Video Skills Test

For my video skills test I interviewed fellow student Fay Bruno on what she thinks about the potential rise in tuition fees and the current protests against them. I interviewed her in her student house to give the video an authentic student feel.

Data Skills Test

As Rememberance Day has just passed and we've also seen the 100th British Soldier die in conflict this year for the second year running, I thought I'd look at the numbers behind the conflict. I've created a very interesting chart comparing the amount of casualties each year due to the 'War on Terror' and it's clear that the amount of casualties is actually rising, which casts doubts that our operations in the countries to make them safer are working. Here's the chart:












The new pledge by out ConDem government to have the soliders out by 2015 also has to be questioned if violence and resistance is increasing which the chart clearly shows it is. On the other side of the arguement though, is that the increased number of casualties are due to a renewed push to finally topple the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in the two countries though it will be a number of years until we see if the extra loss in life has produced any results. I'll leave you to make up your own mind.

Related articles:

The Sun 100th 2010 soldier death: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/3237680/Tributes-to-100th-soldier-killed.html

BBC article on government 2015 pledge:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10420911

Data courtesy of the Guardian data-store at: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=phNtm3LmDZEOjtESRY5o0dw#gid=2

Image Skills test

For my image skills test I was asked to take a picture of a local landmark and i chose Deepdale, Preston North End's home stadium. I chose Deepdale because it is a football ground and therefore closely relates to my course (Sports Journalism).

I decided to take a photo of the side of the stadium featuring the logo and the press office and made sure I included the flood lights. Another idea could have been to have included the statue of Sir Tom Finney, which is just to the left of my photo.

Here is my original picture:














This is my thumbnail (100x100):








This is my 400x300 version:
















This is my 200x500 version:

Skills Test Map.

View Skills Test in a larger map

I created this map using the 'my maps' feaute of google maps. It features 4 stories that were featured in Tuesday 19th October's Lancashire Evening Post. Each link on the map is placed at the scene of the story and each link features a brief explanation of the story and a link to the full story on the LEP website as well as an appropriate secondary link.

Workshop 2 - Google Maps.

View Workshop 2 in a larger map

This was done as part of a workshop for my course, just presenting the basics of using the 'my maps' part of google maps. It was pretty simple to do once you knew how. Nothing a good tutorial can't teach you.

My university radio sports bulletin script.

Cue:
The New England Patriots clinched a second straight division win last night with a 41-14 blowout of the Miami Dolphins, but it wasn't star quaterback Tom Brady putting up all the points. Alastair Meadows reports.

Piece:
The NFL's highest scoring team took their record to three and one last night with a superb special teams display rather than their high powered offence. Brandon Tate kicked off the second half with a 103 yard touchdown kickoff return. The real star of the show though was Patrick Chung, who blocked two kicks, a field goal, which was returned for a touchdown, and a punt, which set up a Brady touchdown pass to Danny Woodhead. Chung also returned an interception 51 yards for a touchdown.

Little known linebacker Rob Ninkovich also had a career game, recording two interceptions and a sack.

Vick Hat-trick?

Could the Redskins trip to Philly give Michael Vick his thrid straight win this week? I think so.

The Eagles have found themselves with one of those 'good problems'. When McNabb left for Washington, Kevin Kolb was almost put on a par with Joe Montana or even Jesus by coach Andy Reid. He was to finally achieve for the Eagles the one thing McNabb couldn't. A Championship.

However, since his early exit from the Eagles opening game with a concussion, Kolb hasn't seen a drop of playing time. Now I'm not doubting Kolb's potential, he hasn't had anywhere near enough game time to be judged, but as long as Vick remains in his current form, (the best of his career in my opinion) Kolb will remain a bench-warmer.

But back to Vick, who's up and down career has taken him from being the NFL's highest paid player to being incarcerated for running a Dog fighting ring to now being a backup at Lincoln Financial Field. Since coming off the bench in week 1 though, Vick has looked like anything but a backup. Gone are the days of him being just a glorified running back. He can still run, don't get me wrong, he's averaging 7.7 yards a carry on the ground and has already had a 100 yard rushing game, but this has now become a complement to his real game, passing. Vick consistently passing the ball well? surely not!
It's true, in these first 3 games he's thrown 6 touchdowns, 0 interceptions and has the leagues 2nd highest passer rating with 110.2.

So has Michael Vick truly joined the ranks of the elite passer? Is he up there with Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees? The stats seem to suggest so.

Before we all jump on the Vick bandwagon though, remember that except his time against the packers in week 1, he's played against the 4th worst (Jags) and 3rd worst (lions) defences' and this week plays against the leagues statistically worst defence.

If Vick can continue this production against tougher opponents and handle himself if a game becomes a shootout then he will have proven he's up there.

Only time will tell, but things look promising for Vick and the Eagles.

Not so much if you're Kevin Kolb.

Randy Roethlisberger?

Apologies for not writing for a while, with March comes a number of assignments and these have left me very little time to blog.

However, on to more pressing matters, namely the troubling news which seems to be snowballing and is quickly overshadowing free agency.

Another Sexual assualt allegation for Ben Roethlisberger.

Though my terrible headline (It's hard to find something catchy to fit with Roethlisberger!) seems lighthearted, this second accusation is extermely serious and has the potential to send shockwaves around the NFL.

With two superbowl rings on his fingers, there is no denying Ben Roethlisberger is a great quarterback and likely Hall of Famer, however his off-field issues are beginning to taint his legacy.

His motorcycle accident can be put down to carelessness and immaturity, and with his 2008 rape accusation in Lake Tahoe becoming a civil case it is likely there is little substance to the claim and that Ben is just a poor judge of character when it comes to women. However, a second accusation is alarming.

There are countless cases of professional athletes waking up after a night out with a lawsuit to go with their hangover, but a second accusation is hard to shrug off as just another money making scheme.

I'm not for one minute claiming Roethlisberger is guilty, I hope there is no substance to the allegation for the sake of the NFLs image and particularly for the Rooney family who take great pride in the wonderful history of their franchise.

There's just a distressing notion in the back of my mind that Commisioner Goddell is once again going to have his hands full restoring the image of the league

What the Rams should do with the No.1 overall pick.

I'm going to begin with a bold statement. If the Rams select a quarterback with the No.1 overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft, they WILL be the 2nd team in league history to finish the regular season 0-16. It's as simple as that.

As i highlighted in my last post, this years draft class is not short of admirers and rightly so. The 1st round has potential franchise caliber players at almost every position, particularly on defence where there are multiple stars at every position.

Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh and Oklahoma's Gerald McCoy are the two players filling the vast majority of No.1 spots on mock drafts. Both defensive tackles, both could start immediately, both worthy of the No.1 spot in my opinion.

Sam Bradford, Jimmy Clausen, Colt McCoy, TIM TEBOW... not so much.

These are the two scenarios I envisage for the Rams, depending on the choice Steve Spagnuolo and Bill Devaney make:

Scenario 1.
-Choose a defensive tackle.
-Player starts immediately, helps fill up the middle, stopping the run and taking double teams, creating desperately needed holes for a mediocre pass rush.
-Keep Marc Bulger for another year or find any quarterback who can throw just the short high percentage passes (anyone except JaMarcus Russell)
-Create a run heavy offence, revolving around Jackson and the emerging offensive line. With Jason Smith blossoming and Jason Brown commanding the line, solid running lanes can be opened and they could create enough of a pocket for the temporary QB to throw the few passing plays he would need to throw.
-Like the Lions before them, the Rams win a couple of games and begin the long road to rebuilding a once proud Franchise.

Scenario 2.
-Choose a quarterback.
-A huge rookie contract is demanded by an extremely high risk player (Hopefully the final one if a rookie salary cap can be placed in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement), effectively tying down the franchise to a massive cap penalty for at least the next five years, should the player not work out.
-Even if the player fits into the offence immediately, the team is no better than it was with Marc Bulger at the helm, at least for the first few years.
-They finish the season 0-16.
-Large Backroom Personnel changes.

Worst case scenario:
-The team is forced to move back to Los Angeles, effectively pushing back the rebuilding of the franchise by at least two years and wiping out the team that gave us the 'Greatest Show on Turf'.


The choice is obvious in my eyes. However, St. Louis fans can take comfort in one fact...

At least Al Davis isn't in charge.

NFL Scouting Combine

I read earlier this week that ex Redskins general manager Charley Casserley believes that this years first round draft class is the strongest since 1983. '83 of course was the year of the quarterback class, when 6 quarterbacks went in the first round. 3 of these quarterbacks were hall of famers, John Elway, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino. It also contained single season rushing record holder and hall of famer; Eric Dickerson.

But this isn't a history lesson, my point is that I would bet my student loan that this years first round won't come close to '83's.

Whether or not it's the most talented since then we will have to wait and see. Casserly has won 3 super bowls so he knows his stuff, but with a draft without a single clear star quarterback, I think Casserly's prediction is unlikely to unfold.

The Big Problem with journalism is...

That it's really hard to get noticed!

As I create this blog, there's 16 other people in the same room as me, doing exactly the same thing.

With such a large choice, why would anyone choose to read mine?

But pessimism is boring. So on to something interesting. Well to me it is anyway...

The NFL Scouting Combine.