Want to share an excellent column by my old pal, Malcolm Moran. The director of the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana offers a lesson for sports journalists, young and old.

He begins:

Can we talk about an epidemic?

Less than a month ago, in the days leading to the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game, Jameis Winston, the Florida State quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner, heard a media member say, “Talk about the preparation you’ve had out here.”

His teammate, running back Devonta Freeman, who had overcome challenging circumstances during his adolescence, listened to a reporter say, “Can you talk about your childhood? Was it just you and your mom?”

Their head coach, Jimbo Fisher, delivered lengthy opening remarks at a press conference, which were followed by this: “Coach, can you talk a little bit about the focus?”

His opponent, Auburn coach Gus Malzahn, began a session and heard, “Talk about the preparations thus far.”

Chris Davis, the defensive back whose 100-yard return of a missed field goal beat Alabama and made him part of Auburn lore, heard this: “Chris, can you talk about Florida State’s wide receiving corps? How do you plan to prepare for them?”

Wait. Was there actually a question in there?

He adds:

When reporters across all platforms – print, broadcast and digital hybrids — pass those lanyards attached to credentials over their heads, they should do it with the understanding that “talk about…” is not a question. It’s a command. At the very least, it’s lazy and rude. It displays no thought, conveys no respect, offers no genuine invitation to some form of information, insight, emotion, enlightenment or dialogue. The command reflects the worst of 21^st Century Mad Libs journalism, no initiative required, just the insertion of some phrase behind the official designated soundbite cue: Talk about X.

Have the industries of journalism and mass communications become so dehumanized, so indifferent, that we can’t take the time, just a few seconds, to pose a well-framed question? No wonder Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks has left skid marks as soon as the National Football League Fine-O-Meter said he can leave media sessions with his paycheck intact.

The longer I have taught college-age journalists how to develop their craft, the more I have realized that additional time has to be spent discussing the art of asking the question. The selection of the topic. The proper, antiseptic wording. The awareness needed to follow up if necessary.

And finally, Tortorella Moratorium:

During a press conference last May, Tortorella listened to a media member say, “Talk about coaching in the playoffs.” That was all he needed to hear.

“Ask me a question,” Tortorella said. “Don’t say ‘talk about it.’ Ask me a question, please. I’m not going to talk about it if it isn’t a question.”

Now that’s what I’m talking about. With the wall-to-wall rhetoric of Super Bowl Sunday nearly upon us, and the translator-driven Olympic Winter Games in Sochi right behind, I propose a pledge to eliminate those two unnecessary words.

We can call it the Tortorella Moratorium in honor of our unlikely patron saint, complete with the accompanying incentive for media members worldwide: Don’t make me send him to go knocking on your door.

OK, everyone understand now?

My latest column for the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana University reviews the year in sports media. It never was dull.

*********

Wow, that was fast. At this time a year ago, we had no idea Manti Te’o was mourning a fake girlfriend; that Keith Olbermann would be in again at ESPN and Michelle Beadle out at NBC; and that a new sports cable network would trot out an 81-year-old Regis Philbin as an example of new and innovative programming.

Yes, 2013 has been quite a year for sports media. Some ups, more than a few downs, and many in-betweens. Here’s my review.

Fox Sports 1: Easily, the biggest story of the year in sports media, and it figures to have an effect on the landscape for many years to come. As you would expect, Fox came out blazing for its new sports cable operation with a big promotion campaign, promising a fun alternative to that stale bunch in Bristol. Some of the new stuff looks promising (Canadaian import anchors Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole) and some was just puzzling. (Regis in a scattershot afternoon show?)

However, given ESPN’s 35-year head start, Fox Sports 1 faces quite a climb. Not surprisingly, early ratings lag far, far behind.

Fox, though, didn’t get into this as a short-term play. It signaled its intentions by boldly stealing away golf’s U.S. Open from NBC/ESPN, beginning in 2015. Expect more to come from the network. This story is only beginning to be told.

Olbermann: The presence of Fox Sports 1 proved beneficial to Keith Olbermann. He became a prime ESPN counterpunch to the new network. Old is new, and you can come home again. Despite “napalming” those bridges with his messy exit many years ago, Olbermann found his way back with a lively and compelling new show on ESPN2.

Michelle Beadle: Things looked promising for the big hire for NBC Sports Network with the debut of a new show, “The Crossover,” during Super Bowl week. The first attempt with a partner was a disaster, and Beadle going solo also didn’t work. The show was cancelled in September, and she looks done at NBC SN.

Deadspin: The edgy site produced the scoop of the year with the Manti Te’o story. It beat ESPN to the punch by working the nuances of social media. The story also raised questions about whether reporters should have done more to verify if Te’o’s late girlfriend actually existed.

While the “80-percent” source quote (alleging Te’o was in on the conspiracy) was a major flaw in its initial story, landing me on the site’s enemy list for my critique, Deadspin, for better or worse, showed how a non-traditional outlet can become a player for big news in the new media age.

Jason Collins: Sports Illustrated, though, still is capable of delivering. Its coverage of Jason Collins’ coming out as the first gay player in a major professional sport not only dominated the news cycle for several days, it also showed the magazine making a more dramatic shift to digital by releasing the package initially at SI.com.

League of Denial: The groundbreaking work on concussions by brothers Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru became a source of controversy for ESPN. The network abruptly decided to pull out of a PBS “Frontline” documentary based on the book, which portrayed the NFL going to great lengths to deny that there is a problem. ESPN president John Skipper cited a lack of editorial control, but the lingering and damaging sentiment is that the network caved to pressure from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Regardless of what ESPN says, perception is reality for many people in this case.

World Series: Despite a stellar match-up between Boston and St. Louis, and several terrific finishes, the Red Sox’s victory in six games failed to break a 9 rating (8.9), let alone get into double digits. The ratings showed the continuing decline in appeal for baseball’s biggest October games. Meanwhile, baseball fails to address the prime factor; mind-numbing slow games that seem to go on forever.

Tim McCarver: He ended his long run as the lead analyst for Major League Baseball for several networks with this year’s World Series. He went out with class with some understated comments in his final telecast.

NFL Ratings: The league has ratings for preseason games that rival some for baseball’s postseason. Despite all the significant concerns about the concussion issue, viewers are able to compartmentalize, as they continue to tune into the games in huge numbers.

Super Bowl: The lights went out in New Orleans and for CBS. It wasn’t the best moment for either, as CBS was pounded for the lack of a true sideline reporter to cover the news. A few weeks later, Tracy Wolfson showed the value of sideline reporters when she covered Kevin Ware’s horrifying broken leg in the Louisville-Duke game.

NBC Sports Network: On the plus side, ratings are strong and growing for the NHL, and its coverage of the Premier League has received high praise. However, the Beadle show was a big disappointment, and the network still lacks a strong studio presence, especially after 7 p.m. NBC SN needs to do its version of “SportsCenter.”

FiveThirtyEight: ESPN made a big hire by snaring Nate Silver. He currently is developing a new version of FiveThirtyEight that will cover many areas, including sports.

Jason Whitlock: Speaking of big hires and going home again, ESPN bought Whitlock back into the fold. He is helping to develop a new ESPN.com site geared toward African-American sports fans.

It didn’t take long for Whitlock to get in hot water at ESPN. The network gave him a public rebuke after he slammed Sports Illustrated’s Thayer Evans for his reporting in the Oklahoma State investigation.

Bleacher Report: The site has undergone a major transformation since being purchased by Turner in 2012. With high profile hires of Mike Freeman and Howard Beck, it appears to be veering into a site that will compete with ESPN.com, Yahoo! Sports and the rest.

MMQB: In order to entice Peter King to stay on, Sports Illustrated gave him his own branded NFL site. Following in the footsteps of Bill Simmons’ Grantland, this could be a trend of big-names in the business getting their own sites.

Amy Trask: The former CEO of the Oakland Raiders became the first woman to be an analyst on a pregame show, joining CBS Sports Network’s new, “The Other Pregame Show.” She quickly excelled with her candor.

Verne Lundquist: The veteran CBS announcer celebrated his 50^th year in the business. As a present, he got to call the incredible finish to the Alabama-Auburn game. Another one for Lundquist’s vast highlight package.

Nine for IX: ESPN highlighted women sports with a series of documentaries during the summer. A film on the struggle of women sportswriters, “Let Them Wear Towels,” should be shown in every sports journalism class from this moment forward. Hopefully, ESPN will continue this series in 2014.

Farewell: Pat Summerall and Ken Venturi died within days of each other. Both men spent years together covering golf for CBS.

Summerall arguably was the voice of sports for his generation. Nobody did play-by-play on more Super Bowls, and he excelled on golf and tennis.

Summerall succeeded because of two main assets: A wonderful deep voice that punctuated his wonderful sense of brevity. He didn’t overwhelm a telecast. Rather, he melted into it, providing the ideal sound track to accompany the hum of the venue and the pulse of the action taking place down below. Many thanks, Pat, for a job well done.

No matter where you are, when you watch your favorite team on your regional sports network, you should think of Jim Corno.

Corno, the president of Comcast SportsNet Chicago who died Tuesday at the age of 66, was a true pioneer in local sports TV. When he joined SportsVision in Chicago in 1984, it was a struggling pay network that reached few homes. He transformed the station into a huge outlet that eventually became the template for regional sports networks throughout the country.

White Sox and Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf knew how much Corno meant to him. He summed up his impact on sports TV:

“How do you best remember someone like Jim Corno?  The average fan may not immediately recognize Jim’s name, but I think perhaps no one else in this city has done more over the past four decades to impact the Chicago sports landscape.

“No matter the situation, Jim always thought about the sports fan first.  Whether the game was baseball, basketball or hockey, Jim’s focus and obsession was always on how to improve the experience for the viewer sitting at home, watching and rooting for his or her favorite Chicago team.  Jim thought that way because Jim was that Chicago fan, sitting on his own couch or in the television studio celebrating the key victories and mourning the tough losses.

“Jim was a tremendous businessman and partner, with his prescient understanding of sports television often guiding our decisions and direction over the years.  Much more importantly, he was a proud Chicagoan, donating countless hours to important causes like the March of Dimes.  Jim was a terrific father, grandfather and husband, a mentor to many in the industry, a father-figure to staff at Comcast SportsNet Chicago, and also a dear, close friend.  This is a deep personal loss to me and for many in the Chicago sports world.  We all will miss our friend.”

In an email, Blackhawks president John McDonough said, “Really sad day. He was the best consensus builder, unifier I’ve ever met….I loved the guy.”

*******

Jeff Nuich, Corno’s long-time PR man at CSN Chicago, wrote a moving tribute that assessed the totality of his career.

SportsVision started off as a pay-TV service featuring only live pro games featuring the White Sox, Blackhawks, Bulls and the now-defunct Sting, but Jim knew for his network to grow, he had to have it available to everyone on basic cable. Through tough negotiations with countless affiliates, he made it happen. Subscriber growth was small at the start – only 13,000 total, but it was his vision to make it grow. He wanted everyone who can possibly receive his network to be given the chance to watch it. Once he got them to watch it, he wanted to make sure they came back the next night.

With the massive popularity of local sports stars such as Michael Jordan, Denis Savard and Carlton Fisk airing on SportsVision throughout the year, it was Jim’s goal to begin programming his channel like a broadcast TV station. Again, he made that happen too. SportsVision became the first regional sports network in the country to go 24/7.

As SportsVision evolved into SportsChannel in the late 1980s, Jim also created another first for a regional sports network as “The SportsChannel Report” became the first all-local sports news show airing seven nights a week…not to mention he made a very smart move of bringing the ground-breaking “Sports Writers on TV” along for the ride as well.

Nuich also wrote about Corno’s personal side.

Here’s another anecdote about Jim’s character. Over the past few weeks, the Blackhawks were gracious enough to want to bring the Stanley Cup to Jim’s house so he can have the opportunity to not only see it one last time, but to share that special moment with his family.

Jim, however, had another idea.

Instead of having the Cup brought to his home, he and his family had the Cup brought to the Cancer Center at Edward Hospital in Naperville, where he had been receiving treatments for over the past year. He wanted to give the other cancer patients and caregivers on site that moment of happiness to their lives. That’s just one small example of the kind of man Jim Corno was to the very end.

*******

Indeed, Corno was a people person. Every year, he and Jeff made a point of going out to lunch with me. No agenda. Just to talk business and laugh at some old stories. I’m going to miss those lunches.

Corno had been ill for a while. Yet when I needed some assistance on a story during the summer, Nuich said, “Jim would be happy to talk to you.”

Jim’s voice was a bit thinner than I recalled, but you could sense the passion for the business still was there. As always, he was incredibly helpful in steering me in the right direction.

Like Reinsdorf said, Corno was a true friend to the sports fan in Chicago and beyond.

Thanks for everything, Jim.