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Today I will be reviewing the challenges and what it was like being a beat reporter specifically from the sports and hockey point of view. I reviewed the Penguins through the kids at Avonworth. All my stuff was on their opinions and thoughts about what was with the Penguins and this years playoff run.
One big challenged I faced was the fact students here did not seem very excited about a team that has won back to back Cups. Some days I saw absolutely no Penguins gear. I heard no one actually speaking about the Penguins or hockey at all. This could have been two things either we do not have many hockey fans in this school, or after being back to back champions everyone just expects winning and does not care to much about the early first round series. Another challenge I faced was the fact that many people do not like having their photo taken. They all give comments like why and you don’t need or just say no. This was one of the most challenging parts of the assignment which is why I used some of the same students multiple times.
Their were also many things I really liked about being a beat reporter covering the Penguins. First I got to hear all the different kids opinions, on score predictions, championship chances, and overall comments about the team. This was really interesting to see how many different people feel about the team, instead of just hearing the usual things from my friends and family. Also digging more into the Penguins over the past week and finding out information such as stats on a individual player or just really cool facts was probably my favorite part of the assignment. I found some impressive statistics mostly on Sidney Crosby ,with all the records he has broken. Then once you find this stuff you end up just saying it in conversations with people without even realizing you learned it by researching for your beat report. Also being out of class everyday and going somewhere different in the school was a nice change of pace, instead of just sitting and learning in a classroom. I imagine this is something beat reporters for actual newspapers and online enjoy about their job. They get to go to a baseball, football, or hockey game or go see a live music show instead sitting in a crammed boring office all day.
The benefit of this beat being written by and getting all my sources from other students is you get it from a high school students perspective. This is very different from an adult who is writing for pay. They more report straight facts about the game and some of their own opinion, but from my beat you get more the younger generations point of view and opinion on the Penguins and the sport of hockey overall.
As I have been covering the Penguins for the past week I have formed a opinion on how far they will make it in the playoffs. I think they will make it to the Eastern Conference Finals but I do not think farther. Watching the Flyers series specifically game 2 and 5 I have seen that the defense can fall apart and some nights the offense cannot put it together. I think somewhere along the way this will be the downfall of the Penguins.
