Not Breaking News

When I decided to pursue a journalism major in college, I had a feeling I didn’t want to work in a traditional fast-paced newsroom with same-day deadlines on top of my head. I confirmed this after writing a thing or two for my college newspaper, and felt the work I put out was too rushed and as a result, bad. I decided a magazine was more fitting for me, something that’s published monthly or even weekly, so I could have time to piece together a well-written and interesting story.

At SLAM, that’s exactly what I get to do, Alhamdulillah. But in addition to the print magazine stuff, the bulk of my work has to do with online content, specifically prepping features in the backend of the website with a light copy edit. I rarely work on the news-y news, and SLAM isn’t the type of publication that often breaks stories. So those scary, pressure building, your-fingers-better-be-typing-at-lightning-speed kind of deadlines don’t really exist for me.

Last week on Thursday afternoon, I experienced for the first time what it felt like to try to get something ready and prepped for right after the announcement came. One of my editors messaged me saying LeBron James was expected to make his announcement in the next few hours. My job was to find two pictures—one of James with the Heat and one with the Cavs—and size them for various slots on the website.

It doesn’t sound like much of a task, but when paired with the anticipation and excitement of not knowing exactly when the announcement would come—maybe it’d be this next minute!—plus a Photoshop that was taking its sweet ol’ time to save pictures, my heart was beating faster than usual.

When the clock approached 6 P.M., it seemed the announcement wasn’t about to come, so I signed off for the day and moved on with my life, as I assume my editors did. So even if it was a false alarm, it was a pleasant surprise to find myself enjoying that process of not knowing when and how the announcement would come, working quickly to be prepared, and simply being a part of SLAM’s coverage about which team LeBron James would sign with in summer 2014.

Of course, LeBron’s announcement came the day after while I was getting ready for Jumuah, so I didn’t see the news until a couple hours after the fact. It came in written form, a first-person essay about why he chose to return to his home in Ohio and play once again for the Cleveland Cavaliers. What a story for basketball. If LeBron James’ free agency history isn’t the definition of a roller coaster ride, I don’t know what is (besides like, an actual roller coaster ride).

It’s Been A Long Time Coming

It’s about time I update this blog? Yes. It’s about time I graduate from college? Arguable. Either way, both happened.

Exactly three years ago, I launched H2 Hoops. On May 19, 2011, I tipped off. And today is the first year I didn’t miss my blog-iversary.

A lot happened since the last time I wrote on here. So much that it hurts to realize I didn’t write about it. Better late than never though, right? I guess I should break it down a little.

SLAM

The last I shared about me and SLAM regarded a print “In Your Face” column in Issue 176. I got to write a whole lot more for both SLAMonline and the print mag since then, and still love each minute. What’s been especially fun: recapping Playoffs series. The lovely editors I work with offered me an opportunity to write about the first-round awesomeness that was the Oklahoma City vs. Memphis Grizzlies series (Links for Game 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7), followed by the Western Conference Semifinals match-up between the San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers (Links for Game 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5). Tonight tips off Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals between the Spurs and Thunder, and Alhamdulillah, I get to cover that series as well. :)

Aside from the Playoffs recaps, I wrote a couple online features too, including one about the Black Fives exhibit in the New York-Historical Society and a story about a league very close to home, Muslim Basketball.

I can’t emphasize enough how amazing this ride with SLAM has been so far, Alhamdulillah.

Rutgers

I also can’t emphasize how amazing this ride with Rutgers was either. It’s a little sad I reached the end, but as a friend told me earlier today, life’s about moving forward. So I’m fresh off this Rutgers train, but Alhamdulillah the experience left a goofy smile on my face and the sweetest memories in my mind.

Graduation was yesterday, and it was a day filled with friends (old and new—from middle school until this most recent semester) and family (also old and new—from the ‘rents to the newborn nephew). Alhamdulillahhhhhh. Plus of course, the more general categories of classmates, some I never even talked to but recognized from courses past, and the #MuslimsOfRutgers who made my college experience.

I feel like there’s so much more to say, but Insha’Allah I’ll transform the different things I heard and experienced these past couple of months into more well thought-out posts because those are more fun to read (and write) than a list of updates. I had to get something posted to end this dry-spell though, so that’s why this post exists.

You’ll be hearing from me sooner than later Insha’Allah. Thanks for sticking with.

Picture Me Writin’

Kobe Bryant gracing SLAM #175 and #24, side by side.

The SLAM issue currently on sale is #175. Before I got my copy in the mail, I went in to the office to get a rundown of some new content I’d be responsible for compiling. Not too long into my mini-training session, Sir Ed-in-Chief handed me a copy of the latest mag with a closeup of Kobe Bryant’s face.

Inside was what he termed my “debut,” in a section titled Picture Me Ballin’ featuring some 200 words about a pair of under-the-radar players and my byline. I think my eyes lit up a bit as I took the copy.

Before flipping through the pages to see, I refocused on the task at hand: learn to navigate Getty Images and a tiny bit of Photoshop resizing to put together some new content on SLAMonline. Every Friday, you can now expect the 10 Best NBA Photos of the Week and the Top 15 NBA Tweets of the Week, God-willing. Click the links for the first round of posts.

It’s always on the train ride home that everything hits me. I sat by the window and tried to take a picture of #mySLAM. Realizing I couldn’t get the perfect angle, I stopped and let it soak in. I’m still letting it soak in now—after each sentence I type, I pause and stare at my laptop screen.

There’s nothing left to say really, except الحمد لله.

Ben Osborne, Editor-in-Chief at SLAM

As part of the course that allows me to work with SLAM, I had to conduct an informational interview with someone at the organization. The Ed himself, Ben Osborne, agreed, and I thought I’d share some of our conversation from (wow) a little more than a month ago. 

~~~

What is your favorite thing about your job?

My favorite thing is shaping an issue, totally. I think I always loved that in concept even when I wasn’t the editor but could influence and propose ideas. That challenge each month of deciding: how many pages do I get and what am I going to put in them, it’s very, very exciting. By the last two days when we’re actually producing it, I’m sick of it. But that first stage—the meeting where we talk about what’s going to go in, who’s going to write it, making sure we can afford it, what are we going to do photo-shoots for—that’s really, really fun.

What types of advancement opportunities are available for an entry-level worker?

Minimal at SLAM and absolutely massive in the basketball industry. As far as here, I started as an intern. Tzvi was an intern, he’s up to senior editor. There’s a really good chance to move up in the sense there’s a history of hiring from within; it’s just a small chance because there are not a lot of people. But industry-wide, for one thing, we’re such a part of the culture now. Everyone knows SLAM. Everyone loves SLAM. It’s instant credibility, definitely if you have a print clip, but even just online clips are very respected. So that’s number one, and then number two: whereas ten years ago all you were learning if you worked at SLAM was how to write a cool basketball story, well now, you’re going to be learning WordPress—the ins and outs of it—being given the power to, at minimum, build posts and eventually make them live, given the keys to our Twitter feed. You’re going to do a lot, and if you go somewhere else, you’re going to know social media, you’re going to know WordPress, and you’re going to know basketball…from a really cool place. That’s a really good combination.

How has this career affected your lifestyle day to day?

Dramatically. Obviously, it’s incredibly thrilling. Peers save up money and go to three games a year, I can go to any game I want. I love basketball, I get to watch it as a job. The impact on my lifestyle is all-encompassing, in any way you want to put it. How do I make friends, meet girls, what’s my social life—sometimes that’s dictated by work functions. It’s a social job. The impact is dramatic, 80-90 percent positive. You’re not going to get rich. I have peers working at banks making a lot more money than me, but I personally am being paid to do a lot of the same things I was doing when I was 11, 12, 13, 15-years-old. Reading about sports, watching sports, writing about sports, buying sneakers, and going to games. It’s all the same stuff. I think, for better or worse, most people’s adult life has nothing in common with what they liked when they were a teen. I personally feel incredibly blessed.

What was your first job in this field?

I worked at the school paper in high school, obviously that was unpaid. I worked at the college paper at George Washington for all four of my years, which was paid. I sold ads and got commission, and my last two years, I was sports editor which was paid—not much. The summer after my sophomore year in college, I was an intern at PSP, Professional Sports Publications, which still exists. That was like a five dollar an hour internship.

What was the first story you ever covered?

My first real clip…was for the New York Daily News. George Washington was recruiting a kid named Richie Parker, who was at the time, probably the most highly scouted player, in public school at least. He was being recruited by all Big East schools. He was accused of some sort of sexual assault in the hallway or the stairwell of his high school. Then the big programs stopped recruiting him. GW started recruiting him, because all of a sudden they felt like they could get a kid who, basketball wise, would never even talk to them. It was kind of like a firestorm and the New York Post sent someone down to try to talk to the coach or athletic director like, “How could you be recruiting this kid?” I knew the managing editor of the Daily News. We were from the same town; his son went to my high school. I thought it was incredible he was the managing editor of the Daily News because I was such a newspaper junkie, he was my hero. He knew I was down there. He knew I was working for the school paper, so I think instead of sending a writer down, he was like, “Hey can you report this story for us?” They ran it—a pretty big story, by Ben Osborne, special to the Daily News—so that was my first one.

Do you have any advice on how people interested in this career should prepare?

Write a lot. If the goal is not to be an editor and be a writer, just do it. I’m a little wary if [a blog] is all you’ve done because there’s no chain of command. No one’s editing it. You’re really doing whatever you want. Write for someone else. If you can get paid for it, awesome, but even if you can’t, because that shows you can take an assignment, that you can work with people.

What’s something that shocked you about the industry when you first started out?

Shocked is too strong of a word. I’d like to think I’m cynical enough to not be shocked by anything, but I think the influence of advertisers is absolutely massive. I think because SLAM is a little less hiding it, I think we’re accused of being too pandering or being too much of sellouts. A) I don’t apologize for it, and B) I’ve seen so many examples of the influence. If anyone tries to tell you that [publications like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, etc.]’s content is pure and not influenced by some advertiser or business guy that’s killing stories or shifting coverage, that’s a lie.

How did you get your foot in the door?

I moved back to New York from D.C. after college and reached out to any number of magazines and newspapers, and then I was following up with phone calls, and I think [SLAM] had a kid that was supposed to be here all summer, and he bailed on them. [SLAM] had all these interviews to transcribe, and they had to have someone come in the next three days, and see what happens…I never looked back. Each step, it was all incremental. The high school paper got me the credibility to go to the college paper. The college paper got me the credit to write for the New York Daily News. The New York Daily News got me the credit for the Washington Post.

The media and press tend to have a negative rep. How do you make sure SLAM doesn’t fall into that hole?

It’s a case by case basis. If certain reporters, depending on their job, are pestering people and being annoying, they’re just doing their job. At SLAM, I don’t want that at all, for a number of reasons. For the most part, we’re not breaking stories. Our magazine comes out once a month, so we don’t have to be that annoying guy. I always think about it at games, we get the best perception in the locker room. A) the players like SLAM, and B) if a [player] had a tough game and is not in the mood to talk, we don’t have to be that guy. The Knick beat writer has to ask Carmelo why he shot five for twenty-three. If you’re doing a Melo story for SLAM, you know you’re going to have two weeks to do it. Just go to practice the next day. Go to the next game.

What is the most challenging part about this kind of job?

There’s some stuff we’re doing now that’s basically paid for. We’re creating little ad campaigns, that stuff is growing. Advertorial native content, whatever you want to call it. That usually leads to an approval process that’s not really familiar here. You’re kind of in this corporate approval matrix that’s frustrating. The overriding issue is seeing revenue. In the last six months, we happen to be on a nice little uptick, but if you go as a whole for the past…our revenue is down dramatically. So that’s hard—people don’t buy as many print magazines. That’s depressing, it’s scary. I think SLAM will be around for a very, very long time, but how long will we produce a magazine once a month? This could be the last year, I don’t know. Magazines are folding left and right, so that’s a difficult climate to work in.

Anything more to add?

Everything I’m telling you is true to my experience, but that doesn’t make it true to you or to the world. All I can tell you is what I lived and what I think, but you may get very different answers. So take it all with a grain of salt.

Anomaly

Our world has this weird way of working…certain people aren’t supposed to succeed in certain fields. They aren’t supposed to transgress the imaginary lines drawn to confine their race, religion, gender, class, or some other broad identifier to a small professional (or unprofessional) box.

The box might be the kitchen in your house, a doctor’s office, or maybe a classroom. It could be the red carpet, a courtroom, the streets, maybe the basketball floor. Your box could be any of those places, but not all of them.

Society and statistics may say a particular field is a man’s field or this profession is only cut out for people with this color of skin. Let’s make something clear here—that’s not true.

I went to visit my professor/adviser from a couple semesters ago to update him on my life. He asked me how the SLAM stuff was going, so I told him the stories I shared with you. He smiled and said:

“You’re an anomaly.”

I guess I agreed, seeing as there were only a handful of women at the Madison Square Garden unveiling a few weeks back. But he pointed out as a religious woman, I really was an anomaly. Wearing my religion on my head in a crowd of suits, high heels, and perfected hairdos…it’s safe to say I stick out. 

And I’m totally cool with that.

Last Friday, I went to Jersey City to meet/interview former star of St. Anthony High School and Seton Hall University basketball, Jerry Walker, for SLAM. He and his brother founded Team Walker, a nonprofit organization working to help the inner-city youth succeed academically first, but also socially and athletically. [Link to my SLAMonline story here.]

Mr. Walker said most of the kids he works with don’t have the resources they need to learn, but when given the proper tools, he knows they can succeed. Those tools are exactly what Team Walker provides. Mr. Walker said he sees kids come to the realization they can learn, despite the negative messages they internalized their whole lives.

Societal rules and “norms” (whatever that means) said they weren’t supposed to make it out, earn academic scholarships, or excel in various fields, but they did. And they do. These kids erase the invisible lines, and Team Walker helps them along the way. In a way, they’re anomalies too.

If God so wills, a Muslim girl’s pursuit of journalism (particularly, sports; particularly, basketball) won’t be an anomaly soon enough. And the academic, athletic, and professional success of inner-city youth won’t be an anomaly either.

The Finals: Reaffirming My Interest

Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs logos from SportsLogos.net

I’m starting this post at halftime after witnessing Tim Duncan, No. 21 of the Spurs, dunk one-handed (and one-footed) as if he’s the exciting, young guy his team is planning to build around when the veterans retire. He’s actually 37-years-old and a four-time champion. With a win tonight, he’ll have one ring for each finger on his hand. The San Antonio Spurs lead the defending champions, the Miami Heat, 3-2 in the 2013 N.B.A. Finals. They closed the first half on a 17-4 run.

Jump to postgame–Miami won 103-100 to force a Game 7. There was no way to type eloquent sentences while the game was going on (well, unless your Tzvi Twersky). Commercials never felt so short! Every time I expected something to go one way in the fourth quarter, it went in the opposite direction–and fast! Blocks, missed three-pointers followed by offensive rebounds and made three-pointers, overtime. I can honestly say it was one of the best games I’ve ever seen.

Composure–haha, what’s that? I was screaming and caps-locking and laughing and flipping out watching the final few minutes and overtime of that game–and boy, did that feel great.

In the earlier games of this series, I zoned in and out. I wasn’t focused on what was happening and frankly, I didn’t try. That scared me. These past three years in college, I thought I finally figured out exactly what interested me–basketball. So much so, I started this blog and wrote to SLAM in an attempt to turn my so-called love and passion into a career. And recently, at what’s supposed to be the most exciting time of the year for basketball fans, I felt I was losing that ever-so-valuable interest.

Game 6 on Tuesday night changed my mind. Those three hours were an awesome good time! I enjoyed a game between two teams that I’m not a fan of. I had a blast watching, tweeting, and reading other’s tweets during every timeout. I wasn’t bored or tired…I was having fun and loving every second of it. Thank God.

This post is a reminder to myself there’s a reason I love this game. It sounds silly, I’m sure, to some people. But this sport makes me happy. It’s an actual thing I like that exists. No one forces me to like it, and that’s a big deal for me. I never considered myself super outspoken or passionate or interested in much when I was younger. The dreaded “What are your hobbies?” remains difficult for me to answer, but I’m compiling a list to satisfy that question…and satisfy myself.

The most recent game in the N.B.A. Finals reassured me this whole watching basketball hobby-type-thing is–forgive me for using this term, ugh–legit.

San Antonio and Miami, bring on Game 7! I’m ready.

The Online Counterpart

The accessibility a normal girl like me has to media outlets with statewide and nationwide audiences is truly a blessing.

Readers can send in letters to the editor for newspapers and magazines–by snail mail if they really want to and more conveniently, through email. Newspapers and magazines aren’t exactly “new media,” but they’ve developed websites, created mobile applications, and embraced social networking sites that bring to their traditional media classification a dimension of new media.

On the one hand, some of that new media influence can be seen within the paper publications. For example, newspapers and magazines may cite columnists’ Twitter handles next to their bylines or print readers’ comments from the website or Facebook fan page. On the other hand, traditional media outlets have an online counterpart on which they break news and encourage interactivity through comments, shares, and likes.

About two years ago, on Nov. 9, 2010, I went to SLAMonline.com, the new media counterpart to the traditional SLAM Magazine. I was on a search for a contact email address. Sure enough, I found it with a quick keyword and a couple of clicks. I then sent in my first letter to SLAM, “your source for the best in basketball.”

Dear SLAM,

I’m just a freshman in college who doesn’t know what to do with her life–major or career-wise…heck even classes next semester. I got really into basketball about 5 years ago, and I love the Knicks, so the Danilo and Amar’e love you guys delivered in the last issue was much appreciated. Your magazine inspired me to write for my high school paper, providing NBA and Knicks coverage. The paper wasn’t totally–dare I say it– legit, but it satisfied my small school, and I had a blast seeing my article printed. I love your style and learned how to write from you. The sarcasm and witty words from every featured article to NOYZ to the Ed’s responses in Trash Talk have influenced me. I hope I can figure out what I want to do with my life soon, because as of right now, I’m lost. All I know is that I love the days when I get home to see the new ish of SLAM waiting for me on my kitchen table.

Knicks lost by 27 tonight…dropped 2 in a row to teams they should’ve pounded, but what else is new?

Thanks SLAM,
Habeeba Husain from Somerville, NJ

An hour after I hit send on my Gmail account, Lang Whitaker responded letting me know I had just missed the deadline, but he wrote, “great letter,” which meant a whole lot. I got a reply in real time from one of the editors of my favorite magazine. Because of my and his access to a laptop, computer, or smartphone, we were able to communicate.

As much as we want to believe we don’t need validation, sometimes we do. It was nice–really stinking awesome, actually–to hear from a man who made his name known in both the traditional and new media industries. Mr. Whitaker is a writer/editor for SLAM, contributor to NBA TV, and a sports author.

I kept emailing the magazine more “Trash Talk,” and over the past two years, I was fortunate enough to have four of my letters published, with three of them as the featured letters. It made me think that maybe–just maybe–I had some flickering spark in my writing that was intriguing, attractive, and unique that I needed to further develop.

Two weeks ago in one of my journalism classes, my professor invited the opinions editor from The Times of Trenton to guest lecture. The editor had us practice headline writing for letters that people had sent in, and surprisingly, I found it fun to think of something short and witty to reflect another person’s thoughts. At the end of class, our professor gave us an assignment: write a letter to an editor. It was a breath of fresh air to express my opinion in an assignment for a journalism class and not be required to be completely objective. I wrote my letter about the Knicks-Nets season opener postponement, emailed it to my professor, who forwarded it to The Times of Trenton opinions editor, who published it Thursday online and in print.

Again, that validation was really stinking awesome. For me, it’s a motivation. Sure, these examples are merely letters to publications catered to very specific niches, New Jerseyans and NBA fans, but they’ve helped me.

They’ve helped me realize the fun of interacting with the media–both new and traditional at the same time. They’ve helped me understand how a traditional media outlet’s online counterpart has advanced its readership and feedback. They’ve helped me discover that I am living in an era in which my voice, regardless of how soft-spoken it is in person, can be heard.

To Linfinity and Beyond

Sports Illustrated Volume 116, Issue 9
Photographed by: Chris Trotman / Getty Images

You may hate puns, but know that Jeremy Lin probably hates them more.

He has now become known as not just simply Jeremy Lin, but Linsanity, Hustle-Lin, Harvard Hurricane, Linja Assassin, Linception, Linvincible, Super Lintendo, Mr. Lincredible, Lin Dynasty (Emerick). The list goes on and on to Linfinity and beyond.

There was actually a time before Lin’s name was smacked in front of a myriad of words to create these now less-than-humorous puns. (Prepare yourself to read a few more before this blog post finishes).

Let’s travel back in time for a paragraph or two. The day is Feb. 4, 2012, the day before the highly anticipated Super Bowl XLVI rematch between the N.Y. Giants and the New England Patriots. That’s enough to distract the casual New York basketball fans from the Knicks woes who have lost 11 of their last 13 games. Tonight is a home game at Madison Square Garden against the team across the Hudson, the N.J. Nets. As a Knicks fan, you’re feeling semi-confident or semi-unsure like you feel pretty much every night when it comes to your inconsistent team. Sure, the Knicks could beat the Nets, but will they? It’s never quite easy to tell.

The game begins and as minutes tick off the clock, your so-called superstars aren’t performing up to par. Carmelo Anthony’s shooting is off and Amar’e Stoudemire is in foul trouble. Head coach Mike D’Antoni’s job is hanging by a thread. Numerous guys are injured. Someone needs to play point. Jeremy Lin, come on in.

Now, back to Oct. 12, 2012. I don’t want to get into the play-by-play for the game that night. What matters is Lin exploded and led the team to a win. New York City witnessed it, but critics and some fans didn’t believe he was anything more than a one game wonder. Fast forward the next six games after the win over the Nets, and New York’s record was 7-0, with Lin starting at the point guard position. All he does is Lin.

Alright, I know, I know…you get it. Lin was the savior of the Knicks’ 2011-2012 season when it was in danger of being shoved under a rug much like the Lockout situation that plagued the League. So what does he have to do with new media?

A lot. He has a lot to do with new media.

Lin was named the NBA’s first “Social Breakout Player of the Year.” #Linsanity was a global trending topic on numerous occasions during the weeks he put up career numbers night after night in February and March. He gained 130,000 followers in a week. The pictures he had on his old-school Xanga.com blog went viral. YouTube tributes began popping up (Laird). Lin made the cover of basketball (SLAM), sports (Sports Illustrated), and news magazines (TIME), as well as newspapers. There is even a book written about him called Jeremy Lin: The Reason for Linsanity. He was a story on every local news channel and every ESPN SportsCenter. It’s all pretty Linspiring, considering Lin spent much time sleeping on the couch of teammate Landry Fields, before finding his own place in case the Knicks would let him go.

So, yes, Lin did have something to do with new media. And traditional media. And social media.

The Knicks didn’t let him go; instead, the sudden shift in his minutes resulted in his exhaustion and injury. He couldn’t be of assistance in the 2012 Playoffs, and over the summer he signed with the Houston Rockets to hopefully continue the Lin Dynasty down in Texas.

Best of luck to Lin. He made the Knicks, my Twitter feed, and the news more Linteresting.