Coral Gables, FL (Feb. 29, 2008) - Twelve SoC journalism students tapped away furiously on their laptops from press row at a Tuesday night Miami Heat game, under pressure to meet their 11:45 p.m. deadline. Before the game, Heat coach Pat Riley addressed the group, joking that they probably knew more about basketball than the local beat writers.

The students were covering the game for CNJ523, a sportswriting course taught by longtime Miami Herald sportswriter Michelle Kaufman, a UM alum (’87) and former sports editor of the Hurricane. Kaufman will be covering her 10th Olympics this summer in Beijing.

She believes there is no better way to learn sportswriting than to go out and do it, so she has the class cover a Heat game, UM basketball games, the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne, Miami Dolphins mini-camp, UM baseball, and UM spring football.

Students are also assigned UM team beats, and are required to generate news and features from those beats. In addition, each student studies a national sports columnist for style and content, and interviews that columnist. Among the guest speakers who come to class: Miami Herald columnist/ESPN radio host Dan LeBatard, Miami Herald columnists Greg Cote and Linda Robertson, Sun-Sentinel columnist Dave Hyde, WPLG-Ch. 10 sports anchor Will Manso, WQAM radio host Orlando Alzuguery, and Miami Dolphins media relations director Harvey Greene.

The class recently launched a UM sports blog.

Check it out at: http://www.cnj523.wordpress.com