You could make a strong argument that this town is one of the luckiest towns in the history of professional sports and I have no problem admitting that any bad feeling I harbor is the direct result of jealousy. Just a year since moving from Seattle, the Thunder quickly became one of the league’s premier squads and a few years later they are competing for a title and building a foundation to be a title-factory over the next several years.

I can’t help but cringe whenever I hear a Thunder fan talk about how tough that first year was when OKC went 23-59. The next few years I heard fans talk about how “patient” they were and how the recent success was a reward for their loyalty during the “hard times.”

As a Royals fan since the early 90’s I have no problem telling you that few sports fans understand patience and loyalty like I do, especially fans in Oklahoma City who were given the greatest sports gift in the history of sports gifts.

I also struggle with Thunder fans because I don’t see the history that I often associate with my own sports fandom. When, or more appropriately if, the Royals ever become a successful postseason team and (God willing) can win a title in my lifetime the success will be sweeter because it will include memories of a half empty Kaufman Stadium in the middle of August, road trips to road games with my father and the thousands of innings I have watched in my lifetime. Likewise, if the Chiefs ever win it all I will think back to reading the Chiefs preview section inside the Sunday Kansas City Star with my father, cursing at the TV and the fact that even the day of my sons birth was spoiled just a bit because of the 47-7 trouncing the Chiefs took from the Bills.

If the Thunder wins it all this year or next what history will go along with it? The most devote Thunder fan can only claim a history of a few years and since I started watching the Sonics in Seattle a few years before they came to OKC can I claim a deeper history with the team than most? (The answer is no, I can not)

The final reason I carry some resentment to Thunder fans is that I have a hard time justifying relocating a team, especially one that was loved in Seattle. Thunder fans tell themselves that the Sonics were never supported, that they played in an empty arena and the city never paid attention to the team. None of that is true and they were just statements made to justify the move. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad the Thunder are here but in the same way our nation is build on the blood of the innocent, the Thunder have a dark history that you can’t ignore.

Now, for all the reasons that I struggle with Thunder Nation I do have a plenty of reasons to love this franchise and in many ways it’s a team that is tailor-made for me.

I have a deep love for the Midwest. I have lived out west (and loved it) and have often contemplated just up and moving to New York (which would probably only take a week to convince my wife to do) but the middle of this country is my home. I love its oddities, the beauty that is hidden in plain sight and the chip we have on our shoulders. Besides Chicago, our cities are considered small markets. Places like Minneapolis and St. Louis would be considered mega markets if they were on the coast, but since they are thousands of miles from the nearest ocean they are put in the small market category.

Growing up in Kansas City you are taught that the rest of the world has a negative view of you. People who have never been to your city view it as a wasteland that is more farmland than urban. KC has a chip on its shoulder and is the poster child for the injustice that exists in the big market vs. small market battle.

Oklahoma City has some of the same characteristics. Its residents may not be as bitter but the image of the city to the rest of the world is nearly the same as KC’s. When it comes to the major media outlets and the head offices for pro sports leagues, success in the Midwest is despised. The NBA is a little better than the NFL and MLB in this area, but when the national spotlight shines on two small market clubs its viewed as a potential ratings nightmare. If that’s the case, I say “good.” If the rise of a Midwestern team hurts the pocketbooks of fat cats in New York and LA then all the better. I’m ecstatic with the thought that Oklahoma City could become a dynasty franchise in one of professional sport’s smallest markets. Beyond a doubt OKC is one of the greatest stories in professional sports over the past decade.

Maybe part of my resentment comes from the fact that I don’t know how to handle winning, especially when it’s from a team that I have only been following for a few years. However, I remind myself that I’m in the same boat as everyone else.

I’ve always been taught that titles are something earned with not only great play on the field but a generation of torture by fans. Or, at least it’s the only way I know. At the end of the day the Thunder are a fun team to follow and for this self-deprecating sports fan that’s just something I have a hard time accepting.

I follow the Thunder closely, root for them and look forward to bonding with my son in the Chesapeake Arena, but the team’s success makes me feel uncomfortable. I want a championship this year and believe this team has the tools to compete for one, but I have to admit that as the Thunder let last night’s opening game in the Western Conference Finals slip away I felt more frustrated, yet also more like myself.

Later in the day the department sent a corrected version of the release along with an apology.

The Oklahoma Insurance Department apologizes for an unauthorized draft of an email that was distributed containing offensive and unacceptable language. This email was traced to a staff person who has accepted full responsibility and is deeply apologetic. Disciplinary action is being taken.

This email was not vetted through the normal process and neither the Insurance Commissioner nor any supervisory staff was aware of the distribution.

The Oklahoma Insurance Department, again, deeply apologizes for the unacceptable language.

There will be some in the community newspaper industry that see this as a victory for small newspapers. There are many in the community newspaper biz that feared Patch when it first launched, believing a version of Patch would someday popup in their own community. Many of these editors and publishes were too lazy to do anything about it, such as try to be aggressive in their own Web-based reporting, but if Patch dissolves, at it appears it will do so in at least some form, then these same editors and publishers will chalk it up to the fact that Web-based community journalism doesn’t work and that readers still like their printed newspapers.

In reality, the demise of Patch will be an indication that Web-based community journalism doesn’t work when its low quality and those publishers should still fear the day that a Website launches in their own town that actually knows what they are doing.

Here are 4 reasons why Patch isn’t working and why it won’t work.

1)   It’s really nothing more than a news blog. Most Patch sites have one “editor” that serves as the lone reporter. I believe a one-person newsroom could work in community journalism, but there has to be a strategic use of contributors to make it work. Plus, the one-person in the newsroom has to top notch, meaning they must be a great writer, understand social media, and capable of producing multimedia stories.

2)    There is no uniqueness to each Patch site. The Hazelwood, Missouri Patch site looks just like the Berkley, California Patch site. The homepage layouts are clean and well organized, but there are no distinctive features that pay tribute to a particular community. People want local journalism because its unique to their own community, but the carbon copy form of publishing that Patch uses doesn’t highlight community journalism.

3)    The news coverage is hit-or-miss. You can’t read Patch and know that you are always going to get coverage from last night’s city council meeting or the score from the football game. Many Patch sites post multiple times a day, but you never know what you are going to get. The tradition that newspapers have is that they will provide coverage on the same topics each week. If you heard an explosion in town chances are the local newspaper is on it, or will at least have a story on in it in the future. Heard there was a commotion at the city council meeting? You can assume the newspaper will have a story on it. In fact, you can assume the local newspaper will have a story on the city council meeting each week, whether it was boring or exciting. That’s called consistency and Patch often failed at it.

4)    No local context for regional/national stories. One thing I thought AOL could have done was provide great national coverage on an issue and then allowed local Patch editors to fill in the blanks with local research, interviews and perspective. For example, AOL’s national news team could put together a story on the BP Oil Spill and allow local Patch editors along the coast to add their own community’s voice. I think AOL tried to funnel local stories up to the national level, but they should have also focused on the other way, too: national to local.

Week Two discussion post, Full Sail University: Social Media’s role in the London Riots

Social media was blamed for the quick spreading nature of the London Riots last year but there is evidence that not only seems to dispel that theory, but shows that social media was actually beneficial in the prosecution of rioters and the cleanup efforts that followed.

First, groups of people have always used technology in an effort to mobilize, regardless of their intentions. Riots have developed long before the invention of social media and a tweet never broke a window or overturned a car. Blaming social media was a sexy way for journalists to cover a story, and it deserved thought, but social media was not to blame for the riots. I do believe it was a tool used in its formation but the argument that shutting down social media as a way to “fight back” would not have been an appropriate response, at least not any more than shutting down the electric grid would have been.

Torin Douglas, media correspondent for the BBC, wrote last year that police were “prepared for trouble” after observing calls for violence and rioting on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. In fact, Douglas writes that police used Twitter in responding to the riots.

Social media also played a part in the cleanup effort following the riots, according to Erica Swallow. “While rioters took to the underground paths of BlackBerry Messenger to organize, the highly spreadable mediums of Twitter and Facebook have shown to be the perfect platforms for mobilizing cleanup organizers and followers in the early aftermath of the rioting,” she wrote. There was even a Twitter account created (@RiotCleanup) that gained over 50,000 followers in the first day. Swallow also writes that a Tumblr page was created called “Catch a Looter” that served as a place for observers to post photos of rioters in action in an effort to assist police.

Adi Gaskell also highlighted a study that showed social media was used for a force of good – not evil – during the London Riots.

“The study, conducted by the Joint Information Systems Committee, concluded that Twitter was not used to encourage and co-ordinate rioting and looting, but instead played a major part in the post-event cleanup,” Gaskell wrote. The study found no evidence that Twitter was used to mobilize rioters and was actually helpful in the cleanup efforts. “The findings chime with the panel at the Westminster eForum on eCrime, which unanimously agreed that a social media blackout would infringe on freedom of expression and would ignore the positive aspects of social networks,” Gaskell added.

Gill Corkindale, a former editor of the Financial Times and a London-based writer, argues that social media was partly to blame for the riots, particularly the use of BlackBerry messenger which allowed rioters to send encrypted messages that were then posted to Facebook and Twitter. However, Corkindale also points out that while social media was used as a tool in the riots, police may have failed to preemptively prepare for such an event that was years in the marking.

“The Metropolitan Police has admitted that they need to learn lessons from the way social media was used to organize the greed and criminality seen during the riots,” she writes. “But according to David Wilson, professor of criminology at Birmingham City University, it was an accident waiting to happen: ‘For years we’ve been aware of gangs and football hooligans have been using technology to get together and fight. I think the police have been quite slow to respond to this.’”

Muller spent some time recently exploring the world of small town newspapers and said they are an example of journalism success in an era when many have already pronounced he death of newspapers.

“At a time when mainstream news media are hemorrhaging and doomsayers are predicting the death of journalism (at least as we’ve known it), take heart: The free press is alive and well in small towns across America, thanks to the editors of thousands of weeklies who, for very little money and a fair amount of aggravation, keep on telling it like it is,” Muller said.

Muller does a good job exploring the challenge many small newspapers have when it comes to covering a beat where many editors are neighbors, or at least closely work with those they are required to hold accountable. It’s easy for a daily newspaper reporter to slam the mayor of a small town or school district superintendent, but for small newspaper editors like me, you want to be careful not to burn bridges while also practicing good journalism.

Muller also identifies the reason many small town newspapers are thriving, which is they are hyper-local, publishing stories readers can only find in the weekly newspaper. However, local news is personal news. Local business, schools and crimes are extremely personal issues to many people and its not uncommon for readers to respond passionately to the issues they read. Take for example the Williams Foods grocery store issue, which is only news in Piedmont. The story has been an important one for about a year as it deals with millions in taxpayer money, but many readers have made the issue extremely personal because it deals with their neighbors, family members and the future prosperity of their town.

But for all the challenges our industry faces, and we do face many, there does seem to be hope in many places, including the small town newspaper, where many of the founding pillars of journalism still live.

“I wouldn’t be so bold as to predict the future, not in a media landscape that is constantly shifting,” Muller said. “But when we engage in these discussions about how to “monetize” journalism, it’s refreshing to remember a different kind of bottom line, one that lives in the hearts of weekly newspaper editors and reporters who keep churning out news for the corniest of reasons — because their readers depend on it.”

Monocle Magazine

I can still remember the day when I walked into Bulldog news stand in the University District of Seattle and first spotted a Monocle magazine. It was in the summer and it was the publication’s annual quality of life survey, which includes a review of the world’s top 25 cities based on quality of life and explores the things that make an urban environment a truly great one.

Needless to say, I quickly fell in love.

Over the next several months I became a devote reader of Monocle’s monthly issues and have continued to pick up a copy when I can. At $10 a pop its at least a $100 investment a year, but well worth it.

Monocle is a British based publication with a global perspective on urban culture, design and even fashion. Stories can range from interviews with city planners, an emerging neighborhood in Japan or even a photo spread of coffee shops from around the world. This year’s quality of life survey provides the list of top 25 but also explores other emerging communities, such as Newark. The magazine includes great writing and is informative, but I think the part I like the most is its experiential aspect. In today’s world of multimedia and wireless communication, Monocle continues to take pride in a printed product. It offers stunning imagery, smart ads, and other substance, such as pullout booklets and even comics.

When I pick up a Monocle I feel like I am picking up a complete media experience, minus the digital screen. However, its not a slice of nostalgia or a look back in time. Its very fresh and relevant but finds a different way to capture a reader’s soul beyond the common tools of today’s multimedia world.

I almost wonder if there is a lesson for newspaper in Monocle. The magazine embraces technology online and I am not a person that believes newspapers should be printed just for the sake of printing paper, but newspapers haven’t really changed much over the past decade when it experienced an assault from Web-based publications. If anything, the only change newspapers have made i by getting smaller.

Could a newspaper include comic book pullouts, sections devoted to stunning images and a re-imagination of the front page? Newspapers are still an experience but that experience hasn’t necessarily evolved over the past decade.
Monocle is an example of quality, care and stellar design being put back into a printed product; I just wish that mindset would spill more over into mainstream journalism.