American Journalism: My Opinions

Tuesday October 30, 2007

Only in Iowa...

This morning I was reading the top headlines on ESPN.com like I always do and one caught my eye, “Hunter recovering after being shot in the leg by dog.”  I was curious so I clicked on the headline to read the whole article.  The next thing that caught my eye was reading that this took place in Des Moines, Iowa of all places.  It takes a really crazy story to get Iowa mentioned on ESPN unless it has to do with the Hawkeyes or Cyclones.   

Apparently the man in the story was pheasant hunting with a group of men north of Grinnell, Iowa.  The man laid his gun on the ground while he climbed over a fence.  As he was climbing the fence his dog stepped on the gun, causing it to shoot.  The man was hit with between 100 and 120 pellets in his calf.  He was taken to an Iowa City hospital for surgery and is listed in good condition.

After reading this story I went to several major news websites to see if any of them had reported this story.  I was kind of surprised to see that none of them had.  Usually bizarre stories like this get a lot of attention.  How often does a man get shot by his dog? 

I thought it was strange that this story made it on ESPN.com.  Hunting is considered a sport, but this is the first time I have seen a hunting story on ESPN’s front page.  Iowa should be proud.