Getting bored with sports

Buck - In my defense, I think I might get similarly bored if I was, say, on the cops beat or the education beat or the environmental beat. I think I have a bit of a restless intellect.

 

Previous shop, we had a bored sports copy editor who was starting to drag down the group, so we persuaded him to switch to the community weeklies. He took it well and is thriving as a neighborhood editor. Sometimes a lateral (or just different) move can make a difference, even at the same place.

 

That's a good way to look at it.

This is an opportunity, not a problem.

You'll find something to get you going again.

And Buck, nice perspective. Good post.

 

I'm an editor on the news side now after moving a few weeks ago. I love the new challenge. Today's editorial meeting about what's going on the front page was lively and contentious. Everyone was throwing out ideas for "the line" and finally I suggested something that stuck like cooked noodles on the kitchen wall. So that's what we're going with. I'm really digging this new endeavor. Lot more responsibility, but I've damn near forgotten about how damn boring the sports side had become before the big change.

Try your hand in news or entertainment, or whatever. Sometimes a good shakeup soothes all that ails ya.

 

Sports=people at their best
Rest of the paper=people at their worst

That's mostly true, I think, the occasional Vick or OJ story notwithstanding.

 

Michael Vick just phoned with some advice. He said, "Get a dog."

 

you aren't the first.

mike janofsky - ny times. migrated to news.
alan richman - migrated to news then food.
mike littwin. derrick jackson. jody murphy.

covering sports is like being force-fed a diet of desserts. rich gooey desserts, over and over.
eventually you crave a a burger and fries and some greens.

 

where do you think the story about the failing innner-city school system is going to be reported? start with the city council. city councilors know all the secrets in your city.

here's my take on foreign/national correspondents vs. local metro reporters:
the foreign/national guys parachute in and feed off the local reporters - fancy it up - and present themselves as news reporters when they're actually glorified feature writers.

the local metro reporters are the front line infantry of the paper. the grunts. by far the best and toughest reporters - would blow away foreign/national reporters in any test of reporting. you would think to get a foreign/national job you would have to earn your stripes on a local beat, but that's rarely the case. the fancy glamour jobs are handed our for reasons of diversity, academic credentials, and non-journalism credentials. most of the people who get those fancy jobs are journalism's version of trust-fund kids.