Sports writers and drinking

Count me in the never crowd. Not that I hold my nose up at others, just not my bag.
I have enough vices: soda, porn, red meat ...so I don't need another.
Just as an aside, our company will cover all meals no questions asked, but they don't cover alcohol as a policy. So I can have a $30 steak and it's cool, but if I had a $2 draft beer or $4 glass of wine, I would be pulled in the editors office and asked to cough up the money to accounting by the end of the week. :-[

 

When I first started in the biz, an old-timer told me that drinking heavily was basically a job requirement. I replied if that was true, I wouldn't last very long.

Still here, still sober. :-\

My not drinking has never been a big deal. I used to go to the bar after Friday night football with the guys at my first gig, and it was a grand ol' time. I usually tag along when the crew here goes out too, as long as I don't have an early game the next morning (like I do today. Ugh!)

I'm not missin' out on anything except the hangover.

 

I don't drink at all. There's no Great Reason for it - just can't stand the taste of beer and have never bothered to find something else. I go out to the bar with colleagues after games quite often, and order a 7-Up or a Coke or whatever. People used to make comments about it, but I doubt anyone even notices any more.

 

I don't drink. My reasons have zero to do with the business. FWIW, it's not religious, either.

 

What's drinking regularly? A glass of wine or beer 4-5 days a week regular?

Getting blasted every Friday night?

 

Great line on MAD Men last night when a secretary who helped out on some ad copy came in to an office where some of the execs were celebrating a successful meeting.


C'mon knock off early. You're a writer. Have a drink.
"I don't drink," she said.
"Not a writer," the execs say in unison.

 

Don't think we're talking about the same paper, but this dredged up memories of the sports desk at the Boston Globe in the early '80s. One of the veterans had a fifth of Old Thompson in his file drawer. On Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, the copy desk had a better-stocked liquor supply than some bars. I never drank Jack Daniel's until I got to 135 Morrissey Blvd. (Never drank it again after I left, either.)

It's freakin' amazing we managed to get those sections out.
;D

 

I enjoy the booze. It's less than it was back in the day, but I'm also a lot happier personally (and, for the most part, professionaly) so that has a lot to do with it. But I do love me some beer.

 

I'm not missing out on anything except the hangover, too, PaperDoll. My only problem is it seems that among the many, many sports writers I work with, hang out with, or go to a place to eat or whatever after a game is the "social outcast" feeling I recieve from the looks they give me when I order a coke. Even the waitress looks at me like I'm an idiot.

I don't appreciate that treatment by others because I willingly accept others and their drinking. In fact, if anything, the whole situation should be reversed. They should feel like the losers for having to get smashed to enjoy themselves. I just wish drinkers would understand that it's ok to not drink, too. I hate that strange look they give you when you don't order a beer with them.

 

Used to down quite a few brewskis and rum and cokes in my younger years. Even had a couple of fortunate nights when I don't remember driving home and made it safely -- no reports of hit-and-run victims, either. But the turning point for me was getting so drunk and trying to pick up a waitress at a bar. I made a complete ass of myself trying to get her attention whenever she strayed across the room. When she told me she had a boyfriend, I told her I wanted to be put on the waiting list and gave her my phone number. She laughed and I went home, broke and heartbroken. But at 3:30 a.m. that night, after she got off work, she called me and we talked for an hour.
We were married within three months (no, she didn't get pregnant) and are now closing in on celebrating our 28th anniversary.
With divorce so high in this biz, I consider myself one of the lucky ones. It's not easy finding someone who will put up with all the long hours and working nearly every weekend. As for drinking, I'm averaging about one beer a month.

 

Great story.

 

Porn is a vice?