News Huddle Assignment Story 1

Slug: Edina Football Team Wins Classic Lake Conference
Section: Sports

News Elements:

Localization/Proximity. This would be a heavily viewed story considering that the majority of students and adults have connections within Edina. The fact that the Edina football team won passes the news method called "Who Cares?" Obviously, people from Edina will care when their high school football team wins conference. Had this story been published somewhere other than Edina, not much attention would be paid to this event.

Conflict. According to the chapter in the textbook entitled, "Deciding What is News" sports qualifies to be in the conflict category due to the tension, suspense and surprise involved the Edina Hornet Football Team's season. Their suspensful games included victories over teams such as Wayzata, Minnetonka, Chippewa Falls, Stillwater and Hopkins.

Consequence. Since the Edina Football Team won the Classic Lake Conference, the consequence that they will be participating the Section Football Championship. Although this may not affect every student, this will influence students to buy tickets to this game in advance due to the massive amount of people attending the Section tournament. Another consequence of this story is that Edina fans and other viewers will have high expectations for the team's performance in upcoming games due their perfect season.

Story Will Be About:

The story will be about the Edina Football team's season referring to previous games and their undefeated record. It will focus significantly on their final game against Wayzata since the winner of that game was going to be the conference champion. It will talk about the name of the team's upcoming opponent along with a brief history of the opponent's season.

Possible Interviews:

Head Coach of Edina Football Team, Kim Nelson. He is the head coach of the team and is closest to the players. He could share his thoughts about the past, present and future of the team. He is the one who runs the team and helps to determine whether or not the team can be successful.

Captain of the Edina Football Team, Joe Magnuson. The captain can enable the public to understand a players perspective on participating in games and practices. We can then compare and contrast the captain's views with the coach. Often, the captain is the one who can speak about the opinons of other players upon the team since he is even closer than the coach to every player.

Minnesota High School Football Writer for the Star Tribune. John Millea. This individual covered the story in the Star Tribune in the Thursday October 22, 2007. He knows a lot about the high school football situation in Minnesota and how the section tournament will work. He also may have some predictions for the upcoming games since he is informed about every team still participating in the season.

Information prior to Interview:

I need to find the best way to contact each individual. This may be e-mail addresses, work telephone lines, cellular phone numbers or conducting a personal interview with an individual face to face.

Questions definately needed answered in Interview:

Who will Edina play in the first round of their section tournament?
Who is the favorite to win the section and the state high school football tournament?
What are Kim Nelson's thoughts about the upcoming games and the season up to this point?
What does the captain/player think their key factor to success was in winning the championship?

Photo Opportunities:

Picture of star player excelling during a clutch situation during a big game.(i.e. Mike Rallis, Jason Schaefer, Anders Lee, Zach Buddish)
Picture of Edina Team in celebration after winning the Conference Championship.
Picture of the Edina Student Section and its massive display of school spirit.

Contact:

The Photographer should contact the players and the coaches to get a photograph that can represent the Edina Hornets Football Team

Problems Foreseen:

The possible contacts may be tough to get in touch with because they are most likely busy dealing with their own concerns. Also, the contacts may be uninterested in doing interviews with people since they most likely have already had somebody talk to them about this event.

Other Information:

Past records of Edina Football seasons and facts about the last time the Hornets had won a state or a conference championship.