Sports Bloggers in the Press Box

[Sportsbruh]

Give me the BLOGGERS!!!!!

They talk more REAL shit than these boring HACKS that write for the rags.

I like it when they POUND EVERYBODY and get folks fired.  That excites me.

[moonlight]

Just because you look pretty on TV and/or sniff jocks in print makes your opinions no more worthy of public consumption than those of a knowledgeable fan who can string three sentences together on a website.

1. I'm a newspaper guy.
2. NFL press boxes are all too often crammed with people who don't need to be there (I'll say it's what you have called the "pretty TV" people and bloggers who wear team colors and openly root for their team.
 

[jfs1000]

I think I would allow a blog in if it was real journalism in the blog. Can bloggers be journalists? Yes. Are all bloggers journalists? No.

It is a matter of definition. If the blog is an economic enterprise (trying to make money), like rivals/scout or the blogger is actually doing professional work while blogging, I say let them in.

But, if it is a fan site where a guy doesn't adhere to journalistic standards, then I don't think he she it should be allowed.

Is the blog essentially a diary and ramblings? Or is there an actual attempt at analysis and well-informed opinion. Also, the blog has to be read. It has to have some modicum of credibility and following.

A good example of a fan blogger I may consider letting in would be something like celticsblog. It started as a fan blog, but it has slowly evolved to a Celtics outlet. They don't do much actual journalistic work, but the site acts like a fliter, and has an independent following. If they wanted to cover a game, I find no reason to shut them out as long as they act professionally.   

I am not for allowing guys who are psycho fans and cheer, inside the press box. But, the medium is evolving, we have to understand that. 

   

[auggie_ben_doggie]

As a rule, weeklies should NOT be in a college/pro press box simply to be there and write a story. What coverage are they going to provide on a five-day old game different from what you read in 12 other papers? If they proveably, demonstrably [/JDV] can show that they offer a fresh angle, let 'em in -- otherwise, they should not be taking spots from dailies and professionally run Web sites/blogs.

1. Many weeklies have Web sites that could provide daily coverage of a pro/college team if the readers are asking for it.

2. I love how some members of our establishment are always looking for media that are lower down the food chain to "prove" themselves, either through readership or traffic or something as nebulous as "providing a fresh angle." As if a daily newspaper or a television reporter would ever have to meet such standards for entrance into the press box.

I thought this was hilarious, BTW:

I have an NFL beat. If I ever get a call from the team's PR people telling me I have to stand in the concourse next season because the PRESS box is full of fan-boy bloggers, I'm gonna quit my job and become a farmer.

You really shouldn't be concerned. I mean, how much space can a tiny chair for a chicken little like you take up?

[Fenian_Bastard]

It's not that hard. There are rules in place now about rooting or wearing team colors in the press box. Just enforce them. And if we're going to start defining "real journalists" out of the press box, we're gonna lose an awful lot of columnists, I'm thinking.

[mike royko]

The solution is pretty simple, I believe, and most of the following requirements already exist most places:

In order to qualify for a media credential for a sporting event, you must be paid and/or contracted by a media outlet which requires your presence at said event for the specific purpose of submitting coverage of the event in print and/or electronic form for publication or production that day or at a later date. Access to the clubhouse/locker room should be restricted based on the specific need to obtain pre or post-game comments in order to satisfy the requirements of your job as stated by your employer/contracting agency.

I think this eliminates most bloggers, outside of those who maintain blogs in addition to their primary responsibilities as journalists for various media outlets.

Saying fan site bloggers should be permitted to obtain media credentials to pro sporting events is like saying someone who starts a blog in support of President Bush should be permitted to have White House press corps creds.           

[Fenian_Bastard]

The solution is pretty simple, I believe, and most of the following requirements already exist most places:

In order to qualify for a media credential for a sporting event, you must be paid and/or contracted by a media outlet which requires your presence at said event for the specific purpose of submitting coverage of the event in print and/or electronic form for publication or production that day or at a later date. Access to the clubhouse/locker room should be restricted based on the specific need to obtain pre or post-game comments in order to satisfy the requirements of your job as stated by your employer/contracting agency.

I think this eliminates most bloggers, outside of those who maintain blogs in addition to their primary responsibilities as journalists for various media outlets.

Saying fan site bloggers should be permitted to obtain media credentials to pro sporting events is like saying someone who starts a blog in support of President Bush should be permitted to have White House press corps creds.           

They are credentialed media at the conventions.
Can't speak for the WH.

[SMJKeith]

Thanks for all the input.  Keep it coming!  Plenty of useful information and opinions.

Rufino, thanks for pointing out the typo.  My editor missed it!   

[Sweetness]

I say hell no to the question. There are already far too many loser fan-boys who get their crusty fingers around credentials and then in turn fill up press boxes and clog up locker rooms and make the job of those of us who are actually working ten times harder than it needs to be.

If you can site one -- just one -- example of a blogger making your job ten times harder than it needs to be in a press box, I'm listening...

The Nextel Cup race at Infineon last year. Some 450-pound blogger shows up, plants himself at someone else's seat(s), pushes everyone else's bags, laptops, and notebooks out of the way to clear space for his computer and his boom box.

Turns the volume way up on the TV with SPEED network on after every race/qualifying of the day (deadline-type shit).

Is asked repeatedly to mute it which he does for two or three minutes before he turns it back up. Periodically falls asleep and starts snoring at least a half-dozen times throughout the three-day event. Snorts himself awake each time.

Spills a glass of wine in the workstation. Leaves two-or-three plates of half-eaten food laying around on Sunday.

Talks nonstop to anyone and everyone within earshot.

Answers his phone like it's part of a Comedy Central skit -- "WHAT? YEAH IT'S ME. HEY WHAT'S UP DUDE? NO, I'M AT THE RACES. NO, THE RACES. YEAH, THE RACES. YEAH, INFINEON. I DUNNO. YEAH. GORDON'S A DOUCHEBAG. SURE I'LL TELL HIM. WATCH ME. NO. YEAH, THE YAHOO.COM GUY IS HERE TOO. DAMN RIGHT JENNA FRYER IS HOT. YEAH. NO, DOCTOR SAID IT WAS JUST A RASH. OF COURSE IT BURNS. SHIT YEAH, I HAVEN'T CRAPPED IN TWO DAYS. OK. LATER."

Then there was the little old lady working for the internet publication who made my boss move his laptop six or seven times because she said she couldn't see the TV next to him. She didn't want to trade places, just wanted him to move. Eventually he handed her the TV. Literally.

[zagoshe]

Someone made the point that a number of media people don't act professionally in press boxes and locker rooms and some even act like fan boy losers.

I agree, but the difference is they at least have some reason to be in the press box and locker room and they aren't wasting interview time, which if you have noticed is getting shorter and shorter, with their inane fan boy questions or worse, trying to have conversations about how much they enjoy watching a certain player play or how they have something in common (I grew up the next town over and my dad said he took his car to your dad's shop to get fixed") with an athlete or just clogging up the space in the locker rooms.

And anybody that thinks bloggers have more of a reach than any decent sized newspaper with an internet site is kidding themselves. Even the Rivals and Scout sites--if you read the team message boards there are maybe 20 or 25 unique posters at the most on just about every one of them.

There is no reason any blogger needs to be in the press box unless his blog is connected with a legitimate media outlet and he agrees to adhere to the same journalistic standards as all of the rest of us. I'd even go so far to say the blogger must also be getting paid for blogging because that would eliminate about 95 percent of them right off the top.

[mike royko]

I'd even go so far to say the blogger must also be getting paid for blogging because that would eliminate about 95 percent of them right off the top.

That is the primary distinguishing factor.   

We're credentialed because we are being paid by a media outlet which requires us to be there.

I realize that our jobs are kinda cool, at times, but why do so many people want to go to work with us?

[Bob Cook]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't teams and/or leagues control press box access? If a team or event thinks the bloggers they credential can help reach its fans, then why would it give a flying fuck what any "legitimate" journalists think? After all, don't we "legitimate" journalists get credentials because teams, in their heart of hearts, believe we're giving them free publicity, even if it isn't exactly what they would write?

[Bucknutty]

As a credentialed reporter for a paper/web site, I also blog during games for our site. I've gotten a lot of feedback that people like to go back later and re-read what I was writing during the game as they process what happened. But I don't consider myself a blogger; I consider myself a sports writer who also happens to blog during games.

[auggie_ben_doggie]

I'd even go so far to say the blogger must also be getting paid for blogging because that would eliminate about 95 percent of them right off the top.

Paid by whom? What if a blog has enough traffic to turn a profit through online advertising - isn't that "getting paid for blogging?"

Look, I'm not saying there aren't some bloggers that shouldn't be in the press box, because what they do doesn't warrant that kind of access -- it's all digest, review, media watch and that sort of thing. I think Royko's got it right -- deem them worthy if their particular brand of journalism needs gameday coverage of events, even if that coverage will not apprear the following morning.

Oh, and as far as "wasting our time with questions" goes, I've muttered that to myself numerous times in locker rooms, and it's never bloggers asking the most inane questions of the evening...

[zagoshe]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't teams and/or leagues control press box access? If a team or event thinks the bloggers they credential can help reach its fans, then why would it give a flying fuck what any "legitimate" journalists think? After all, don't we "legitimate" journalists get credentials because teams, in their heart of hearts, believe we're giving them free publicity, even if it isn't exactly what they would write?

Because there are rules as written by the football writers or basketball writers or baseball writers associations that stipulate how you should act in the press box and in the locker room not too mention guidelines from organizations like COSIDA.

And contrary to the beliefs of the fan boys on here, the more the merrier doesn't make our jobs easier, they just get in the fucking way.

If teams want to start filling their locker rooms with fan boys, well, that's their choice but it certainly isn't going to get them any more publicity than if they don't allow the "bloggers" in because the only people who read most blogs are fan boys and they read them regardless if the blogger has access or not.

Further, I would like to know one example of an independent "blogger" who needs access to do his job because it is actually his job.

Remember, these are WORKING press boxes. Period.

[sportsnut]

Ok, I think that some bloggers who are professional like let me use the guy over at LAObserved.com he does real work and does some investigative articles and should be given access like the cities newspapers.

Now laobserved.com/sports is the url if I am not mistaken is not a bad site and if they did more game coverage could and probably should be let in.

Now the entertainment industry has bloggers like gawker.com and perezhilton.com and if I am not mistaken they don't let into events like the Oscars and press junkets for movies. So if the million visitors that gawker.com and perezhilton.com don't get access why should dodgersrule.com get access to sports games?

But if John Does is a sports writer for i.e. LA Times and writers for the paper but also writers a blog about i.e. the Lakers let him in to do his thing.

The thing is the question is always what does the team allow? As journalists we don't get to approve of anyone that gets a seat in the press box and the team/league is not going to listen to us anyways so why bitch?

[Reel E Reel]

Ok, I think that some bloggers who are professional like let me use the guy over at LAObserved.com he does real work and does some investigative articles and should be given access like the cities newspapers.

Now laobserved.com/sports is the url if I am not mistaken is not a bad site and if they did more game coverage could and probably should be let in.

Now the entertainment industry has bloggers like gawker.com and perezhilton.com and if I am not mistaken they don't let into events like the Oscars and press junkets for movies. So if the million visitors that gawker.com and perezhilton.com don't get access why should dodgersrule.com get access to sports games?

But if John Does is a sports writer for i.e. LA Times and writers for the paper but also writers a blog about i.e. the Lakers let him in to do his thing.

The thing is the question is always what does the team allow? As journalists we don't get to approve of anyone that gets a seat in the press box and the team/league is not going to listen to us anyways so why bitch?

Perez Hilton is a great site.

And he does get invites to a LOT of events.

[Reel E Reel]

the only people who read most blogs are fan boys

Probably true.

And who is that reads MOST of what is written in any sports pages?

[RedHotChiliPrepper]

This is my opinion. As a guy who works for 20,000 circ paper, two hours from our nearest pro town. So needless to say, we're a prep heavy area. Two or three years ago we had a local boy who had a cup of coffee in the bigs and was now coming into said big city as a coach for a big league team. I got sent down to do a number of features on this guy.

I felt awkward because I felt like I might be getting in the way of the daily guys who were doing their daily interviews pregame. I asked if it was OK if I sat in on the meeting with the manager and I made sure to do as little "hanging around" the clubhouse as possible. I talked to my guy, talked to the manager when he had a free moment. Talked to a player or two for about five minutes and stood on the field for a little while to watch how the coach I was there to talk to interacted with the guys for color in my story.

I told the media relations guy that I didn't want to take anyone's spot in the press box because I wasn't doing game related stuff and if he needed my seat for someone doing game-related stories, I'd gladly just walk the concourse during the game and watch the game there.

Point of this rant being I know how awkward I felt interacting with the daily guy as a paid member of a media organization. I couldn't imagine being a fanboy blogger thinking I actually belonged in the press box or the clubhouse. That just blows me away. Let people who have a job to do do their job. Let fanboys buy a ticket and watch the postgame news conference on ESPNnews.

My $0.02

[Moderator1]

I hope the PR guy gave you a seat in the box since you were actually there working.  Doesn't matter if you were doing a daily, you were doing a legit story and you don't ever need to apologize for your presence under those circumstances.

[RedHotChiliPrepper]

He absolutely did. But I just wanted him to know that if it should get full — thought it probably wouldn't for a fourth of july game — that I'd gladly give up my seat because the game meant little to me other than watching a quality major league game.

[spaceman]

why would a blogger want to sit in a press box?

[ballscribe]

Thanks for all the input.  Keep it coming!  Plenty of useful information and opinions.

Rufino, thanks for pointing out the typo.  My editor missed it!   

Might want to make a change there. That's pretty glaring.

[Bob Cook]

why would a blogger want to sit in a press box?

Because some are actually doing game coverage, or want to expand in that direction, or otherwise want to be more than fanboy loosers and actually talk to players, front-office personnel, etc.

[BillyT]

It's not that hard. There are rules in place now about rooting or wearing team colors in the press box. Just enforce them. And if we're going to start defining "real journalists" out of the press box, we're gonna lose an awful lot of columnists, I'm thinking.

Excellent point. (Yes, that means it's what I was thinking )

If people are cheering in the press box, someone from the team's PR DEpartment (or college SID Office) should give them one warning.

If they come in team clothes, they should be advised that's not prper press box dress.