Sports Reporter, Rocky Mount (N.C.) Telegram

I really don't want to step on Ben's toes because I don't know what his coverage plans are, but the Telegram has been covering things like the ACC tourney the past few years. They cover the Hurricanes regularly. We got to cover the Panthers for about a season and a half until that got nixed.

But just so it's clear, it's a small local paper with a heavy focus on local stuff. It's not all Duke-UNC glamour assignments.

 

It's a good thing the Panthers coverage got nixed, unless you were covering the Redskins, too. After all D.C. is as close as Charlotte.

We used to have a staff at the WDT that covered the Panthers and spent more time on the Hurricanes than the local high schools. Now, I just hear folks tell me that the section is so much better than it was under the prior SE because of our high school and local sports coverage.

And we still find time for the ACC, the Hurricanes and Mudcats.

 

MU - is winning an APSE really that impressive? who here hasn't?

 

Maybe I'm in the minority, or missing the sarcasm font. ... But are you fucking crazy?

 

At Rocky Mount you will write a lot, about many different things. And while Northern Nash vs. Tarboro football has its charm (Do they call that the Jim Brett Bowl now?), it's only a small part. Everything I've seen and heard about guys who moved on from there was the diversity of their clip files kept them from getting pigeonholed into a prep gig, etc.

Since 1992, the staff got bigger and the department gets a lot of rope to do what it wants, as long as there are staff bylines and the complaint calls don't go to the ME or publisher. Does 1992 pre-date the Aumann era?

The only drawback I've heard about RMT is an early deadline because the paper is printed in Greenville (a sister Cox paper) and then trucked up. That also leaves out the opportunity to fix things or make running changes when a Final Four game doesn't end until midnight.

 

Lame response. That's not true at all.

 

Mostly it severely limits the 'Gram's coverage of Friday night high school sports for the Saturday edition. However, they make up for it on Sunday.

 

First off, a few posts back, someone (stupid, I think) mentioned Mud Cats. What the hell is a Mud Cat?
Secondly, why diss this paper. From everything I've read about this paper honestly makes me believe that it's one of the better smaller papers out there if you want to make a jump. And it doesn't seem like guys who leave here just make a small jump, but huge leaps.
And as far as the RMT grooming people, who cares if the paper does or not, the facts are the paper has a great rep and people go from there to much grander gigs. So why complain?

 

I think the modern and dictionary-excepted term for dissing the RMT is HATING. And since most people leave there for better jobs, that makes dissing the RMT in this case HATING x 2....not a good look.

 

Mudcat is another term for a big-ass Catfish. Simple thing, just cooler than saying the Carolina Catfish. Thier mascot is Muddy, a giant Catfish. They are a double-A affiliate of the Marlins, and most of the Florida club is made up of players that were here all last season. Hermida, Josh Johnson, etc.

 

Okay, from doing a google/earth search and cross-referencing my own sports knowledge, if you go to the RMT, you not only have a chance to cover some pretty good preps (I'm guess, but my assumption is that sports in the South is on a different level than up here), you also could have the Mud Cats (which I just learned about), all the ACC and Hurricanes stuff in Raleigh-Durham, the Durham Bulls, East Carolina University and Wilmington. All of those spots within an hour or so. I can see how the RMT allows people to do other things that get them noticed. It's in a very good sports area.
I think making a jump from smaller papers in areas with coverage/lifestyle possibilities like this is easier than some equally sized papers with nothing to cover but preps, little league and 'gator rasslin'. The proximity to Raleigh-Durham probabaly makes it easier for the RMT to attract people who wouldn't normally be interested, people who are likely to be scooped up by larger papers. I'm just guessing at all of this.

 

I've been hearing alot of people talk about this place being a nice stepping stone for people, but what happens if you have, oh say, three years of experience, including time on some quality beats, do u apply for the job. Is there such as thing as taking a step back to reexamine things to take a big step forward?