1. Stop picking on LeBron – LeBron James is the best player in basketball right now. There is no debate.  He is a top five player of all time. There is no debate.  The guy has won an NBA Championship and is now following that up with a historic season so far this year; having numbers that only Larry Bird has ever put up in a single month.  The guy is King.  I think it’s time everyone realized.
2. Stop using past performances as excuses for present failures – Ahem, Steelers fans. Ahem, Lakers fans.  Stop using the “rings” arguments when trying to come up for excuses as to why your team is underperforming.  Those past championships have nothing to do with anything that’s happening in the current season and shouldn’t make it OK for your team to suck right now.
3. For more athletes to start using Twitter – Twitter can be a very useful tool for an athlete.  It is a way to connect with fans.  It can be used for monetary gain as well.  But more importantly, it can be used to advance a belief platform.  Various athletes, such as Chris Kluwe of the Minnesota Vikings, have used it to create real change.  Kluwe used it to help prevent a bill in his state that would prohibit same sex marriage.  Even more athletes used it to speak about gun control after the Newtown tragedy.  It can be a powerful tool. Use it…but use it wisely.
4. Stop sending death threats to athletes – It’s really about time that we stop using Twitter to send threats to athletes who have made bad plays or who we don’t like.  Kyle Williams suffered such harassment last season when he muffed a punt that cost the 49ers a Super Bowl berth.  Josh Morgan of the Redskins and some Jets players received some as well, this season.  This needs to end.
5. For ESPN to starting citing sources – How often do you see ESPN say something has happened “according to sources”?  My guess it a lot.  Well chances are, someone has reported that information first and ESPN is refusing to cite them as the person who broke the news first.  Deadspin.com will back me up on this claim.  ESPN, please start being a reputable news source again.
6. For announcers to stop using hyperbole during broadcasts – I would have to say that John Gruden and Cris Collinsworth are probably the biggest culprits of this.  If every guy is “one of the best” at doing something, then that isn’t really an accomplishment anymore.  Learn the English language before you get paid to use it to describe sporting events, please.
7. For athletes to turn in their arsenals of guns – See my blog here.
8. For everyone to stop listening to Skip Bayless – It’s about time we stop watching ESPN’s First Take.  I haven’t watched it for quite some time.  But it usually goes like this: Skip Bayless will say something outrageous will little basis in facts, stats, or logic (LeBron isn’t clutch, Tim Tebow is a winner, etc.).  Stephen A. Smith will react accordingly.  Then everyone will freak out about it, furthering Skip’s reach.  The guy says things then runs from them.  He is a quintessential troll.  STOP LISTENING.  You only encourage him.
9. For some bowl games to be cut – I can’t tell you how many bowl games I have seen so far that have schools participating that I have never heard of.  No one wants to watch the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl between Utah State and Toledo.  Let’s be real.  The stadiums aren’t even half full.  If no one is there to watch them in person, why should I watch on T.V.?
10. For the NFL to stop masquerading their fight for player safety – The NFL isn’t concerned about the safety of the players.  There are trying to cover their own butts so they don’t receive any more liability lawsuits.  The players aren’t dumb, Commish.  They know what you are doing.  Just own up to it.

After three months of exhaustive research, work and auditions, we had a very difficult decision in anointing the 2012 Baltimore Sports Media Superstar crown on Thursday night at Hooters in Towson.

After a lengthy debate and a myriad of input and criteria — from facts, knowledge, video & audio tryouts, live audiences, trivia challenges and panel conversations — we arrived at three winners who will split the $1,000 prize for the 2012 title.

Congratulations to Daniel Radov, Jeff Kryglik and Brett Dickinson for sharing the title this year. All will be given opportunities to participate at WNST.net & AM 1570 this fall as we ramp up our football and weekend coverage, led by the re-emergence of Fox Sports Radio at WNST.

Many of the remaining 13 finalists will also be given chances to contribute at WNST.net as well.

Here’s the speech I gave last night regarding the process and the presentation of the winners:

Can our WNST Baltimore Sports Media Superstars pass the test? You can be the judge now with all of the action from Monday’s packed live show at Hooters in Towson right here at WNST.net:

As always follow me on Twitter: @RealJohnSears

There are some sports fans out there that still don’t understand that professional sports are a business; and a high stakes one at that.  The most recent scenario of this can be found in fan reactions to Ray Rice’s contract negotiations.  On one hand you have the ignorant fans who think that Ray Rice should stop “whining” or “being a baby” and just sign a contract.  On the other hand you have ignorant fans who think the team should just throw money at him since he has had a few good seasons.

I can’t even begin to tell you how baffling to me these two schools of thought are but here is my attempt.  I’m going to put you in the mind of both Ray Rice and people in the Ravens organization so you can finally understand how downright dumb you look when you say things like “what’s another two million dollars to Rice when he already makes a ton of money?”

In the world of professional sports, especially the NFL, the owners have virtually all the power.  They have most of the leverage in negotiations which is why they get 90% of what they want in collective bargaining agreements and contract disputes.  In Ray Rice’s situation, the Ravens literally hold all the chips.  Ray Rice’s only bargaining piece is to sit out during team activities such as the OTA’s that just passed, training camp and the like.  Rice could potentially sit out for the season but he would be throwing away over seven million dollars because he is already under the franchise tag.  It’s hard to turn down that much money just to prove a point.  Chris Johnson did it last year and look where it got him. 

The Ravens can only go on history with Rice and look at what has happened in similar situations.  Running backs’ careers typically aren’t that long and teams usually aren’t into the whole “paying for past services” deal.  The Ravens want to pay Rice the least amount of money they can, obviously, to minimize risk should he get hurt or have a down year.  Saying that they should give him whatever he wants is downright absurd.  You wouldn’t pay $1,000 for a computer when you can get the same one for $500 if all it took was a little negotiating.  It just doesn’t make sense.

On Ray Rice’s end, he wants to make the most amount of money he possibly can.  He knows that this contract will probably be the biggest he gets in his career and saying that if the two sides are off by two million dollar, Ray Rice should take the deal is ludicrous.  “Oh, but it’s only a difference of two million, what’s two more million dollars to him?”  I have actually heard people give me this scenario and the answer is… its two million dollars of a difference!  Just because he makes a lot of money doesn’t mean that he doesn’t want more.  You can’t sit there and blame Ray for wanting as much as he can get.  Sure he gets paid a lot of money but this is his job.  This is what he is going to rely on for the rest of his life; this contract, essentially.

Ray Rice seems like a “good guy.”  He hasn’t gone to the media and said bad things about the Ravens for not paying him.  He hasn’t complained at all quite frankly.  He just wants what he feels he deserves.  How can you blame him for that?    You can’t, because you would do the same.  But you can’t sit there and act like the Ravens should throw gobs of money at him either.  That’s just simply not how it works.

Ray won’t sit out the season.  I will guarantee you that.  I expect a deal to probably get done in the next couple of weeks.  He wants to be back for training camp and the Ravens want him back as well.

I just honestly don’t know what some people are thinking when they say stuff like I have given examples of.  News flash people: professional sports are not just games, they are billion dollar industries.  It’s time to start realizing this.  The players and organizations you have grown to love aren’t always as clean as you conceive them to be.  They are selfish and out to get as much as they can in this world, like most people and I don’t blame them either.

Twitter: @RealJohnSears

I have been interning here at WNST.net for months now so obviously I want to ultimately have a career in this business. What better way to start this dream than to throw my hat in the mix for the next Baltimore Sports Media Superstar Contest, right? I have been writing some blogs here for a while so I hope my already loyal readers will continue to check them out and help me in this contest.  Here is the essay I wrote that got me into the preliminary stages of the competition. Enjoy!

I’ve been told that since the day I was born, I have had some sort of ball in my hand.  I guess you could say my love of sports started pretty early on.  From the age of four and to this day I have played just about every sport at least once, whether it was playing rec and travel baseball for Essex to neighborhood pickup basketball games.

My dad always tells me that I got my sports gene from my late grandfather John “Red” Sears.  He, having been a sports editor for the Evening Sun, had to know a lot about the sports world.  Since I was old enough to learn how to work the TV I can remember coming home from school and putting on ESPN and soaking up all the information I could.  To this day I am enamored with stats and analysis. It wasn’t till high school that I realized that being a professional athlete was probably not in the cards.  At this point I made sure I learned as much about sports on the analysis side as I could.  My friends always joked they would see me on ESPN someday.

When I got to college I realized that arguing with friends about sports was not satisfying enough.  After being frustrated due to a Ravens loss one Sunday I decided to create a blog to vent my feelings and tell Ravens fans why our team lost.  With this blog I was able to develop quite a following on Facebook and Twitter.  To expand my horizons further, I solicited the help of my roommates with this blog who now are contributors and are featured on our weekly podcast.  I
started writing for the Towerlight (Towson University’s student run newspaper) as well and I have worked my way up to running my own weekly column.

You’ll find that my Baltimore sports knowledge and passion are second to none.  I have lived and died (mostly died) through losing season after losing season with the Orioles yet I still sit there and watch EVERY game and still go down to OPACY a few times a season and give them my $20 (I usually move to box seats, but don’t tell anyone).  I have watched the Ravens grow into one of the most respectable franchises in the NFL.  I can remember going to the game against the
Chargers a few years ago where Todd Heap did his best Michael Jordan from “Space Jam” impression and stretched across the goal line with Shawn Merriman wrapped around his waist for the game winning touchdown as time expired.  At that moment, I knew I had to be a part of this; more than just a fan though.  I had to be “in” it.

Before long I realized that sports media was something I didn’t just want to do, but needed to do.  For lack of a better word I became addicted to it.  I started taking mass communications classes where I have learned how the media business works.  This is how I came to intern here at WNST.  One day I came in to interview hosts Drew Forrester and Glenn Clark for a paper I was writing.  Glenn offered me an internship after this interview and from then on I have immersed myself in the mission and atmosphere at WNST.  With the immeasurable help of Ryan Chell I have learned the ins and outs of what makes WNST and the sports media business tick.

I have learned how to produce daily shows, as well as pre recorded and live events.  I have contributed by blogging and tweeting out quotes from interviews.  I have even booked guests completely on my own ranging from Jonah Keri (Grantland.com writer) to Bomani Jones (frequent guest on ESPN’s Around the Horn).

I think I can bring an entire new audience to WNST.net.  With my relative youth, I can expose WNST and its sponsors to a younger crowd of people.  My twitter followers and Facebook friends are mostly made up of my peers.  They are loyal readers and listeners to my blogs and podcasts and have always told me they would listen to me on the radio if I ever made it to the “big time.”

Don’t mistake my youth for lack of experience.  I have worked hard to get to the point I am at now; and will continue to do so until I reach my dream.  Whether that is through this opportunity or one later down the road.

I won’t give up.  I can’t give up.  It’s just not in my DNA.

We had another soldout WNST Orange Roadtrip this evening to Citi Field in Queens, N.Y. While the outcome wasn’t positive for the Orioles, we did have a hearty group rooting on Jake Arrieta and the Orioles.

Here’s my video postcard of an evening at the site of the former Shea Stadium…

While in the process of putting together as many details and helpful hints as possible for our next Baltimore Sports Media Superstar, I’ve been going through some old blogs and media information that I’ve dispersed over the years here at WNST.net.

All of the details of our Baltimore Sports Media Superstar search and competition are now a click away if you want to be a contestant: http://wnst.net/wordpress/wnst/the-2012-baltimore-sports-media-superstar-search-is-underway-at-wnst-net/

This recent blog is very thorough and should answer all of your questions and most of your concerns. I sincerely hope you join the competition and begin your first blog today! This weekend has been active with participation and questions and entries to nasty@wnst.net.

Please do not send docx files as attachments. I’d appreciate all resumes in a pdf or .doc format for sharing purposes.

Also, our hashtag for the competition will be #WNSTBSMS and all Twitter activity should include this easy 8-digit shortcode for WNST Baltimore Sports Media Superstar.

If you want some extended reading, helpful hints and some of the WNST philosophy (and reality) please see my “State of Baltimore Sports Media” series from January 2010 here:

Part 1: Where Do You Get Your Info and Whom Do You Trust In Baltimore Media?

Part 2: How Does WNST Measure Up To Other Baltimore Media?

Part 3: Content and Distribution: Sharing Is Caring

Part 4: Power of Partnership: Flogging The Flag

Part 5: What Is The Future Of Sports Media In Baltimore?

And my three-part update in May 2011:

Part 1: What WNST Stands For In Local Media

Part 2: Journalism is dead…but not at WNST

Part 3: People Ask Me All The Time, “How Big Is Your Stick?”

These blogs are almost a “handbook” and should make the position and our needs at WNST.net even more clear. But, granted, it’s going to take you a few hours to read it and years to digest it but the more you know and understand about the local sports media industry the greater your chances of success.

I wish someone would’ve given me a handbook back in 1992

As a bonus, here’s Part 3 of my Loyola lecture on women, video and mobile streaming in 2012…

It was so much easier when I was growing up, this sports media thing. First, you learned how to write and then you went to some journalism or “communications” college or university, you did an internship and then sent resumes out and you got your dream job and lived happily ever after.

And maybe you got a gold watch if you hung around at the newspaper or TV station for 25 years or more?

Here at WNST.net this summer, we’re extending an open offer to any Baltimore sports fan who wants to be the next Baltimore Sports Media Superstar via our competition. All of the info is here…

The harsh reality of media and new media in 2012 is that it’s an all-encompassing commitment of time, experience and continuing education that makes a local personality or entity relevant as breaking news, information, analysis and the games themselves fly by in real time with your mobile device with you at all times.

And that’s just the content side.

Here’s a speech I gave to a Loyola Sports Marketing class in May 2012. This is Part 1 in a series about my current thoughts on the state of Baltimore sports media and the industry as a whole:

If you can’t sell your own personal brand – by bringing in audience, engaging them, adding value to their life experience and adding expertise or analysis that people care about – you will NOT be successful in the new media world.

If no cares to be your audience – or in this era that would be “opt in” or “follow” or “subscribe” — then no one will be available to stimulate the commerce necessary that ultimately will pay your salary via local sponsorship dollars..

In the old days it was easy – there were three TV channels, a few radio stations and a newspaper or two. Whoever the local program director or editor hired was all that the public got and all that you’d ever get from the “inside” of a sports team. The competition for those scarce jobs and the outstanding pay via expensive local television news ads fueled by automotive dealers and local advertisers was all coveted. And the public in Baltimore essentially had three choices for the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news – WBAL, WMAR and WJZ. There were two newspapers – The Sun and The News American. And sports radio didn’t exist except for Charley Eckman screaming bloody murder about some local issue on the Johnny Walker show on WFBR.

That was the entire world of Baltimore sports media in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

And the only ones who really did it the “new world” way were Coach Eckman and Tom Davis, who bought and sold their own “in-show” advertising and made far more money than most radio “talking heads” did and certainly more than the folks at The Sun or The News American.

All of the TV and newspaper people were part of a larger ensemble and staff. The radio sports talk guys needed to fight for audience and those radio stations needed hosts who garnered real traffic and real new business for local sponsors and advertisers.

This is the world I lived in on local AM radio from 1992 until 2006, when tens of thousands of you crashed my webpage and my email with traffic from all over the world after the initial “Free The Birds” walkout and showed me a new world of WNST.net on the internet.

In the new media world, if you can’t sell your own brand as a sports media expert then how can a local sponsor or business owner trust that you can help them sell pizza or cars or beer?

The reality is that I’m in college every day at WNST.net. The college of life, emerging media and business in 2012 and how it relates to the changing ways of sports fans’ consumption of information via mobile devices in real time.

It’s taken two decades but I’ve finally figured out why I went to college back in the 1980’s. All of those beers at Jay’s off campus at the University of Baltimore and all of those evening classes about Marshall McLuhan — it’s all finally paid off. All those classes with Julie Simon and discovering the roots of communication and theory of how the “medium is the message” and emerging “global village” has changed the world in the last decade since the internet has extended our FCC towers at what was formerly a “little AM radio station” at WNST-AM 1570 and brought video and words and statistics and instant feedback into the realm of the palm of our hands via mobile via WNST.net.

I’ve finally figured out the value of my University of Baltimore education and Corporation Communications degree – it just took me 20 years!

While I’m not going to be donating to UB anytime soon – or anytime that the name of Peter G. Angelos