Getting bored with sports

So the brass at the Pittsburgh paper just expected Collier to swallow and the readers who knew of his diminished regard for sports to simply pretend it didn't exist? Gene's a real pro and that column was so good that it hurts to think he got pushed back into sports after it had lost its luster for him. Wonder how those editors would like being pushed back onto the copy desk (or some other task they figured they had left behind).

 

I'd heard differently.

 

I've went from news to sports in an attempt to have more freedom with the writing. I've found that while I do have that freedom to write more descriptively and take time to really report, the writing is getting better, but I'm not reporting on anything of consequence. There are a lot of downsides, too. A gamer, I've found, is like a meeting story.

This is my second season in sports and likely my last. I'll probably take the next news beat that opens, though I'd love to move to features.

 

i went from sports to a short stint in news and back to sports. i ask myself every day if i made the right choice.

 

That Collier column is terrific. I've never seen how I'm feeling so well articulated. I always feel like I'm being pretentious or something. Or ungrateful.

 

That would be so much fun to watch and even more fun to be the one telling them.

"The cushy job, the corner office, the long lunch "meetings?" Guess what? Come in at 3, take an hour for dinner and you'll get home about midnight or 1 a.m. Welcome to reality."

 

I understand that stuff is rough and the reason people shy away from news. But that doesn't frighten me too much. At least it's something that matters. I feel like you can really become detached from reality covering sports.

 

I worked with a writer who voluntarily moved from beat writer to copy editor... He hated to travel, but apparently thought he would have no problem working from 4 to midnight with Mondays and Tuesdays off... They asked him over and over and over again if he was sure he was making the right move and he seemed convinced he was... He lasted a month on the desk and then quit the business...

 

I've joined "team coverage" for 9/11 and one other huge tragedy that we had in our backyard where it was kind of an "all hands on deck" situation and while it was nice to be covering something other than writing about which millionaire athlete is upset about playing time, it also kind of took a toll on me that fortunately, sports rarely does...

I have so much respect for our cops reporters. I have no idea how they do it day in and day out...

 

PW, it sounds like you're ready to roll up your sleeves and give it a go. What the heck, why not? It's not like you'll miss anything important, should you decide to come back to sports. Same insignificant games, same spoiled athletes, same imperious coaches, same drooling fans will still be around when you come back. If you come back.

 

I just wonder how tough it would be to make the jump. I interviewed for a news enterprise/investigative job at one point because I had a connection at that shop, but my lack of "news experience," particularly lack of covering government, cops, etc., did me in. Don't know how to overcome that.

 

What's more important, "news experience" or being able to write well on deadline?

We had a guy try to move from features to sports a few years back and it was a disaster because he had no concept of having to write a gamer on deadline... He was considered one of the paper's better writers as well...