattered the records for traffic on the NewsOK blogs. It’s been the fastest growing area for traffic on NewsOK in the past year, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Penny Soldan’s Television Blog and Brandy McDonnell’s BAM’s Blog led the way, followed closely behind Tim Henley’s Celebrity Gossip Blog, George Lang’s StaticBlog and Matt Price’s Nerdage. As you can see, our Life and A&E audience loves blogging. That works for us. (Side note – my blog did not crack the top 50. I’m counting on you to change that in October).
Thanks for making September a stellar month in both page views and unique visitors. We’re growing and adding and improving NewsOK.com every day. We’ll count them up again at the end of October.
The final word on the mustache
There not really anything I can add to this post, except this:
Our sports department is creative.
Showcasing an nDepth inspiration
Check out the nDepth piece we showcased on the home page of NewsOK today. Reported by Jenni Carlson, it’s a story about Dick Hoyt, who is internationally known for the races (marathons, triathlons, etc) he runs pushing, pulling and carrying his wheelchair-bound son.
Jenni interviewed Dick Hoyt (you can listen to the interview) and talked to other Oklahomans who have been inspired by his story. We tell this story with our nDepth piece, which contains videos, text, slideshows and a lot of photos.
We wanted to showcase this story today because while the story appeared in The Oklahoman on Sunday, we know that the attention on NewsOK on Sunday centered on another local story (see Sam Bradford). So today, you get inspired with our nDepth.
And while you’re reading about Dick and his son, be sure to click through to our other nDepth pieces. We have 15 of them finished, and we plan to have many more.
‘Oklahoma Idol’ series amuses, entertains, informs
I clicked on the video above from the NewsOK home page this morning.
Classic stuff. Quality entertainment.
Now I see what sports editor Mike Sherman has been talking about. This stuff is a bit different. You can’t help but be part amused, part shocked, part horrified — but completely entertained and informed.
Yes … in this one three-minute clip, we see Gerald McCoy profess his love for Sam Bradford (see ’shocked’) and Adrian Taylor sing country music (see ‘horrified’).
You can see the entire series this season on the College Football Preview page on NewsOK. It’s a page based on the theme of “Oklahoma Idol” and it has all the preview stories and videos for the college football season. We’ll be adding more amusing, shocking and horrifying videos from the players and our Idol hosts throughout the season.
Maybe we’ll eventually get to hear Mike Sherman sing. I’ve heard it before … all previously used adjectives can properly describe that experience.
Make your football picks on NewsOK
It’s time to make your picks.
We do this every year … picks contest for high school football, college football and NFL football.
And every year, we think that we’ve pretty much captured the U Pick’Em audience for our contests.
But, every year, we find that the audience is waiting for this contest …. and they’ve brought their friends.
We launched this season’s set of contests last week without much fanfare We sent some e-mails to past participants, and we posted a link on our new sports pages for OU and OSU. But we didn’t spend a lot of time promoting or driving people to the contest. In hindsight, perhaps we should have. We have thousands of participants on all the contests, and pick are being made for Week 1 every hour.
It’s not too late for you. Sign up and play. Invite your friends and form a group.
There’s no rule saying you can’t have fun on NewsOK.com.
High school fall sports day summed up in about one minute
This is a pretty cool video. It’s a quick (a very quick) look at all the high school athletes that were in our building here at OPUBCO on Thursday as we prepare to cover the fall high school sports.
Pay close attention to the names and faces. There will be a quiz after it’s finished. I memorized every name and face after watching it twice.
NewsOK launches new high school sports coverage page — Varsity
High school football practices started last week.
It was Tuesday, to be exact. That was also the same day we launched our new initiative in covering high school sports better than anyone else.
It’s called Varsity, and the main idea is this – we are putting sports reporters on specific coverage areas and blogging about those schools every day. We aren’t structuring our high school sports coverage around events and sports anymore. Instead, we are focusing our coverage in the same ways the fans focus their interests – the schools.
The new coverage solution comes directly from the mind of sports editor Mike Sherman, who hatched his plan early this summer. From there, NewsOK web editors Nick Tankersley and Dane Beavers thought about how to leverage our existing blogs to best accomplish our goals. Add some designers, some marketing professionals and some strong developers, and poof — Varsity is born.
You’ll see that Sherman has thought a lot about how to organize his team of reporters. There are specific pages and specific blogs for all the largest areas of interest around Oklahoma City, plus pages that coverage private schools, Oklahoma City schools (including Douglass, Star Spencer and Millwood) and all the rest (including powerhouse programs like Guthrie to the north, Washington to the south, Clinton to the west and Jenks and Union to the east).
And we’re not done. We will be adding more functionality in the coming weeks. You’ll see the ability to upload your photos, the ability to post to eh page using Twitter and the most updated team and player stats in the state.
In the meantime, become a fan of Varsity on Facebook or follow our blogging network on Twitter.
