What exactly are sports journalists qualified to do?!

I guess it's a matter of different experiences for different people, but when I was in the biz and covering games on a regular basis, it got to a point where it was repetitive. All the games were pretty much the same. Sure the faces and scores change, but the storylines all fell into one of a handful of categories. And on desk, your routine was the same every year -- FB preview, FB season, hoops preview, hoops season, March Madness, NBA & NHL playoffs, baseball, golf & horse racing, plus community sports crap, during the summer. Take a breath for 2 weeks in July, then you do it all over again. And covering prep games several years in a row, from the time I got out of high school to about 6 years after college, was enough to make me feel old knowing that I've seen some kids play for 4 years and then watched their younger siblings for 4 more years. It also gave me a feeling of being static, watching so many people move through stages in their lives and then seeing myself still in the same spot, watching them go by.

 

I've seen a handful of ex-journalists become teachers -- including myself.

Because so many schools are union jobs, where salary is tied to experience, the possibility of hiring an older person at an entry-level salary (which is still more $$ than I made as an SE) makes second-career teachers look very attractive to schools. That said, I had *7* interviews before I was hired in my current job, and the fact that I lived in/worked in the community for eight years didn't hurt, as the people I interviewed with were either coaches I covered or parents whose kids I covered.

The nice thing is, I get a few freelance nibbles during my rare free time, too, so I can stay in the game, but I don't deal with the burnout and the corporate BS that I used to.

Interestingly ... I coached in a tennis match a few weeks ago against one of the top programs in our state. Both me and the opposing coach were ex-SEs-turned teacher/coaches.

 

A couple years ago I thought I might like to try something else and went to a job fair in a pretty big city to see what else I was qualified for.
Let's just say, I left pretty depressed.

 

drink beer and bitch. a lot. of both.

 

Does that pay well? I think I can manage that.

 

see howard stern.

 

Yard work.

 

who do you think you're kidding? you sweat doing yard work, don't you?

 

you work up a sweat downing all of those press box dogs, don't you?

 

I worked up a sweat too, eating hot dogs at Michigan Stadium for years and trying to keep them down.

 

When I left my previous job as an entry-level researcher, I thought I noticed gray hairs growing in my then-32 year old hair.

Now that I've been in this gig for just over two years, I know I don't see them (and believe me, I've looked). I actually *feel* younger now than I did then.

 

That's not sweat. That's the hot dog toxins forcing all the healthy fluids out of your body.