Look Both Ways Before Crossing a One Way Street

I must have been Judas in another life. Otherwise, how can one explain me getting hit by a car on Easter.

Oh yes, yes you read correctly, I was hit by a car last night while innocently attempting to cross the street at 11pm to study with friends. None of that is a lie, not even the studying part which probably seems like the most conspicuous part of the story.

Worst of all, it was totally not my fault. I was standing in a cross walk in the street (behind the parked cars of course) looking to the right for oncoming traffic, because it is a one way street, so cars, in theory, should not be coming in the other direction.
Easter just wasn't my lucky day.

Some intelligent soul decided that he should put his car in reverse really quickly without consulting his rearview mirror first which lead to the plowing of his car into my rear end/left leg/back. Needless to say the car won which would make the final score Acura: 1 Meredith: -0. By some feat of super strength, I managed not to fall over and even managed a witty retort when he emerged from his car saying, "oh my gosh are you alright I've never hit anything before!" To which I replied, "That's funny, because I've never been hit by a CAR before." I got this all out before bursting into tears because, let's be honest, there are a lot of sucky things in life that can happen to you; getting hit by a car is up there on my list.

To make a long story short, I lived and I now live with a sweet cane. After a few short hours in the ER they came to the conclusion that, I got hit by a car (smart doctors) and that I was extremely banged up on the left half of my body. The doctor, noticing my troubles on foot suggested that I use a cane. I obviously jumped on that opportunity because, who turns down a cane?

So, how does this relate to sports you ask? Well first off, let me point out that power walking is totally a sport and attempting to walk down Tremont in Boston at 11pm at night with power winds rushing down the street and homeless people looking to jump you certainly qualifies as an extreme sport. Second, what helped me in this situation is I knew my rights. I knew that I was walking in a legal zone and that since he backed up in a one way street, he was completely at fault. Also, I knew to get his insurance so that I could politely tell him to his face that it's alright but that I would be sending him my medical bill later.

So, in life, it is important to know the law and even more importantly when you want to become a journalist. Because let me let you in on a little secret kids; people hate the media. People serve on juries so, when the media is sued and it goes to court, the media usually loses. So I am going to give you five helpful hints that hopefully will prevent you from getting sued one day as you embark on your careers in sports journalism.

1. Don't think that using the word allegedly will save your butt. You cannot allegedly accuse someone of a crime on air or in print and expect to be in the clear. Unless you are quoting an official document or the police paperwork has been filed, you could still be sued by the person you are calling a criminal.

2. You can be funny and not get sued! Yes opinion statements and witty remarks are protected for journalists as long as you make sure that they cannot be mistaken for the truth.

3. Check your sources. If you receive a piece of information check with at least two other sources so that you have a strong backing for using the source. And make sure that you ask both sides of the story for information, that leads to a stronger news piece and also saves you from getting labeled as a biased journalist.

4. Not using someone's name when defaming their character doesn't save you from getting sued. For instance if I were to say that a young graduate from U of Pittsburgh who writes a sports column for experience.com still lives with his parents and sleeps in footie pajama's at night, he could sue me for making him look like a pansy because anyone who knows Joe G could read this post and know who he was from the description. ( note: I'm only teasing Joe, please don't sue me.)

5. You can get sued for reprinting false information. Let's say that I read on ESPN.com that Willie Andrews was a hard core pot head and I reprinted that quote from ESPN in my own article. If it turned out to be false, Andrews could sue both myself and ESPN.com for defamation. Except in this case he could not, because he actually was found with marijuana. Silly Andrews.

So go out into the world young sports journalists of tomorrow and try not to get sued! And remember, double knot your sneakers before you leave the house, make sure you have a notebook and two pens (a journalist always carries two) on you, and please, look both ways before crossing the street, even if traffic theoretically should only be coming in one direction.