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Career hypothetical

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Pringle, Aug 9, 2006.

?

All other things being equal, including pay (relative to living expenses), which would you take with

  1. Metro paper, 200,000-plus, preps

    13 vote(s)
    32.5%
  2. Smaller paper, approx. 60,000, major college

    27 vote(s)
    67.5%
  1. Pringle

    Pringle Active Member

    Would you leave a college beat for big city preps?

    Would you leave big-city preps for a college beat?
     
  2. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    If you are good and confident in your abilities (and assuming you don't want to cover preps the rest of your life), I would take the preps job and parlay it into a college or pro beat in a couple years.
     
  3. JayFarrar

    JayFarrar Well-Known Member

    What about quality of life?
    College usually means more travel and less time at home.
    Preps usually means weekends and most nights off.
    Less stress with preps as well.
     
  4. Montezuma's Revenge

    Montezuma's Revenge Active Member

    When I did preps, I worked plenty of weekends and nights. I always thought preps was more actual work than covering colleges.

    Thank God I did it less than a year.
     
  5. TrooperBari

    TrooperBari Well-Known Member

    Nights off? With high school sports?

    I must keep picking the wrong states.
     
  6. Pringle

    Pringle Active Member

    I always find it interesting when people start debating whether colleges and preps are harder or more labor-intensive. I think every job, if you do it right, is a lot of hard work. Hours and travel, to me, are things that kind of differentiate beats - which is why everyone wants to be an NFL writer and no one wants to do baseball.

    But it's a myth that college writers have "everything handed to them." Yeah, if they are bad college writers.
     
  7. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Well, it's easier to be a bad college beat writer than a bad preps writer.
     
  8. Montezuma's Revenge

    Montezuma's Revenge Active Member


    Yeah, but college writers don't have to do stats, and deal with a zillion logistical problems that the high school guys do.
     
  9. Riddick

    Riddick Active Member

    this thread kinda has me wondering. seems like most guys i know in the business are either divorced or single. where do you all stand? cause let's face it, the hours are brutal, and I know my gf and I are on the rocks because I just don't have the time I'd like to spend with her.
     
  10. JayFarrar

    JayFarrar Well-Known Member

    If you are a true writer, with no desk duties, roundup writing or page proofing, and you cover preps, you ain't got no business working past 6 on non-game nights.
    Assuming your state plays football on a Friday, your other fall sports are generally during the week, with the exception being Saturday morning cross country.
    Hoops get a little more complicated, you might see an occasional Saturday game, outside of tournament time, but most games are usually Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
    Spring sports are usually during the day.
    When I covered preps,  I was off Saturday and Sunday. My one late night during football was Friday. I did everything else in the day, during school hours. When I did the SEC beat, and during footbal season, I didn't have a day off. I didn't cover hoops, but that was even worse for those guys with all the travel.
    And I broke up with my GF over the SEC coverage. She told me she wasn't a football widow and said adios
     
  11. Kaylee

    Kaylee Member

    Granted, I'm only one 'lil insignificant speck, but my own $0.02 is that worries about the job via-a-vis one's personal life are possibly overblown a tad.

    I've been lucky enough to work around plenty of hard-working prep guys and plenty of hard-working college guys who manage to make their marriages/relationships/families work. I've been equally unlucky to work around some lecherous pigs who would pass up a night with their kids in order to go drinking, and would remove their respective wedding bands upon entering the bar.

    My take? Like anything, you get what you put in. This lifestyle may take a bit more effort and work on the part of both you and your partner, and your partner must obviously understand that this isn't a 9-to-5 gig. But just about any kind of relationship, be it love, friendship or simply boss-employee takes work.

    The guys I know who have struck a balance would tell you that they wouldn't trade it for anything. The guys I know who have screwed the pooch in that department seem miserable despite whatever job advances come along. My guess is it's worth the extra work.
     
  12. imjustagirl2

    imjustagirl2 New Member

    When I did preps, it was soccer M,T,Thur; Football Friday, and small college football on Saturdays in the fall.

    Winter, basketball was M,T,Thur, Fri, usually 2 Saturday games a month, and swimming on Wednesday evenings.


    Bless you for not having to do all that. But don't assume others don't.
     
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