Sports Media Guide

the james lipton school of interviewing.

 

I'll admit, I've used the "talk about" line many times. I picked up the nasty habit while slumming as a "reporter" for a sports talker, and I dreaded using it ... still do. That said, oftentimes in a non-descript affair, it is often one of the few ways to get any sort of quote out of a player, especially if you're trying to fill a notes package. It's a bad habit, and I try very hard to only use it if necessary.

 

aaron schatz - footballoutsiders.com:
"A. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent on the DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) formula that is the main stat on our site."

give me a break. wide receivers are totally hostage to their qbs. so how credible is wide receiver DVOA?

 

C'mon. Saying "talk about the wide receivers" is a lazy way to get someone chattering. I don't care if I'm in the minority.

Oftentimes, you don't get a good quote out of it cuz the subject has no idea what you're trying to get them to say. The talk about "question" is the quickest way to get a cliche.

 

art spander ripping W on stifling free speech.
does anybody besides me shudder when sportswriters venture into politics?

 

sound reporting advice from rick gosselin - another good Q&A - reporting isn't just collecting information - it's trading information.

"People give me information because I give them back – they benefit from things I have. Most reporters want something – they want information – but when coaches call me I can give them special teams rankings and they can benefit from that. If you're a personnel director and you want to draft a running back you can call me and ask how I have my running backs stacked. You know I've been talking to a lot of people. You're getting a feel for what other people think.

This whole business is built on who you know. My network has expanded with special teams coaches and draft rankings and games-lost-by-starters charts. I've never wanted to be in a position where people don't take my call. I don't call on a weekly basis – I call coaches two or three times a season. They always take my call, partly because they know I might give them something. I chart officiating – penalties called by what crews. I give that to coaches if they ask. So I take but I also give.

 

Just one. And it ain't Spander.

 

Once upon a time, this old radio guy -- want to say he was from the Flint area, might have been Pete Sark -- used to cover the Tigers.
He'd never ask Sparky Anderson questions. Instead, he'd hold out his microphone and say "Sparky? (Blank)." And Sparky would have to talk about what ever blank happened to be -- pitching, lack of hitting, the weather... was so bad that the press box joke would be Sparky having to answer off baseball like "Sparky? AIDS/Noreiga/Disco"

 

You're dead wrong, Shaggy. Talk about is nice and open-ended -- sometimes they'll go off into something you wouldn't have gotten if you launched into the pretend-Mike Wallace mode. Start broad, then get specific with follow-up.

That said, here's my peeve about "talk about": Would people have the courtesy to frame it as a question? "Coach, could you talk about what happened to your defense in the second half?" Not, "Coack, talk about ...'' You sound like an asshole, giving commands. Show a little civility.

 

For those that have used the "talk about" question in a lazy, "coach, could you talk about Joe Smith?" kind of way ... has the coach ever said:

"Yeah, I could talk about him ... uhh, do you want me to?" Or have they ever given a half-assed response?

Personally, if I were a coach and someone asked me the "talk about" question in a lazy way -- without providing specifics or a direction -- I would just talk randomly about said person, until a "question" was asked.

 

Or you could just ask, "Coach, what happened to your defense in the second half?" Or better yet, get more specific: "Coach, how come your defense had so much trouble stopping xxx in the second half?" Or: "Coach, why did your defense have so much trouble in the second half? What adjustments did you make to try to solve this problem?"

"Talk about" is superfluous because presumably the person you're questioning is going to talk about whatever your question is whether you ask him or her to talk about it or not.

 

True, but nobody (other than maybe Bob Knight or another asshole of that ilk) parses your question. So if you say, ``Coach, can you talk about your defense's trouble stopping the run?'' the coach will probably answer rather than thinking, ``Gee, that `talk about' phrase was superfluous and borderline redundant. What a dolt.'' Just ask a question that leads to a specific, detailed answer. If that includes the words ``talk about,'' so what?