The Eagles have a young up-and-coming media guy. His name is Alex Smith. He’s really spicing up some of the content at PE.com.
Alex Smith, rising media player from Fordham University…
Alex started working with the Eagles in July 2013 as a Content Intern. His duties included writing daily news stories and including videos to go along with them, creating photo galleries, and many other administrative duties to make sure the Birds’ website and mobile app is up to date. Alex was the one who was moderating live chats, building player bio pages, and updating the homepage with the latest content.
During his time at Fordham, Alex worked as the Sports Manager for WFUV Radio in New York City, where he served as the lead play-by-play announcer for Fordham University Football, Men’s Basketball, Baseball and Softball teams. He was also one of the lead hosts for One on One, New York’s longest running sports call-in show. In 2012, he served as a beat reporter for the New York Yankees. As Sports Manager, he scheduled everything that his staff did, whether it was beat reporting for a professional team, recording feature pieces, writing for WFUV.org, or performing AM and PM drive-time sportscasts. He also wrote a weekly sports column in Fordham’s newspaper, The Ram, and wrote articles on wfuvsports.org.
Alex paid his dues at Fordham. He knew what he wanted. After the internship with the Eagles, Alex was offered a job and promoted to Content and Social Media Content Coordinator. He works closely with the Eagles’ Social Media Coordinator as well as their content team. His duties include writing creative and informative articles for PE.com and managing departmental social media accounts, including Lincoln Financial Field, Eagles Pro Shop, Eagles Cheerleaders and Eagles Community. He also assists in the creation of photo galleries for both PE.com and for the Eagles’ social media pages.
Anyway, the thing that Alex does best in my opinion is to create these incredibly simple yet complexly informative “box score”-style previews of the position groups going into Training Camp.
I sampled one of these “box score previews” for you in the previous blurger, showcasing the tight ends group.
Here are some other examples:
| A LOOK AT THE OFFENSIVE LINE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Age | Exp. | Note |
Josh Andrews |
24 | 1 | Can he make the jump from the practice squad? |
| Allen Barbre |
31 | 8 | Looks to be the favorite at left guard |
| Brett Boyko |
22 | R | Undrafted, athletic rookie |
| Malcolm Bunche |
23 | R | Physically imposing UCLA product |
| Mike Coccia |
23 | R | Home-grown talent with C/G experience |
| Andrew Gardner |
29 | 6 | Filled in nicely at different spots in 2014 |
| Kevin Graf |
24 | 1 | Hung around on the practice squad in 2014 |
| Lane Johnson |
25 | 3 | Fourth-overall pick has gotten better over time |
| Jason Kelce |
27 | 5 | Kelce does it all at the center of the offense |
| Dennis Kelly |
25 | 4 | Tall, versatile lineman with NFL experience |
| John Moffitt |
28 | 4 | Sat out all of 2014 – how quickly can he return to form? |
| David Molk |
26 | 3 | A strong backup center with ability to play guard |
| Jason Peters |
33 | 12 | Perhaps the best tackle in the NFL – The Bodyguard |
| Matt Tobin |
25 | 3 | Youngster who is familiar with the Eagles’ system |
| Julian Vandervelde |
27 | 4 | Guard/center combo with playing experience |
| Jared Wheeler |
24 | 1 | Spent 2014 with Buffalo |
I love that format! I especially love the little side notes which either give you a quick factoid or ask a question about the player—I can almost imagine doing a radio broadcast and using this exact “box score” format as a great tool for player introductions as the guy either starts or enters the game later.
Alex Smith doesn’t just do charts, he adds his own content and he’s a coherent quality writer. You can sample his writing style by linking to his article which accompanied the “box score” preview”.
If readers like the Alex Smith “box score” previews as much as I do, I’ll bring in a few more samples before training camp begins.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Honey Badger update:
You all know the “Honey Badger”— Tyrann Mathiew, the former LSU star who now plays free safety for the Arizona Cardinals. He’s one of my favorite non-Eagles players to watch when he lines up. I love the guy for his honesty, too—he never ran away from his “reefer and champagne” incidents for which he took a lot of heat back in college.
Well, now he’s taking the heat in a very real way in a wonderful PSA for PETA in which he shows why you don’t leave your pet in a closed vehicle in the heat. It’s evident in this video that the guy loves his dag. After watching this short video I love the Honey Badger even more…
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