So you want to be a beat writer . . .

Never been a baseball writer, done other sports, but from what I gather from friends, there is ample opportunity for fun on the road. Leaving out the fact that the ballpark in itself is a more fun place to work than most office environments, there are matters such as:

--If you have an afternoon game (that isn't the last game of the series) in a place like New York or Chicago, you can have a lot of fun that night.

--If you fly on an off day to a city where your old college buddy lives, you'll have fun there. (I think anyone would agree that the chance to renew old acquaintances is a nice perk of any beat job.)

--If you're a museum-goer or just a people-watcher, you'll have a few hours to do that every day you're in a city.

Not to discount the grind, but the idea that a person could find some time on a 10-day trip to have some fun does not seem objectionable or offensive or something to argue with a well-wisher about.

 

So you'd like people to understand, but when someone writes a story to help people understand, you call it whiny? I didn't see it as whiny at all. Just the truth. And yes, there are definitely some perks to the job that others have pointed out, and for a time I'm sure it would be a fun gig, but I wouldn't want to cover MLB, NHL or NBA. Being away from home that much just isn't worth the good stuff. Definitely something you have to be cut out for. My paper has had some tremendous MLB beat writers, but I can tell you each one got burned out fairly quickly from either family issues or the workload (or both). Well, except for the current beat guy, but he hasn't been on it too awfully long. I wouldn't want to do the NFL either, since our guy is pretty much on call 24/7/365. I'm perfectly happy with my (more or less) set hours on the desk. Now, if we could do something about all these nights and weekends.