1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Covering games on your own time

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Stitch, Jul 18, 2008.

  1. Overrated

    Overrated Guest

    When I did it for a season, I wasn't required or even asked to go. We had a credential...nobody else used it...I went all season. It didn't improve my skills by leaps and bounds, but I'd by lying if I said I didn't learn anything. And, I will volunteer my time when it suits my purpose. It's my time.
     
  2. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    God, some of you are some cynical fucks. And I mean that in a loving way. :D
     
  3. nmmetsfan

    nmmetsfan Active Member

    So some people might want to go above and beyond to make themselves better reporters. Some of the best people in this business are covering the pros. You can definitely learn a lot from them (I certainly did). If your shop has AP and cares less if you run AP or your own stuff on your own dime, why would anyone want to put them to shame for "getting big boy clips"?
    As long as they're actually working and not just taking up space, more power to them.
     
  4. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Although I will agree with Waylon's point that no clip you generate from a one-off pro event on your own time is going to be worthy of inclusion when you're sending off your resume.

    But that doesn't mean you can't gain from the experience.
     
  5. Yeah, that's what I meant.

    If you do that, don't go for the clip. Go for the experience.

    But don't make a habit of it, either. They aren't season tickets, you know?

    Also, although some of the best reporters in this business, as nmmetsfan points out, are covering the pros, they aren't doing the work that makes them the best reporters in the business out in the open in a locker room. They don't get that reputation from their fine questions during the post-game gang bang.
     
  6. fossywriter8

    fossywriter8 Well-Known Member

    Pardon me, Mr. Big Time NFL Writer. As someone who obviously has no idea how the newspaper world works, I should just bow down and grovel for the morsels of information you deem worthy of my attention.
    Please. I probably struck a nerve because you were at the back of that herd wondering who'd beaten you to a scoop.
    And, no, I wasn't griping about other writers talking to the same player I was at the same time. Believe it or not, I actually do know how post-game interviews work. You see, I am very familiar with doing real reporting. My comment was geared toward the humorous aspect of a herd of writers rushing over to talk to a player they knew nothing about, but rushing over anyway because, apparently like you, they're their only concern is using their current gig as a stepping stone to the next.
    And if the locker room interview is the tip of the tip of the iceberg, then that herd of writers had already missed a big story by the time they came over.
    Trust me, my self-righteousness was well-deserved.
     
  7. "they're only concern"
     
  8. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    C'mon Waylon, Fossy is learning how the big boys wrok. Soon he'll learn English as well.
     
  9. Actually, from the way I understand it, he's the one learnin' them on Sunday afternoons, not the other way around.
     
  10. Stone Cane

    Stone Cane Member

    yo fossy -- you really ought to just shut up for once and listen and maybe learn something.

    waylon is a pro. and you're coming off like a juvenile self-righteous punk-ass prick
     
  11. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    wfw, stone.
     
  12. Jim_Carty

    Jim_Carty Member

    Yes, there are tough beat packs.

    There are others that a very, very helpful to a young writer.

    There were people I met covering the Cardinals in the early 1990s, at times on my own time, who are professional and personal friends today. Kent Somers, the current Cardinals beat reporter for the Arizona Republic, was tremendously generous with his time. I wish I had five minutes to tell the late Steve Schoenfeld how much he taught me both by example, and by taking the time to interact with me as a peer, rather than the 22-year-old moron I probably was. There were multiple other writers from the AP and papers big and small who did similar things, as well as media relations people from both the Cardinals and Suns.

    I understand what Waylon and others are saying here. You won't get your best clips from these experiences.

    But I received some very good lessons on how to be a professional, how to act in an NFL locker room or press conference, how to approach players, coaches and executives in a variety of settings.

    It was, in my case at least, worth every dollar I didn't get paid for it.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page