MYSA's treatment of the Cowboy, Giants opener

On September 10, 2007, the Dallas Cowboys opened their 2007 by playing the highest score ever in a division game against the New York Giants. The Cowboys led by new coach, Wade Phillips were proud to pull out a victory but leave with some defensive concerns. The game played out like an offensive war with each team posting high passing yards, a plausible running game, and a worn down defensive.

Since the 2006 ended with the snap heard around the NFL, first-year quarterback, Tony Romo, spent the entire off season talking about the hard loss. Romo needed his season opener to be a game the fans would not forget-in a good way. With his need to prove himself as the real deal, Romo should have been the headline of the day, but the San Antonio Express-News folks continue to follow the herd and report on Terrell Owens as the player to watch in Dallas.

In Tom Osborn’s story, “NFL: Cowboys Win Offensive Opener”, the reporting carelessly leads to the reader into the Cowboys season opener by using insignificant quotes from Owens and other players that portray the game’s highlights as uneventful. Owen’s pre-game quote about picking up the slack is insignificant, because he was shut out of the first half of the game by the Giants defense. Adding a multimedia content to the story could have helped translate the team’s excitement as well as the crowd’s support during a crucial division win.

First, after focusing on significant quotes that captured the team’s momentum in the story lead, I would have add a link to a video of Romo commenting on the game, the game’s turning point, and being named the Player of the Game. The video would show Romo with Madden by the trailer of where his picture is posted as a stand-out player of the game. Romo would give Madden details of how the game changed at the half and what his concerns were when the score was so close at the half. He would also give a spontaneous response the being the player of the game when just a year ago he wasn’t even a starter. Since the game had the highest score ever between the two teams, a second video link would be in the story to show the Giants/Cowboy rivalry history.

The second piece of multimedia I would add would be a two mini-timeline’s showing the comparison of plays that came out in the pre-season in comparison to plays that were used in Week One. The chart would have a link to the name of each preseason game. Then, the link would show two graphics of the play and how it was used. The link would also label the play a success in a green highlight or unsuccessful in a red highlight. The chart would help fans learn the Cowboy playbook without having to study the game.

The third piece of multimedia would be a link to certain names in the story that would give a history piece to fans. The team is starting with a lot of new key positions in a team that has a respected history in the league. The links would be to head coach, Wade Phillips, and the link would show Quick Facts bulleted on Phillips football career. Tony Romo would have a link to show Quick Facts on his quick rise in the NFL and how he arrived at the NFL. Lastly, Quick Facts will be applied to the offense, defense, and special teams.

The final piece of multimedia would focus on the game’s injuries. Each player that went out on both sides would link to a description and diagram of the injury and possible recovery times and treatments. Since Eli Manning when out with a bruised shoulder that would be a link with a recreated picture of Manning’s should and details on possible treatments.

In my treatment of the story, I chose video over photo, so the viewer can feel the rush of game day by hearing the crowd sounds. Then, I chose timeline links, because fans enjoy dissecting the players and the game.