Querying SI

hey playthrough ... very good answer

who do you free-lance for?

wanna hit me up with some contact numbers at those publications?

thanks!

 

Hey all, I'm back. Contacted SI's letters-to-the-editor department and the secretary there gave me Chris Hunt's contact info. Thanks for the help, those of you who did.

I didn't take any offense to what anyone said, no matter how lame or mean-spirited or whatever it was. I'm only 21, but it's only taken me a month on these boards to figure out that taking such things personally and/or seriously accomplishes zilch. Some folks are just by nature jerks. And they do it from behind a pseudonym.

I honestly don't expect my proposal to get accepted. But it's a good idea and worth the long shot.

I threw myself out there like this knowing that's what I'd get, but also hoping -- correctly so -- that there were good people on this board who were willing to help each other out. Lord knows all of us need all the help we can get given the current climate of our profession. Why wouldn't you want to help someone else out?

Maybe that's part of our problem in journalism. Everything's about competing, about besting the next guy, about beating our journalistic competition instead of just being journalists. Yeah, do your job as best you can. But if you have the opportunity to help alongside the opportunity to ridicule, why not take the former? What does tearing down accomplish but to produce rubble where building up could provide stability and progress?

Just thoughts. Hope the good ones in here appreciated them, and as for you wolves....have at 'em.

 

Any self-respecting journalist should want to kick your ass on every story possible. Competition is good. Very good. Lack of competition is what helps breed the complacency you often find in one-newspaper towns.

But it's always good to try to help out someone, too, with a question about a contact.

 

Two things you can count on in a thread like this: Some people will post smart-ass answers, then a social worker will come along to scold everyone.

 

Subtlety like this is why Boom is allowed to stick around these parts.

 

The guys I worked alongside from other papers and news organizations were my best friends. And I wanted to kick the shit out of them every day of the week and twice on Sunday. And then we'd go have dinner.

Also - I wasn't being a smartass or trying to discourage you. I was trying to dispense a little well-meaning career advice. It's likely that if you begin with trying to pitch pieces to Sports Illustrated, you're going to be wasting your time. That'd be like an unpublished short story writer sending his piece to The New Yorker. Is there a chance that it gets picked up? Yeah, but it's like winning the lottery.

I'm sorry if some people find that offensive.

 

Nah man, you're good.

 

Hey, Sneed, if you wouldn't mind, let us know what kind of response you get from SI. Good luck.

 

Aim high - don't listen to strangers who tell you to start small.
BUT you should be resourceful enough to figure out whom to call on your own, without asking.

Good luck. I'd be interested in reading the piece wherever it lands.

(If SI says no... don't give up on a great idea)

 

Yeah, why would you want to listen to people who have been in the business for a while and had some success and might know what the hell they're talking about and may not help you get to SI today, but might have some wisdom on how to strike that kind of gold eventually if you play your cards right?

After all, this is the instant gratification generation that is entitled to anything and everything the second they step off campus. I keep forgetting that.