McGuinness: What great sports journalism looks like and why it matters

The music had faded. m y parents had been called. s ome 1,100 miles away, more champagne than any college student could fathom was about to be sprayed. The moment that had been 4,014 days in the making had already happened. b ut there was still one more thing I needed to see for it all to sink in.

Then, my phone buzzed. I half-walked, half-floated out of my room, and plopped down on the dated but cushy couch in the second floor T v lounge of s iegfried h all. A couple of frantic clicks later, and there it was. A few simple lines of text, comprised of 13 beautiful words, staring back at me in big, white, Times n ew r oman letters.

“The Phillies’ postseason drought is over: h ere’s to the memories, and the names.”

The headline hardly seemed real. And that is what made it so great. What followed the headline — and m att Gelb’s byline — was 1,247 words of pure nostalgia and bliss. For years and years and years (over a decade at that point), all I wanted from the team that defined my childhood was something other than sadness at the end of the regular season. When the final out

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con TI n U ed F rom PAGe 16 find the back of the net throughout the quarter. When all was said and done, they outscored the buckeyes 7-0 in the period, turning a tight game into a double-digit lead in just 15 minutes of play. notre dame head coach Kevin corrigan praised the Irish offense’s ability to seek out good shot opportunities and convert them at a high rate.

“our guys have done a good job being patient, being selective, but at the same time remaining aggressive and taking what the defense is giving,” corrigan said. “We’re also shooting the ball well. We’re taking advantage of our opportunities, and that makes a big difference.”

The Irish defense would continue to stymie the buckeyes in the final period as notre dame capped off a 16-3 victory. ohio state scored just once in the second half, and their three total goals were their fewest in a single game since 2015. Irish graduate student defender chris Fake was named to the landed in b randon m arsh’s glove in shallow center field to seal a postseason bid on their third to last game, it felt like I was once again nine years old — the age I was the last time the Phillies had clinched. r eading Gelb’s article, on the other hand, felt like a slow motion roller coaster ride through not just the last 11 years of Phillies baseball, but my life. Whenever he referenced a scarring loss or a forgotten player’s name, it conjured memories of other Phillies debacles — and even a couple of triumphs — associated with them. b ut it also brought plenty of other memories to the surface.

There were anecdotes that happened around the time my two best friends moved away in middle school. A player’s name that took me back to pre-class conversations with one of my teachers during the darkest days of the team’s rebuild. Another that reminded me of the high school e nglish class where I met a couple of my now best friends. o nes that took me back to the days of cov I d -19 and the whirlwind that was getting into my dream school a week after the world stopped and going through one of the most unique years in the history of, well, the world. Things and people I had not thought about in years I suddenly

UsILA Team of the Week, while senior goalie Liam entenmann earned Acc defensive Player of the Week honors for the second straight week. entenmann recorded 13 saves while ceding just three goals in one of the best performances of his career.

“our defense is playing very well, and certainly, we’re getting great goaltending,” corrigan said of entenmann’s play. “When we do make a mistake [defensively], it doesn’t have to cost us every single time because Liam [entenmann] is back there erasing potential goals.”

Kavanagh matches record as irish take down Michigan in Ann Arbor

After their brief one-game home stand, the Irish were back on the road for a saturday afternoon matchup with michigan. similar to their previous game, there was little drama as notre dame built a decisive 9-2 halftime lead that would eventually turn into a comprehensive 18-8 win, their fourth of the season by a double-digit margin. The Irish continued to fire on all cylinders in every facet of the recalled in vivid detail with remarkable fondness.

It was all so sweet and exactly what I hoped it would be. Until the ending. The last paragraph was merely two sentences. It barely reached a second line.

It might be the most powerful thing I have ever read.

“This was for enjoying the ride. This was for everyone who suffered, who laughed and who believed in something better.” r eading it hit me like a ton of bricks. It stuck with me the next day, the day after and throughout the Phillies’ underdog run to the World s eries. It still sticks with me today, but it is hard to explain why. m aybe all of this is stupid. In fact, it probably is. b ut there is something so simple and pure about those words: universal and specific to the moment all at once.

When you ask someone, “What is at the heart of sports journalism?,” you might get a few different answers. s ome people might focus on the games themselves — previews, recaps, film breakdowns, those sorts of things. They are undoubtedly a core piece of the industry. o thers might first focus on the people at the heart of these moments, and with good reason. Telling someone else’s story is one of the most important things any journalist can do. And game, and corrigan spoke about how one of the team’s strengths is being well-rounded.

“both games were kind of a function of the fact that we played well in pretty much all aspects,” corrigan said about the Irish’s play against ohio state and michigan. “I think when you do that many things well, you give yourself a chance to separate in games like that. We were able to do that.” on offense, the headline performance came from senior attacker Pat Kavanagh. The All-American tallied four goals and six assists to tie notre dame’s single-game record with 10 points. Kavanagh has now posted 10 points in a game three times in his career, a feat that no other Irish player has ever matched. he also moved up to third on notre dame’s career assists leaderboard, passing his brother, former Irish star matt Kavanagh. meanwhile, chris Kavanagh added three goals on the afternoon, extending his as students at the University of n otre d ame, we at The o bserver have a unique, upfront perspective that allows us to do that as well as anyone. b ut to me, the best articles I have read, play-byplay calls I have heard and podcasts I have listened to are all so special because of the feelings I associate with them. Great sports journalism, whether through a microphone or on a deadline, can amplify the specialness of fans’ most cherished moments. They tug at your heartstrings and bring deep feelings to the surface with a pull that should not seem as dramatic for something achieved merely by reading, but is.

A Gelb quote from a different article of his sums up half of this: “There are certain feelings that can never be replicated and that is why they occupy a special place.” Yes, that is true. b ut there are certain ways to at least recreate the magic of a buzzer-beater or a field storming or the end of a drought that seemed to last forever. And lucky for all of us, a well-written article is one of them. There is just something special about journalism at its peak. It doesn’t just tell you someone’s story, but brings it to life. It tells stories that need to be told, even the difficult ones — no, streak of finishing with a hat trick in every game thus far in the season.

It was another strong defensive effort from the Irish, who held their opponent to single-digit goals for the fourth time this year. michigan scored just twice in the first half before finding more success in the second with the game well in hand for notre dame. To corrigan, the Irish’s improvements on defense have stemmed from the unit continuing to develop cohesion and trust.

“We’re really starting to play well together. You’ve got to be able to survive someone making a mistake. You’ve got six guys out there, thousands of opportunities for someone to make a mistake, but as long as the other five guys are playing well together, playing smart team defense and helping out, you can have a guy make a mistake and survive,” corrigan said. “That’s kind of what we’ve been doing. We’re not perfect, but especially the difficult ones. we’re taking away the easy things and making people work to get to get great shots.”

As I prepare to begin my term as s ports e ditor of The o bserver, that type of content is fully on my mind. o f course, we will still have all the same offerings we did before, covering our tricampus athletics wherever they may travel and however long their seasons may go. e veryone here has done a wonderful job with that. m ore importantly (if merely in my humble opinion), we have also produced the type of content that is powerful enough to stick with readers after the final whistle.

There are a lot of things I hope will happen over the next year. s ome probably will. s ome probably will not. And there will undoubtedly be a lot that I and the rest of the new e ditorial b oard do not see coming. b ut by building off the incredible work of those before us and our fervor for sports and the people that play them, I hope we will be able to tap into that special feeling reserved for those few, treasured moments. o nly time will tell where the ride takes us. b ut I hope that you stick around and enjoy it with us.

Up Next

The Irish will kick off Acc play saturday in a highly-anticipated showdown with no. 3 virginia in south bend. The cavaliers had been ranked no. 1 all season before last weekend’s overtime loss at the hands of maryland, a team that notre dame beat in overtime earlier in march. The cavaliers will be eager to avenge their defeat, while notre dame will look to remain unbeaten in a crucial game that could have significant implications on the Acc title race.

The Irish host virginia on saturday at Arlotta stadium. opening faceoff is set for noon and the game will be available on esPnU.

Contact Matthew Crow at mcrow@nd.edu

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con T inued from Page 16 chance to write a different s weet 16 story. u nlike last year, when the i rish played a surprisingly close r ound of 64 game against um ass before torching o klahoma in the r ound of 32, n otre d ame’s margin of victory followed a more traditional route this time around. The i rish improved to 15-2 at home this season after winning an 82-56 blowout against n o. 14 seed s outhern u tah and squeaking past n o. 11 seed m ississippi s tate 5348. f or the second straight year, and 12th time in the last 14 seasons, the i rish survived the opening weekend of m arch m adness. n otre d ame’s tournament opener f riday was arguably more lopsided than the already convincing 26-point margin of victory would indicate. The i rish began the game on a 16-0 run and led by double digits for the rest of the contest. n otre d ame thrashed s outhern u tah down low, winning the points in the paint battle 50-18 and collecting a gaudy 21 offensive rebounds to the Thunderbirds’ seven. g raduate student center Lauren e bo delivered one of her best games in an i rish uniform, racking up a 14-point, 10-rebound doubledouble. Junior forward m addy m ississippi s tate was able to give the i rish a much greater challenge, however. s unday’s game was not decided until the closing seconds, with two late free throws from sophomore guard s onia c itron, allowing the i rish to take a deep breath after a nail-biting contest. The game was even with less than four minutes to play, but several i rish players came through with some clutch foul shooting to pull away. e bo and Westbeld once again led the way, combining for 33 rebounds while e bo tallied another double-double. n ow, they can focus on what matters to them right now, injured or not: finding a way past m aryland to reach the first e lite e ight of head coach n iele i vey’s tenure.

Westbeld paced the i rish with 20 points while also chipping in a pair of steals and blocks.

The undermanned i rish will have their hands full against n o. 2 seed m aryland in s aturday’s s weet 16 matchup. The Terrapins handed n otre d ame one of their two home losses with a 74-72 buzzer-beating victory d ec.

1. Perhaps the season-ending injuries to sophomore guard o livia m iles and graduate student guard d ara m abrey will catch up to the i rish then. b ut it mattered for n otre d ame to get back to this stage after last year’s shocking finish.

Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu