Welcome to the sports desk: We’re bringing you the best of all CSU sports

Damon Cook and Michael Hovey

August 22, 2024

Dear readers,

The Collegian sports desk has always aimed to provide you with in-depth coverage of all things Colorado State sports.

From breaking news to recaps, we strive to bring accurate and engaging stories to our readers.

One of our biggest hopes is that the passion we have for providing you sports coverage is shared by all of our writers and is, thus, reflected in our product.

We have been able to implement several things over the previous year thanks to so many of the hardworking people at The Collegian. From bringing you same-night recaps to a closer representation of sports in Associated Press Style, we have been able to bring timely, higher-quality coverage to you.

We look forward to bringing you better coverage as each of us continue to learn through our experiences.

As the fall season commences with hopeful seasons from CSU golf, football, volleyball, cross country and soccer, we will be the only independent paper providing you with consistent coverage of all of them. The process for writing these stories varies from other desks.

Division I athletics is a place for competition and respect — two things a sports reporter must always be aware of. Reporters are expected to act with dignity and communicate through proper channels.

Living vicariously through exceptional athletes is made even better in-person at the games. The sports desk works diligently to provide live updates while also paying attention to an unfolding story.

In order to come up with thought-provoking questions in interviews, reporters are encouraged to research beforehand. Some players are intensely passionate speakers, while others may have left it all out on the field. At the end of the day, there are great interviews and acceptable interviews.

Writing brings everything together. With the help of an amazing editorial staff, sports writing aims to relay facts and emotion in an easy-to-digest format. This is what readers will see and what reporters have to show for all their effort.

We truly look forward to bringing that engaging content this semester and every semester moving forward. Without your readership, we at The Collegian’s sports desk would not be able to chase our dreams of doing this professionally. For that, everyone on the sports desk thanks you for helping make us better each and every day.

Sincerely,

Damon Cook, sports editor

Michael Hovey, sports editor

Reach Damon Cook and Michael Hovey at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.

Interested in more sports content? Sign up for Ram Report here for weekly CSU sports updates!

About the Contributors

Damon Cook, Sports Editor

Damon Cook is returning as one of the sports editors for fall 2024 at the The Collegian. He's been at the paper since August 2022. After starting as a construction management major at Colorado State University, Cook quickly found out he didn't have a passion for it. After taking a year off, he realized he could work in sports — something he has always been passionate about. So with newfound aspirations, he switched his major to journalism and media communication to chase those dreams. After a year of working as a beat writer covering volleyball and women's basketball, Cook took over as sports editor in summer 2023. Since then, he has become established in reporting on football and men's basketball and looks forward to providing that coverage this upcoming season. Cook will begin his third semester as the sports editor before graduating in December, having borne witness to some of CSU's historic feats. His passion for bringing readers the best coverage has only grown. Having started in the wake of a complete overhaul of The Collegian sports desk, Cook has watched the desk grow considerably, thanks to the efforts of so many amazing people he gets the pleasure of working alongside. Having learned so many things from so many people, including to never wear a tie, Cook looks forward to helping The Collegian sports desk reach heights never imagined before. With a much greater understanding of the power of words, one of Cook's inspirational quotes for this upcoming year has been from Eric Cartman in South Park: "Respect my authoritah."

Michael Hovey, Sports Editor

Michael Hovey is one of the sports editors for The Rocky Mountain Collegian, facilitating the sports desk, collaborating with reporters and writing pieces of his own. He joined the newspaper in February and has greatly appreciated all the opportunities that have come with the organization. After settling on a business administration major with a concentration in marketing, Hovey stumbled upon The Collegian at the recommendation of a friend. Writing news stories gave him a deeper connection to Colorado State University and its community, making his studies that much more meaningful. Having played numerous sports at a fairly mediocre level, Hovey jumped at the opportunity to cover Division I sporting events. He now gets the chance to surround himself with talented writers, artists and athletes while exercising his preferred form of the English language. Hovey's favorite part of the job is meeting new people and learning about the things they’ve dedicated their lives to. The most surprising part has been the extraneous passions he’s discovered in nearly each one of these people. Hovey’s main goal this year is to foster discovery and allow people in athletics to show a separate side of themselves that may not generally be known. His secondary goal: Try not to stutter on a national broadcast. If not working at The Collegian, Hovey can be found engaging in outdoor activities, finding something tasty or listening to hip-hop.

Cait Mckinzie, Photo Director

Cait Mckinzie is a second-year student double majoring in art and journalism and media communication. She is one of two photo directors for the 2024-25 school year. Despite growing up in Renton, Washington, Mckinzie knew she wanted to go to Colorado State University since middle school. She had only ever been to Colorado twice, but she visited campus once, and that was all it took. At first, there wasn’t much in Fort Collins that Mckinzie was familiar with. But in high school, she was the co-head of visuals for her school newspaper, so she applied to The Collegian as a photographer to get back into a similar environment. Mckinzie was first introduced to photography by her grandfather, who has been a photographer most of his life. After he gifted Mckinzie her first camera in her junior year of high school, she began to take any assignment she could for her high school paper to improve her skills. Of all the memories made in her first year at CSU, most of the interesting ones came from The Collegian. One Halloween drag show assignment, a lot of mentorship and a few months of practice later, Mckinzie found herself being offered the position of photo director for the next academic school year. Mckinzie is excited for another year at The Collegian and aims to continue learning and growing during her time as one of the photo directors.

Comments (1)

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Georgia Cook • Aug 31, 2024 at 10:19 am

Love this article – I see the passion for sports and for accurate, interesting reporting in what is written. I am very much looking forward to this season.

GO RAMS!


https://collegian.com/articles/sports/2024/08/category-sports-welcome-to-the-sports-desk-we-look-forward-to-bringing-you-the-best-of-all-csu-sports/#comment-49504