Bad Guys vs Good Guys

Would these guys, who really were trailblazers in all of this, be called be called jerks for being on TV?

 

When I was a year out of college working for a tiny daily in Flagstaff, Arizona, Rick Reilly came to town during Suns training camp to do a big feature for SI. The daily's sports editor knew him a little bit and introduced me. I asked Rick if had time to offer some writing tips and he said sure, and then proceeded to spend the entire next day with me talking writing and the craft. He asked me to send him some clips, and a few weeks later called up and spent an hour going over them, talking about how I could be better.

I've never talked to him or seen him again, but I've heard similar stories like this from young writers in Colorado.

You can say whatever you want about his writing and career arc and the choices he's made, but Rick Reilly is no prick and no fool. And life has taught me to be real, real cautious about putting those labels on anyone you don't have some personal experience with.

 

I covered a fairly large basketball/football program for my college paper several years back, the type of gig where I often ended up in press rooms with top-tier college writers and, every now and then, a national personality who was there to do a feature or column. My general experience was that if you approached them at the right time, almost all of them were great guys (and gals). One national writer gave me his e-mail address and told me to shoot three or four stories his way. A week later, they were back in my inbox, critiqued, edited and annotated with plenty of great advice. Another national guy gave me his card and told me if I ever needed help finding a source, I could call him. Others offered invites to tag along to the hotel bar or the postgame get-together.

There were a few who weren't very accommodating and a few who looked at me as a waste of time. But the overwhelming majority of the people I've met in this business are great people. I've met very few I'd call a prick and even less I'd call a fool.

 

Funny story.
I once did a journalism seminar for a major university -- it shall remain nameless, except to say that it produced a hack named Mizzougrad96 -- and about a year later I came across a blog post that absolutely pounded me for acting like a colossal jerk in the aftermath of said seminar. It said that I blew off people who came up and tried to talk to me afterward and was a complete tool.
Now I've done these sorts of seminars for several universities and a writers' group or two and as far as I can remember I've always been gracious with people afterwards, usually one of the last people to leave. I've no particular recollection of the seminar in question, but I contacted the blogger and said that he had to have it all wrong, that's totally out of character for me.
Blogger wrote back and said he checked his sources, and I indeed was a tool.
So I guess I am.

 

Did you wear a Danny Manning jersey?

 

I've seen and heard very few people more obsessed with money -- his money, other people's money, money still be grabbed at, money foregone -- than Kornheiser. Anyone who has or makes a lot of money, he seems to think is OK. Any time money is a motive for a decision or behavior of any sort, that seems to make everything all right and justified for him too.

Has a friend ever told him how unbecoming that is?

 

I must note that the people cited by the thread starter are all very talented. You may not like their work, but many others disagree. They have audiences. As for star performers often being unpleasant/insecure/a pain in the ass in some way or another, well, duh. I mean, this is a board for people who cover sports, right? Haven't you seen that phenomenon in, well, sports?

 

Those are fantastic stories -- stories I envy. I wish my experiences were similar, but every game/presser/function I attend is crawling with opportunistic journalists. The networking game isn't one I play because I'm more the kind to make friends. It's challenging, however, when they see my media pass and affiliation, and gain the interest that wasn't there when I was trying to converse casually.

Did a football game a few weeks ago, and the guy sitting next to me couldn't have given a colder shoulder. Then he glances at my seat holder in the press box and sees my branded materials, and I couldn't be more intriguing. I don't want to be labeled a prick or a fool this early in the game, but I'm not here to slide into a back pocket.

Honestly, nothing bugs me more than a writer/journalist who doesn't give you eye contact until you catch him glancing at your media pass. It's some kind of obscene, penis-showing contest to see who has the bigger affiliation behind them.

 

A lot of times I'd look at somebody's pass mostly to see if I'd read their work.

 

What makes them a prick? Because you disagree with their ideas?
What makes someone a good guy? Because you agree?
If you don't personally know any of these individuals, and I don't mean just saying hello in the press box, your opinion could be skewed. Know the total person before passing judgment.