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“You think football builds character. It does not. Football reveals character.”

-From Undefeated, a documentary about the 2009 football season for the Manassas Tigers in Memphis, Tennessee.

Whether in documentary form or in fictional film, high school sports somehow manage to capture the relationships, experiences and daily lives that come along with them in a way few other subjects do. And or some reason, football seems to do it best. Undefeated is no different, and is a must-see.

(Speaking of which… I totally missed the Friday Night Lights boat, though I did see the 2004 film it was inspired on [and I have mixed feelings about it]… and as it turns out, all 5 seasons are available on Netflix, instant play. My free time is now officially spent. Also, fun fact- both the movie and the series are based on a book that’s essentially a work of journalism, called Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team and a Dream…. it’s now officially next on my “to-read” list.)

Everything from the dark, remote location of the station with the solitary light to the “two hours til DENNY’S OPENS!” to the newsbreak to the “I am so tired” during commercial… perfect.

Woman Ties Knot on her 100th Birthday

What a sweet story…had to share.

(via The Daily What)

Community connects to get man a winter coat, prompted by TV reporter’s Facebook post

We hear a lot about using newsrooms to connect the community/make a difference and about how engagement should be an integral part of journalism… but often think of it on a really complicated, trickle-down level. Here’s a concrete example of a journalist who made a simple request for a local viewer via social media, and brought the community together quickly to find a solution.

Alex Rozier, an anchor/reporter at KHQ, the NBC affiliate in Spokane, posted the following message on his Facebook page after receiving a message from a man in the community that could not afford a heavy winter coat in a hard-to-find size:

Soon after, one Facebook friend posted that they had the coat, but weren’t sure how to get it to the man… another posted that they could drop it off at their office and they would get to him… and as the conversation progressed, people living in the area realized that this man’s problem was perhaps one affecting a larger fraction of the area that they’d thought… it seems like it may even grow to something bigger. Whether it does or does not, it shows how one simple message from someone with a platform to post it can make a difference and connect people to solve a problem. Pretty cool.

You can view the whole thread here.

(I should mention that I do know Alex from the University of Missouri where we worked together at KOMU. He’s a great person and a fantastic journalist.)

The Neighborhood of Love, Boyd Huppert, KARE11 News

Brian Williams on bleeding Giant blue & whether journalists should pick a side:

Bob Costas: Right now I'm joined by the anchor of the NBC Nightly News Brian Williams...a jersey boy, a jersey beneath the jacket, we can assume your rooting interest.
Brian Williams: It also looks like Jon Voight playing an American president, what a half-principle owner, anyway, Bob, in our business I think you're allowed to have a team. Presidents have got to be impartial, I think TV news guys, journalists, you're allowed to have a team. My birth certificate says New Jersey, I grew up in the shadow stadium, my family bleeds Giant blue, but I'm from a broken home, my father's from Farmingham, Massachussetts --
Costas: So that should cover you in the Boston market.
Williams: I love Mr. Kraft, love the Boston area --
Costas: Otherwise I'm thinking Diane Sawyer and Scott Pelley are thinking, yes, we make inroads now in Boston!
Williams: I'd like to know what their teams are. Pelley's probably Cowboys or Texans, cause he's a Texan.
Costas: Could very well be.

“My daddy always said it’s not about making furniture, it’s about people making furniture. And I think about that all the time…it’s about people.”

-Made in America…Again, via Rock Center NBC

Better than Michael Jordan in the last game of the NBA championship.

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) on Obama’s State of the Union address, via Politico

Blame PhotoShop, not diabetes, for this amputation (via the New York Times)

In this New York Health Dept. ad, the photo’s subject’s legs, in reality, are actually intact— the advertising firm removed them in edit to make a point.

Oh… and the photo’s from a stock photo agency.

five stories i loved this week

all sweet tea and hush puppies

“As a whole, we are now more willing to say what we think,” she said. “And that is a good thing for the South.”

The country will have a chance to see Southern civility on display next September, when Charlotte, N.C., hosts the Democratic National Convention.

Life in Charlotte is not as pleasant as it once was. Like many other American cities, it has its share of road rage and rudeness. And although crime rates have dropped, in May the city called out its Civil Emergency Unit and arrested 70 people who rioted two hours after the end of a Nascar event.

But in the best of Southern tradition, the city will try to lead with its manners come September.

“It’ll be all sweet tea and hush puppies,” says Michaele Ballard, a writer and lifelong Southerner.

-A last bastion of civility, the South, sees Manners Decline, via NYTimes.com