Perceived bias

Has anyone else had an issue with family or friends thinking you root for the team you cover? Maybe I'm the only one who deals with this, but one of my biggest problems since working in this business is when someone I'm close to asks me "Who do you guys play next?" or something along those lines, implying I'm a fan of who I cover. It absolutely drives me nuts, especially when I tell the person that I don't root for them and they're honestly surprised by that.

Anyone else bothered when someone doesn't understand multiple times that we don't support who we write about, and how do you deal with that?

 

Hell, we have people at work accusing others of rooting for certain teams.

 

yes, this is a common occurence for everyone at one time or another. like when a friend or relative says, 'shockey writes for the jets (or whatever).' um, no. i write ABOUT the jets. after a while you just kinda go along. it's less tiring than explaining the reality.

 

Hey Shockey,

I've got an idea for Rex Ryan foot powder. With you being pals and all, I thought you could talk to him for me.

 

Yes, you get it all the time...just another case of outsiders not understanding how the business really works. I usually just give it a short "I don't really care who wins" reply and leave it at that.

 

That type of stuff didn't drive me nuts because I really didn't care.

 

No one in my family does it, but I've had people who cheer for an out-of-town school come up to me and ask 'Who do you guys play next?' I don't know why they think I'm a fan of the other team, but whatever.

 

Why assume that a schedule question is inferring you're a fan? Honestly, I think you're reading too much into this. It's one thing if someone asks why you're not upset after a loss or smiling after a win...but generally, that seems innocent enough. Mountain out of a mole hill.

 

Mountain out of a molehill-inator

 

I get it more in high school environments more than anything else. The old, "Why aren't you cheering for the home team?" question from the rash of boosters who have invaded the press box.

The handful of times I get banished to the stands because of TV invading along with the boosters, even a laptop open and a notepad by my side, I still get questions and dirty looks.

It's a default fan mode, especially if you're stuck covering a losing team. "Well, if journalists want to cover a team so often, they must be fans, too! Why else would they subject themselves to it?"

When it comes to pro and college, the question isn't so much: "Why aren't you rooting for them?" as it is: "Can you get me in? Can I go with you? You have an extra ticket?"

I used to try to explain that I only had my press pass, but that never got anywhere. So instead I've borrowed a reply from my forefathers and tell them if they want to write a gamer, column, notebook, and spend time making sure they got enough out of the interviews for a follow-up in the next day's paper, and get it all done in 90 minutes (if they're lucky), they can have it.

Yet to find any takers.

 

Yup. I just assume most people don't understand the newspaper business, since most people don't work in the biz. So when I get a schedule question I just answer it and when I get someone who blatantly says I root for a certain team I just explain that I write an unbiased view of what happened. No big deal really.

 

When it's said afterward, "I thought you're supposed to root for a team when you move to that area", he's assuming I'm a fan, despite the fact that I've told him over and over that it's not the case.