Non-daily reporters at NFL training camps

The NFL team we cover "strongly encourages" media outlets with season credentials to attend at least a few training camp practices. So, I imagine, some do it out of necessity.

 

Free food from the cafeteria, which is why I feel some daily writers go.

 

If I was in their shoes I would be getting as many future features for my clips own file as possible. Maybe they do not want to be at a weekly their entire career and have higher goals?

You should be able to pull at least three features out of every day of camp. Everyone wants to talk to Ben Roethisberger, but I am guessing that Trai Essex will be more than happy to shoot the shit for 5-10 minutes one-on-one.

Not every credential has to be used every minute of every game and practice. Now if a person kept showing up without ever writing anything, that would be an issue.

 

Absolutely. Our paper is about 45 minutes away from the training camp of the team that is the favorite of a good chunk of our readership. Just because we don't go every day doesn't mean we don't do just as hard of a job. When we go, we definitely get three or four stories. And like 93 said, everyone wants guys like Eli Manning or Ben Roethlisberge but a lot of the others will talk to you no problem.

 

In 1993 I organized interviews for writers covering the Arizona Cardinals, and I was never, ever turned down by a player. Even when I pulled Freddie Joe Nunn out of the shower when it broke that he put an alleged beat down on his wife the night before.

Players want to talk, and be sure to send them a clip of the article if you want to make a friend for life.

 

Am I missing something? Was that post for real?

 

There was a writer at a small daily in Upstate NY who used to be on Thurman Thomas' Christmas Card list for one article the writer wrote about him. Even though Thomas was not the last player on the roster, it shows that many of the players enjoy being talked to and written about.

Snide comment in 3...2...

 

As someone who covered major college teams at a community weekly, and previously covered a MLS club for a Web site, I agree with this wholeheartedly.

Even if you aren't drawing a paycheck to cover a team, at least act like you're professional, and I won't care who you are or whom you work for. If you openly cheer in the press box (See: Dibble, Rob), then we've got problems.

 

....1

Have you ever been into an NFL locker room? Sure, there are a few guys who enjoy interacting with the media, but for the most part -- at least in my limited experience -- they would rather shit and fall back in it than talk to the media.

 

Yes.

I was the PR intern for the Arizona Cardinals in the early 1990s. So I have spent considerable time with NFL players.

The writer who I referenced in the above paragraph went from an under-15,000 paper in the middle of nowhere NY (about two hours from Buffalo, but still in their viewing area), to a beat writer with the expansion Panthers if I recall correctly.

 

Good for him.

All I'm saying is that a lot has changed since the early 90s with both the media and the players.

And if you're serious about the advice to send the player a clip of the story to make a friend for life....well....that's just pathetic.

 

What are you, a video game? Did you run out of letters?