NFL guidelines were thrown out the window in the Minnesota Vikings vs. San Francisco 49ers game Sunday afternoon. Replacement official Ken Roan did not know the rules to challenges. Roan admits to mistakenly giving the 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh two challenges after Harbaugh called his final timeout. NFL rules require a team to a timeout to challenge a play. 

Harbaugh decided to call his final timeout after Vikings running back Toby Gerhart was stopped on a third down. Harbaugh then challenged the play, and Roan ruled in his favor, saying that Gerhart had fumbled. 

Despite technical challenges with replacement referee's, the Minnesota Vikings persevered with a solid win against the 49ers. To some, it might seem like Sundays 24-13 defeat was forever lasting. The Vikings coach Leslie Frazier confronted replacement referee Ken Roan several times during the game, debating rules. 

Roan created an uproar not only with Frazier, but amongst other officials during the game as well. Frazier was more confused than anything. "We'll have to get some clarification on Monday," he said. "There were some head-scratchers. There was no question about it. ... I'd mess it up to try to explain it to you." For more details of what Leslie had to say check out http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/170922721.html. 

If lack of knowledge about NFL rules and regulations continue, potentially things could get uglier. Ofiicials should know the game completely before entering a field, because football is not only a sport, but for some a livelihood and passion. Most players, coaches and fans take it seriously and officials should too.  

The Burleigh Media Ethics Lecture by David Borstein put a lot things into perspective. The lecture covered information about solutions to societal problems.  As a Journalism student, pursuing a career in Solution Journalism never came to mind. Subsequent to this lecture, I have been contemplating exploring that career path. 

First, my class and I was instructed to live tweet through the lecture. I have never professionally live tweeted before, but I got the hang of things quickly and after awhile it became simple. The experience was worth while. My professor explained that live tweeting goes far beyond your followers and that you never know what company or individual will come across your tweet. Social networking sites should be used as a platform to brand yourself.

Second, during the lecture two tweets: one by myself and the other by my classmate Ben Greene, were thought provoking. Davids stated that "pathways and aspirations are two bright spots that individuals should focus on more." I placed that statement into the context of my own life and it is proven to be powerful. 

I plan to discover and create pathways that are beneficial to related aspirations that I have. After the lecture, I put the fact that I have yet to create any pathways for myself into perspective for future endeavors. This could be a hindrance, so my objective is to work on creating and discovering pathways.

Thirdly, the tweet above that Ben live tweeted during from the lecture is definitely factual. As a journalism student I tend to overlook the antibodies (solutions) and see only germs (problems), partly, because I believe that I am conditioned to the negative things. Every time I watch the local news or tune in to the radio something unethical or corrupt has occurred. My goal is to view things more positively and come up ways to change problems. 

In sum, this lecture touched many topics that sparked and kept my interest. I thank my professor Herbert Lowe for the experience and opportunity and I look forward to many more campus events that incorporate live tweeting.

First, this article is attention grabbing, because all I see in this image is huge signs and the serious look on the faces of these individuals. Subsequent to reading this article, it became more interesting. Teachers at Morgan Park High School are frustrated with wages, healthcare benefits, and the new teacher evaluation-system. 

Teachers were expected to receive a 4% raise last year, but the Chicago Board of Education offered teachers a 3% raise for the first year and a 2% raise for the following three years. President of the Chicago Board of Education, David Vitale explains that funds are being challenged right now and that on behalf of the Board of Education they are doing their best to accommodate teachers. 

Chicago is the nations third largest city, the result of canceling classes is a big deal. Approximately 350,000 students missed classes. Schools remained open, basic activities and meals were still provided. I believe teachers should get what they were promised, but I also believe teachers could have tried different methods. 

Going down to the Chicago Board of Education when school is out to protest, making calls, or even writing writing letters. There are other ways of seeking the attention of the school board. I agree with anything other than interfering with a students education. A strike not only takes away from the education of students, but it can be stressful to parents. Chicago teachers who were apart of this protest come off as selfish. 

Strikes substantially effect students. By default, students are placed in the middle when they should not be. I don't want to be insensitive, but a 1% difference in raise from what they were promised is not much and a strike is taking things overboard. In sum, I do not agree with this strike because it takes away from students. 

Whoever said blogging would be easy? The Developing a Successful Journalistic Blog course is extremely helpful in terms of writing an effective blog. The course does not make blogging easy, but it surely will improve individuals ability to blog. Prior to this course, I thought I was a rather good blogger, but little did I know, I have so much to work on. The two elements of blogging that I need to work on the most would be focus and determining a target audience.  

First, focus is crucial when writing a blog, mainly because focus creates a flow, which is essentially organization. The readers, audiences, or consumers would appreciate flow. The objective is to not lose sight of what you are attempting to get across to people. According to Poynter NewsU, "A poorly focused site is a site that doesn't have a strong understanding of it core audience or it's potential audience. This statement is really helpful in terms of my future blogs.

Second, a target audience would help me write a successful blog. Figuring who would take the most from my blogs are the individuals I want to reach out to. I want to reach out to my colleagues and my peers. These two groups of individuals are people that I can relate to in terms of lifestyle, education, and work. Now that I have established an audience, I will blog for those audiences. 

In sum, this course enabled me to reevaluate my writing styles in general, not just blogging. I want to be not only a successful blogger, but a successful journalist. This course was extremely helpful. I am glad I took it at the beginning of the semester, now I will be better prepared for future writing assignments and blog post. 

On September 11, 2001 the hearts and lives of Americans changed forever. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. I was in class, in the 6th grade. I recollect my teacher rolling a television into our classoom. My intial thought was that our class was about to watch a film.

My teacher proceeds to turn the TV on and its live footage of the World Trade Center caught on fire and tumbling down. At age twelve I knew that that was a freak accident, but I do not think I understood the severity of this incident.
It is remarkable to see the nation not give into fear and move forward. Although after the terrorist attack, I never wanted to get on a plane or work in a tall building.

The footage of people making their last phone calls to their loved ones was heartfelt. I was confused more than anything when the twin towers and the pentagon were hit. After talking to my parents, I was still conflicted. All I wanted to know was why this tragic incident happened to incident people.

On this day every year, I say a prayer to commemorate the victims of 9/11 and I also say and send a prayer to the victims loved ones. The Star Tribune covered 9/11 with video footage of Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and others standing outside of the white house remembering 9/11 with a moment of silence. In honor of today, both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama decided to not express any negativity within the campaign. 

Overall, 9/11 made me appreciate life more. Anything can happen anywhere at anytime. Wholistically, I believe that 9/11 has made Ameicans more grateful and humble. We are blessed to celebrate and commemorate the lives that were loss 11 years ago. The 9/11 terrorist attack has utlimately made the nation stronger and better.  

I was completely blown away by the amazing news stories written and the photos captured by the Star Tribune reporters Sunday morning as the Minnesota Vikings brought home victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The webpage (Star Tribune) was filled with updates before, during and after the game. 

The Vikings victory was heartfelt for a couple of reasons. One reason is the tragic loss of cornerback Antoine Winfield younger brother, Anthony Travis, was murdered in Akron, Ohio just four days prior to the game. I will send my prayers and condolences to the Winfield family. I genuinely respect Winfield and tip my hat off to him, because I would not have been able to play or at least play well if that would have happened to one of my sibilngs.

Next, the Vikings coach Leslie Frazier the coach gave a quote in an article written by Dan Wiederer: Vikings' defensive issues overshadowed. In brief, the coach expressed how proud he was of his team for pushing through and not giving up, when plays had truned for the worse more than halfway through the game. In addition he explained that he could see more confidence in his players and that he hope that same confidence will be executed in the future.

Lastly, the Star Tribune ultimately did a great job with coverage of the NFL's opening season for the Viking's. I was impressed. I did not expect the great images. The organization of the site helps too, because it makes the site easier to navigate. The Star Tribune, is rather user friendly. I am glad that it is my beat for this course.  

This course: Intoduction to Sports Reporting, is interesting and informational. First, the role of research in a sporting event stood out. Until reading this course, I did not know the impact research had on a sporting story. A journalist has to do his/her reasearch before the game because prior research is extremely helpful during and after the game. Until this course, I did not understand the importance of research. It is critical, that is if the journalist wants a great story. 

Secondly, the preparation is a thought striking point after reading this course. Doing your research allows you to be better prepared when doing interviews and writing your story. I beleive being prepared makes a journlist more organized and also being prepared makes situations less hectic. It is essentially to know what you are talking about when you are conducting interviews. Utlimatelty doing your researcg beforehand makes you preps you for what's to come next. I learned that it is helpful and best to have both. 

Thirdly, I found the quizzes to be challenging. The quizzes made me realize how much I did not know about sports. More importantly, the quizzes gave me motivation to learn the many concepts of sports. My goal is to become a well rounded journalist, who can report on any news event/story professionally and thoroughly.In sum, I am glad my professor assigned this course, because it was a real eye-opener. The thought of being knowledgeable in sports journalism never came to mind. I want to explore the journalism field to discover my strengths and weaknessess.

Sports and I never mixed. I had no valid reason as to why I did not enjoy playing or watching sports other than the fact that I'd rather be spending my time doing otherwise.That all changed two years ago. I begin to follow basketball when LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers to join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat. This sparked my interest, because some fans and viewers thought it would be a regretful decision on James's behalf. I was interested to see if the big three would prove people wrong and they did!

Next, winning a championship was a pivotal point in James's career. He is my favorite player, because he ultimately is an inspiration. Although we have two different career paths, he gives me courage to work hard for what I want in life and work harder to keep the things I want to achieve. Watching James on the court I observed that he puts fourth his best efforts and this is why I admire him. Basketball appears to be more than a just a sport for James, it is a career that he has has a passion for. My utlimate goal is to have a career that I love and don't mind doing everyday.

    Subsequent to being assigned the Star Tribune for my beat, my first thought was how am I going to cover something I have never heard of prior to this Sports Journlism class. In search of answers, I found many fun and interesting facts about the Star Tribune. 
   
 Today's Star Tribune is the result of the merger in 1982 between the Minneapolis Star, an evening newspaper, and the Minneapolis Tribune, a morning newspaper published by the same company.

    I was amazed by the Star Tribune webpage design and how the site covered Journalism. First, the Star Tribune site is attention-grabbing. The pictures and the videos kept me on the webpage. Second, the webpage is user friendly. By user friendly, I am implying that the webpage is easy to navigate. The topics and subtopics creates organization. The Star Tribune covers just about everything. Topics including: politics, sports,life styles, health, local, business, food, entertainment,  classifieds, etc. The Star Tribune attracts many viewers off the basis of variety alone. 
   
 The Star Tribune covers a thorough volume of Journalism. After skimming some of the stories and articles on the webpage, The Star Tribune have some great Journalist and reporters. Overall, I was impressed. I completely misjudged the Star Tribune. I am highly satisfied with this beat ( Star Tribune) and I hope to report not only informational news, but interesting news from this newspaper.