Man in the Hat media

The NBA season is nearing a close, and now it is almost time for the irrelevant playoffs. Okay, so this year they actually look like good games in the first round. The West has been settled, and the East just wrapped up as well. They are so many good players now to watch: Kobe Bryant, The Big 3 in Boston, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard, Chauncy Billups. This years playoffs actually look as if they could be competitive in every round. I have my prediction of who will be in the Finals, and then I'll have another post with who I think wins the Finals. I'll start off my saying that I think the Thunder and Bulls take the 8 and 7 spots respectively in the East, and that the Magic beat out the Celtics for the 2nd spot. And yes, it is because Garnett is out till the playoffs. Now, for the first round in the West: 1 Lakers vs 8 Jazz -I see this series going 7 games. Lakers have home court, but I think when LA has to go to Utah for 3 games, they will get their fill o...

You hear them at the Koger Center stage, and get a close glimpse of them in the University of South Carolina School of Music recital hall. You know there names, their instrument, and their tastes in music. In a way, you know their soul. But outside of the concert halls, they are seldom seen. Just where in the world are they? “We are practicing or working on theory,” Hunter Harris, a sophomore viola player, said. Harris, 20, is a music education major from Greer , SC. USC string players are a hard breed of Gamecocks to track down, and it is because they have one of the most, if not the most, demanding course loads in the University. “Music majors have to complete the most credit hours, next to Pre-Med,” second year violinist Haley Dreis said. “We're not necessarily loaded with heavy textbook courses, but we pursue a lot of our time and energy differently.” Dreis, 19, of Winston-Salem , North Carolina , is actually...

What comes to mind when one thinks of spring? Flowers blooming, pollen pollinating, temperature rising, and football? Yep, spring practice has begun for many schools. This is a time for teams to coach, and really work on basics, and to get younger players some more attention for development. This is the case with South Carolina. For Clemson, it is all that plus learning new schemes with the coaching change. I guess USC falls under that category too. And I know we are in football country, where college ball is king, but I am just not that into spring, and more precisely, the spring games. I don't get how so many people could get into a glorified scrimmage. You really have no idea how good your team is by watching and analyzing a spring game. What good does it do for your guys to play your same guys, who schemes they all know? Did I mention there is that added risk of players getting hurt? Sure, you can have excitement with trick plays and learn some new faces, but it really isn'...

You know what? Sure, you already know I love baseball. I believe it is the greatest game, a thinking man's game, ever devised by the human mind. But you know something? I really like the World Baseball Classic. There is just something about it that draws me to it. Maybe it is because I haven't even heard the crack of a bat since November and I'm dying to hear a ball smack some leather. We already have the drama. The Netherlands already had a stunning upset over the highly favored team from the Dominican Republic, and USA and Canada went toe-to-toe in a close and hard fought ball game. But I think the real attraction for me with the WBC is because it gives us, Americans, a chance to see how our game sticks up to the world, and how the world has embraced our game. In a world today where so much violence and death are fought over, mostly due to misunderstandings and breaks in communication, sports speaks a common language. Though many of the participants in these games don...

Here in the South there are three sports seasons: Football, spring football, baseball. Well, it is time to strap on the pads, which means the real season is less than 6 months away. Here in the coverage area of the Report (Georgia, South Carolina, Clemson) we will be looking at what to expect from spring ball, what to watch for position battle wise, and 5 things I think will happen to each team. I'll start in alphabetical order. Clemson The Dabo Swinney era has officially begun at Clemson. This will mark the first spring under Swinney for the Tigers, and I expect some big changes for the orange clad bunch. New defensive coordinator Kevin Steele will look to bring some of that Alabama toughness to the Tiger D, while Billy Napier was promoted to offensive coordinator. This breeds the two biggest questions for the Tigers: What kind of defense will they run? What type of offense? If they run the Alabama 3-4-4, it will take away their lack of depth at defensive tackle, but it may expose...

It is that time of year again. Time to dust off the old mit, tar the bat, and clean off the cleats. Yep, it is baseball season once again. In an off-season that better resembled a bi-polar adolescent with the induction of players like Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice into the Hall of Fame and the admission of steroid use by A-Rod (which is another story altogether), it is about time we start hearing the crack of a bat. This offseason teams have been busy jockeying for players. The New York Yankees don't seem to be in a recession, as they acquired pitchers C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, and first baseman Mark Texiera for very hefty sums of cash. The other cash cow in baseball, the Boston Red Sox, also were a little busy. They signed pitchers Brad Penny and John Smoltz, while the other New York team, the Mets, sured up their suspect bullpen with closer Fransico Rodriguez aka K-Rod. Other players have new homes, like Jason Giambi-who went back to Oakland, first basemen Adam Dunn (Washin...

The scene of an emptying courtroom paints the 6-inch screen of the television. The picture gets fuzzy, and a young boy gets up to adjust the rabbit ears so the message can come through clearly. It was 1954, and the Supreme Court of the United States has just ruled on the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education case, and overturned the ruling of Plessy vs. Ferguson . That was Bob Prince’s first experience with the media. “I just remember how matter-a-fact the journalists were. They were commentators in journalistic mode and their purpose was to inform the public so the public could make their own decisions.” He doesn’t see it that way anymore though. Prince, 54 of Anderson , SC. , pointed to the late 1960s, after the Kennedy assassination, as a time when journalism started down its slope to the mess the media know finds itself in. “When Kennedy was assassinated, it was kept as fact. His private life was kept separate from his public life,” Prince said. “Then the Vietnam C...