Sports fans get inside look at baseball

AZCentral sports is teaming up with the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication to offer sports enthusiasts a behind-the-scenes look at Major League Baseball and baseball coverage in the Valley.

“Sports Reporting: A Day with the Pros” will take place Aug. 31 and is open to the public. Participants will hear from those who play sports and those who cover sports; sit in on a taping of a 12 News sports show; and watch the Arizona Diamondbacks take on the San Francisco Giants at Chase Field, among other activities.

The event is the second in the “Community Conversations” series sponsored by Republic Media and the Cronkite School at Arizona State University. The series is designed to bring depth and context to topics of interest to Arizonans. The first “Community Conversations” event earlier this year featured former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl and USA Today Bureau Chief Susan Page, as well as local reporters and professors on the topic of political reporting.

The sports and media day will begin at the Cronkite School’s state-of-the art media complex on ASU's Downtown Phoenix campus. Christopher Callahan, dean of the Cronkite School, will lead a conversation with sports columnist Dan Bickley on changes in how the media covers sports. That will be followed by a conversation about what it’s like to be a sports beat writer with Diamondbacks beat writer Nick Piecoro, and Greg Boeck, a longtime sports reporter for USA Today who now teaches at the Cronkite School.

After lunch, the group will reconvene at The Arizona Republic, two blocks from the Cronkite School, for a taping of a segment of “Sports Tonight,” the 12 News weekly sports show, and a question-and-answer session with sports anchor Bruce Cooper. Standard ticket holders will stay for a discussion with a marketing specialist from the Diamondbacks – moderated by Tim McGuire, Frank Russell Chair for the Business of Journalism at the Cronkite School – and a tour of the Republic’s newsroom.

Once at the ballpark, the group will meet with Derrick Hall, Diamondbacks president, followed by a session with Republic sports reporters who will talk about how they use social media and invite participants to tweet and share photos on azcentral.com during the game.

Tickets for the day-long event, including free parking at the Republic Media garage, are $100 per person. A limited number of premium tickets also are available at $150 each. The premium package includes a pre-game press briefing with Diamondbacks team members at the stadium and an exclusive tour of the ballpark with Josh Rawitch, the Diamondback’s vice president of communications, and an adjunct faculty member at the Cronkite School.

Registration is limited to 100 people. For more information and to buy tickets, go to http://azcentral.tunestub.com/show.cfm?id=113656.