With the support and generosity of the good people at Red Bull, Bleacher Report writer and F1 Community Leader Sheiban Shakeri recently had the opportunity to attend and cover the Detroit stop of the Red Bull Air Race as a member of the press. Below is his account of the experience.

When Bleacher Report’s Dave Nemetz contacted me on a dreary February evening about covering the Red Bull Air Race, I thought to myself that I must be dreaming!

As it turns out I was not, and after many months of collaborating and getting everything together, it was time for me to pack my suitcase and make the four hour drive towards Detroit from Toronto.

Upon getting there, I knew that the weekend was going to be something that wouldn’t be easily forgotten. I received my media pass and press package and I saw myself as being “somebody!” On Thursday evening, after dinner in Greektown, I turned in and was up bright and early the next morning to take the media shuttle towards the Detroit City Airport to have one on one interviews with all the pilots competing.

I was so surprised at how open and warm they were towards me, mainly because I was thinking of this as the aviation version of Formula One. Once the interviews were done and I had uploaded them, I was being shuttled back to the media centre close to the hotel in order to get optimal viewing of the practice sessions. I ended up meeting a whole host of people from small TV stations and magazines to big stations from other countries, like Asahi Television in Japan.

The qualifying and race days were excellent as well. I had tickets for the Race Club areas, where they were catered and had open bars along with amazing views of the race course! I was able to take many pictures and just relax and enjoy myself. Saturday was a bummer because qualifying was cancelled, but it was all made up for on Sunday.

Of course, what should be remembered that since this event was sponsored by Red Bull, there were parties, lots of them, and I was invited! I had a chance to rub shoulders with members of the other Red Bull extreme sports like the members of the Red Bull Air Force!

Overall, a great trip, and one that won’t be forgotten quite easily!

View Sheiban’s photo gallery from the Air Race.

This past weekend, MLB held its first games in China, sending the Padres and the Dodgers to Beijing for two Spring Training matchups. Bleacher Report managed to get a first row seat on the action thanks to our embedded reporter Jeff Swiryn, an American living in China who covered the games close up.

Jeff wrote a three part series covering the history of baseball in China, the lead-up to the series, and a recap of the games themselves. He’s also planning a follow-up piece looking to the future and how America’s pastime can continue to develop in the land of ping pong and Yao.

This weekend was also another first for Bleacher Report—Jeff was, to my knowledge, the first Bleacher Report writer to attend a major event as a fully-credentialed member of the press. We were able to secure a press pass for Jeff due in part to the extreme circumstances and exotic locale of the game. But I also like to think it’s because of how far the site and our community of fan-expert writers have come in such a short amount of time.

Jeff did a great job with the extra access he got at the games and filed some awesome reports, bringing the games and this historic occasion to life for the Bleacher Report audience. He also validated Bleacher Report’s mission of empowering and legitimizing the fan-expert, and set an example for what a B/R writer can do when given full access.

Getting more Bleacher Report writers recognition as members of the press is a goal we’re working hard at achieving, and something I’ll probably be writing more about in this space in the near future. (Also, to see a different take on the topic, check out Mark Cuban’s recent blog post about bloggers in the Mav’s locker room.)

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a recording of Jeff being interviewed about the games by Lee “Hacksaw” Hamilton on KLSD Xtra Sports 1360 AM in San Diego. Enjoy…