Breaking into an NFL gig?

I'm reading all these NFL beat writer openings over on the jobs board, and noticing that they're pretty much snapped up within a couple days by guys already covering NFL beats. Most of the time it seems like there's already a candidate in mind.
So my question is, if you haven't covered an NFL beat (or any pro team, for that matter) how in the hell do you break in? Obviously it happens or else there'd never be any fresh blood. But what kind of career path do you follow to prepare yourself? Is it possible to break into that gig as an outsider? Do you more or less have to work your way up through the ranks at a paper and take advantage of an opening? Or just be, as the saying goes, an effin' stud?
And, for the SEs out there, if a resume like mine came across your desk (a few years at a 15K paper) how long would it take to type up the rejection letter? 30 seconds? 90? ;D

 

hey moddy and idaho, why aren't you guys moving all the journalism threads that keep popping up on the anything goes board?

 

Rejection letter? I thought it was called a recycling bin?

 

You got a problem with talking shop on this board?

This board is anything goes, which means we can talk shop here, too. We're not limited to pop culture and politics on this board.

 

It's not typing on a rejection letter that stops them. It's typing up 200 of them.

 

hey, i'm not telling you how to run your operation. i thought the other board was for journalism topics and this one was for non-journalism topics. i understand that journalism falls under 'anything' but the fact that there's a separate board for journalism would lead one to believe that journalism stuff stays on the other board and 'anything' means 'anything but journalism.' simple deductive reasoning! that's why you guys broke it into two a few years back, if i'm not mistaken.

 

just joshing with you.

it's certainly a better fit on the other board, but generally the jobs and j-only boards are the ones we try to keep the riff-raff out of. We'll let the 'serious' threads go where ever they want to.

 

Sorry about that ... I was bouncing around the boards when the thought popped into my head and thought I had posted it to the journalism board. My first topic-starter and I've already done fucked up. Feels kind of like throwing 16 straight balls in your big league debut.

 

Y'all quit threadjacking!

Now, Batman, if you want a job on an NFL beat I have to ask - Do you have any experience selling knives?

 

I'm reading all these NFL beat writer openings over on the jobs board, and noticing that they're pretty much snapped up within a couple days by guys already covering NFL beats. Most of the time it seems like there's already a candidate in mind. Yes, most sports editors always have an idea who on their staffs or outside might be a good candidate for a key beat.


So my question is, if you haven't covered an NFL beat (or any pro team, for that matter) how in the hell do you break in? Obviously it happens or else there'd never be any fresh blood. But what kind of career path do you follow to prepare yourself? Is it possible to break into that gig as an outsider? Do you more or less have to work your way up through the ranks at a paper and take advantage of an opening? Yes, work at a larger paper and do what you can to impress the boss is a good way.

And, for the SEs out there, if a resume like mine came across your desk (a few years at a 15K paper) how long would it take to type up the rejection letter? 30 seconds? 90? ;DWhen you fill a major beat, you want someone with beat experience. Covering preps or GA for a smaller paper ain;t gonna raise the eyebrows.

 

... experience in cutlery sales preferred ....

 

Bat,

Start low and work up. Cover a high school beat and ask your editor to let you do some sidebar work on the college beat. You may end up with the college beat eventually. That will help you get noticed more. Do some college stringing if possible for visiting team papers.

get the clips and keep sending out the resumes