I feature the occasional wire photo on eBay Watch (scroll down, see the Willis Ward photo below, the Tom Harmon in class, earlier, Yost’s funeral etc).  Does anyone know how that process worked back in the day?  For an pic taken by the Associated Press, did they take the photo, attached a caption and mail that off to certain papers that requested it?  Were many copies made and distributed?  Is there such thing as the “original” wire photo?

Via a Tweet from Tony Dearing, AnnArbor.com is starting to post their job openings and today released the job description for Sports Director.   The full post is here – a snippet for you and a few comments below: Job Title: Sports Director Company: AnnArbor.com Location: Ann Arbor, MI Work Experience: 3 to 5 years Education Level: Bachelor’s degree Date Posted: April 29, 2009 Job Type: Full Time Employee Job Description: The Sports Director is responsible for leading overall sports coverage, and is committed to excellence in coverage of University of Michigan sports and local high school sports. The Sports Director will cover games and produce content, as well as oversee staff journalists and freelancers. This individual should live and breathe the gospel of multi-media and constant updates, and is responsible for making sure that the new U-M sports content pages achieve their full potential. [emphasis mine] Part of the job ‘Duties and Responsibilities’ includes “Establish relationship with bloggers and understand the value of linking to and aggregating blog content” and a ‘Required Qualification and Skill’ is “Ability to develop and maintain relationships with bloggers.”  (Hint: offer tickets to that new Star Trek movie.) Freelancers I’m pleased they plan to use free lancers to support their content.  I’ve done a little work outside this blog for Heritage News, the Ann Arbor…

Local media behemoth John U. Bacon hosted this afternoon’s Big Show on WTKA, and the topic the entire show was the future of local journalism.  A variety a guests joined in on the discussion including co-host Richard Deistch of Sports Illustrated, former AA News columnist Jim Carty, Michigan associate AD Bruce Madej, Brian Cook of mgoblog and batting clean-up: me. Tony Dearing, the man spearheading the AnnArbor.com roll-out, unfortunately didn’t make it into to the discussion but Bacon advised he has an open invitation. As an aside, kindly Bacs let me plug the 2009 JDRF Golf Classic which will be held June 22, and you can find details here.  Please let me know if you have questions or are interested in participating, sponsoring or offering a donation. I joined in the 5 o’clock hour; here’s the audio for those segments: [display_podcast] Synopsis: Segment 1: We talk about the value of newspapers and offer some advice for AnnArbor.com. Segment 2:  Some discussion of how Brian uses and maintains an online community, blogging ethics, building a following, and we take a few calls. Segment 3: A short wrap-up, with a thanks to Deistch for his participation on the show and my advice and outlook for AnnArbor.com, with a plea to Dearing to visit the show. You can always check out the WTKA…

Join MVictors.com at the 2009 JDRF Fore the Kids Golf Classic which returns to Franklin Hills Country Club on Monday, June 22. Scheduled to appear, Channel 7 Sports Director Don Shane and Detroit Lions Head Coach Jim Schwartz (left)! Save the date, and join JDRF for a fun-filled day of playing the challenging Donald Ross-designed private course. Register early, as a sell out is expected. A hole-in-one and putting contests, along with breakfast, lunch and dinner will be included in the day’s activities. A silent auction with exciting prize opportunities will also be offered.   It’s an outstanding event, join us if you can. For more information, including signing up foursomes or to obtain sponsorship opportunities, please contact Sally Ruterbusch, JDRF at (248) 355-1133 ext. 18 or sruterbusch @ jdrf.org. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International is the leading charitable funder and advocate of type 1 (juvenile) diabetes research worldwide.  The mission of JDRF is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research.   Since its founding in 1970 by parents of children with type 1 diabetes, JDRF has awarded more than $1.3 billion to diabetes research, including more than $156 million in FY2008. More than 85 percent of JDRF’s expenditures directly support research and research-related education. In FY2008, the Foundation funded more than 1,000 centers,…

John U Bacon joined Andy Evans Friday morning on WTKA 1050AM.  The topic of the behavior of Columbus fans came up in the wake of the incidents following the Red Wings’ game 4 victory.  Buckeye fans tossed junk on the ice after a call in the third period, and someone caught Wings coach Mike Babcock as he was leaving the bench for the postgame handshake: “I wouldn’t call it debris,” Babcock said, rubbing one of his shoulders. “Debris wouldn’t hurt that bad. Whoever was throwing, they’ve got a good arm, better than that guy who threw the octopus on the ice the other night. “For that to happen here tonight, no matter how upset you are, that’s not right. That’s unacceptable behavior.” Here’s the short clip where Bacon both praises and scolds fans in Columbus, see note below: [display_podcast] . Notes: “It was ridiculous.” “I’ve had enough experience with Columbus fans down there.  I’ve given speeches down there on the Bo book and the audiences have been fantastic.  They appreciate the history, they love the rivalry, they know their history—the Bo side, the Woody side, you name it.  Probably more than Michigan fans in many ways.” “But the conduct on the way to the stadium is inexcusable.  When Mary Sue Coleman has to send the Michigan cops down to protect…

Hat tip to UM Hoops and mgoblog, these two cats are sticking around:

Great post and audio from John U. Bacon today on his blog, here’s the audio for your pleasure and check out the written form and a note from JUB here. [display_podcast] Looking forward to his radio show on WTKA Monday, joining Bacs will be Jim Carty and Brian Cook. Really want to be cool? Follow MVictors on Twitter. Heck, even Bacon’s blasting out Tweets now as well, follow him here. It’s the best way to keep up with the action on the blogs. Related: MVictors hits the Big Show (WTKA audio)

Fellow Big Ten Blogger Spartans Weblog recently joined the SB Nation family of bloggers (the prolific Maize n Brew is Michigan’s representative in the group).  As part of the change, the webmaster retired the original brand and moved the domain over to the new digs at theonlycolors.com.  Non-Spartan fans may not know that the new site name is a salute to a line in the first verse of the M.S.U. Fight Song: “…fight for the only colors, green and white.”  The Spartan counter to Michigan’s ‘The Victors’ and ‘The Notre Dame Victory March’ had its origins around 1914 or 1915 when the school was still Michigan Agricultural College (M.A.C.).  Here’s more from the poorly written history of the song found on msu.edu [fitesong.htm?]: After the turn of the century, with the development of intra-school rivalries in football, schools found that they needed something beyond the available musical repertory for their partisans to sing and rally around. Out of this came a surge of original & distinctive school Fight Songs, most notably the Univeristy [sic] of Michigan’s and Notre Dame’s. Here at Michigan State College the Fighting Aggies (later to be rechristened The Spartans) settled upon a song written by Bay City engineering student Francis Irving Lankey, class of 1916. Mr. Lankey had the designation of Yellmaster, equivalent to today’s head…