ESPN To Lay Off Hundreds Of Employees Amidst Budget Cut

According to several reports, media giant ESPN is attempting to cut between one and two hundred million dollars from it's budget by 2017.

The company appears to be operating under direct orders from the hierarchy at Disney and will now be forced to vacate two or three hundred jobs as a result.  ESPN President John Skipper began this process of trimming the budget by releasing highly priced talent such as Bill Simmons, Keith Olbermann, and Colin Cowherd.  It is now however apparent that the budget cut was a lot bigger than just on air talent.

This news comes in the wake of reports that ESPN would be ending a series of graphics known as cover alerts.  Cover alerts inform viewers of the sports gambling implications of a game.  ESPN and other networks have been more open to the idea of sports gambling recently.  Much of that has to do with DraftKings and FanDuel becoming leaders in the market and becoming business partners with ESPN and other sports channels.  Despite the fact that these companies claim to be only daily fantasy sites and not actual gambling sites, which is a different discussion.

Gambling is a major discussion in the sports industry at the moment, but it now it appears that a potentially larger issue for networks might be actual television subscriptions.  With the rise in entertainment availability on the internet more and more people have resorted to ending their cable subscriptions in order to save money.  There are millions of absent subscribers evaporating the normal income of the networks, and unfortunately that means that less jobs will be available at cable networks.

A Few Photos Of Vert Stadium and Witcher Athletic Center

These are a few of my best shots of Vert Stadium and just outside Witcher Athletic Center.

My friend Zach and I were stuck in a rain delay before yesterday's soccer game when we snagged the first two photos.  The third photo was taken in April.

I don't take pictures often.  But when I do, they are usually pretty good ones out here.  Its these sort of moments that I feel cannot be taken for granted.  I can't believe how unbelievable lucky I am to go to this school and have the opportunities that I do.  Of the hundreds of colleges in the United States, photos like these prove that High Point University is without a doubt in the top tier of aesthetically pleasing campuses.

I'm also pretty sure that the rainbow visible in the first photo is the only one I've ever seen in it's entirety.  The only time I've ever gotten a full view of an entire rainbow like that was on the internet, and there was a bearded man yelling to the camera, "It's a double rainbow!"

One thing I should note is that I learned that panorama photos are actually very difficult.  I took about ten different panorama photos of this rainbow before I could actually get one that didn't seem distorted.  I don't know whether that fault should be credited toward the camera or myself, however Zach seemed to get the basically the exact same photo in about one or two tries, so I'm pretty sure that I just needed some practice.

Anyways, after all of that hard work and standing in the rain for a couple of hours, these photos were well worth the wait.

A Few Websites Worth Your Time

Grantland

This is without question my favorite website.  A sports and pop-culture website named after the great 20th century sportswriter Grantland Rice, this blog is owned ESPN and was founded in 2011 by the sports journalist icon Bill Simmons.  Before the website reached a mass following, Simmons recruited several young writers to develop the website when it was in it's infancy.  Bill Simmons served as the editor-in-chief  and throughout 2015 until he was released by ESPN President John Skipper.  On July 22nd it was announced that Simmons had signed a multi-year deal with HBO to host a weekly talk-show beginning in 2016.  The website is currently run by interim editor-in-chief Chris Connelly and one of it's most famed writers is Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Wesley Morris.  The website also features popular online podcasts which draw a heavy amount of YouTube viewers to the blog.

 Campus Chronicle

The Campus Chronicle is the student newspaper of High Point University.  It was awarded a first place award in 2015 by the American Scholastic Press Association's Annual Review and Contest Awards.  You can also find some of my work there!

Awful Announcing

Awful Announcing is essential to me as someone who follows the sports media industry in America.  Although it might not have an enormous following, you can find many relevant sports personalities sharing articles from the website frequently on social media.  Despite the title, the website does more than just criticize others.  I believe that the website is essential because it acts as a place where broadcasters and sports journalists can be refereed like athletes.  Awful Announcing can help you stay socially informed about the sports media in the US.

Basketball Insiders

This is a lesser known website to many, however Basketball Insider is a top website for young basketball reporters.  If you are interested in basketball at all this website is one of the best NBA insider sites.  I also believe that it is a great site for voicing young reporters opinions on the sport and important topics.  Many of the content creators for this site are quite young, much like Grantland.

Genius

Genius is a lyric website dedicated to clarifying all of the messages and themes of music.  The site allows users to edit, cite, and annotate songs.  Employees monitor the site much like Wikipedia.  The site began as "Rap Genius" focusing on hip hop and rap until it became so popular that it became a frequent website for fans of poetry and other genres of music.  It has since expanded to now cover all music in general.  Artists can also create a verified account and annotate/clarify their own songs or speak to users.

HPU Women's Volleyball Takes Home Opener Over Rival Elon In Breathtaking Fashion

by Sean Hamilton

September 1st, 2015

High Point, N.C. - After finding themselves in a 2-1 set deficit, the Panthers picked themselves back up and took the subsequent 4th and 5th sets in order to dispatch the local Elon Phoenix.

An excited crowd filled Millis Center eager for the cross-town matchup and the first chance to see the 2015 Panthers at home in action.  Several Elon Phoenix fans made the short journey to support their team as well, creating a pretty mixed home field advantage.  One notable Phoenix supporter was former NBA player Dell Curry, on hand to watch his daughter Sydel Curry (Elon Class of 2019).

Soph. Hayley Barnes of Neenah, Wisconsin picked apart the Phoenix defense all night with 14 kills. Freshman and fellow Wisconsin native Molly Livingston was also a huge factor in the win, she had 11 kills in the decision.  Elon Sophomore Megan Gravely also had a respectable game for the Phoenix with 10 kills.

The Panthers had a high number of errors in the first three sets, and the Phoenix capitalized by claiming an early 2-1 lead.  The Panthers were able to regather themselves and dominate the 4th set 25-12 which set up what would be a thrilling fifth set.

High Point climbed to an early 8-3 lead in the 15 point fifth set.  HPU was on the verge of victory and holding a 14-10 lead, when Elon scored a furious four consecutive points in order to force a win by two dual.

The Panthers buckled down when they found themselves in the 14-14 dog fight, and scored the next two final points after allowing Elon to equalize.

With the win the Panthers returned the favor of a similarly competitive five set Elon victory over HPU last year.

The victory brings HPU to an even 2-2 record and drops Elon to 0-4 on the young season.

You can hear what HPU Women's Volleyball Head Coach Jason Oliver had to say after the win on the High Point Panthers YouTube Page.

Also for more info you can visit the High Point Panthers Website.