When is it time to get out?

I thought about getting an MBA. I've considered everything from sports management, public relations, organizational communications and I have a friend who is into sports broadcasting and is really enjoying it. I just don't have the heart to leave the area of sports yet or at all.

I've peeked at http://www.sportsmanagementworldwide.com and I've grown interested in trying a course or two and seeing if it'll spruce up my resume a bit towards a field away from journalism but still within sports/communication.

 

FYI, nobody has money for graduate school. That's why they go to graduate school.

 

Sadly...that was one of the reasons why I gave my friends on becoming a sports writer.

 

Yeah, it sounds good in theory, but when it's suggested that you're doing something that isn't work, when you're working 70-80 hours a week, it makes you want to go postal.

 

I think I'm gonna stick around and see where the sportswriting thing goes.

Seriously though. People love to read about sports. There is a demand for it. And as long as there is a demand for something, you can monetize it.

I can see this business changing rapidly and drastically. But I can't ever see it completely going away.

 

I'm 26, finally finished my undergrad degree last August and have been at my current shop for just about nine months now. I too, like NightHawk, really don't want to give up on sports journalism, considering it's been my passion and I really don't want to do anything else.

I guess as some have touched on, when you're single and childless, you can be bull-headed about the turn the industry is taking. Those with spouses and little mouths to feed aren't so lucky. I just wish I knew of a career that would give me anywhere close to the same satisfaction that this one does.

 

I don't understand this notion that this is the only profession that can give people "satisfaction." I mean, sure there is a lot of great journalism to be done in sports. I like to think I've contributed some of it through the years. But "satisfaction." "Fulfillment"? I think plenty of professions would give you both those things. I hesitate to say this, because it sounds like I'm trivializing what we do, and I'm not, but ... it's not like we're making food dropoffs to starving children in Africa. I mean, I spend 80 percent of my time being herded into press settings where 19-year-olds tell me that they're not taking the next opponent lightly. Of course, the other 20 percent does provide a measure of satisfaction - the terrific feature, the in-depth story that alerts people to some injustice or gross inefficiency going on, the interview with the 85-year-old who still remembers every last second of his team's victory over State U 65 years ago, the victory that changed his life ... but the only job that can bring me "satisfaction"? Hardly. Now, if you want to talk journalism as a whole, I think that's debatable. But sports journalism? Eh.

 

You're right; it won't.

But the ones who do it will be mostly bloggers, then TV/radio reporters and the few writers left in what remains of the newspaper industry.

 

I actually would have agreed with much of what NightHawk's said here, could have understood where he's coming from, and actually kind of liked that post -- right up until that last line.

NightHawk, go right ahead and make up your own mind about things. That's what we're all going to have to do, after all, anyway. But from the looks/sounds of it, most of the people talking here have much more experience than you, and are really just trying to offer to you what wisdom they can.

It's not that you're necessarily wrong in what you're saying, and you have every right to your feelings. You are who you are, your experience is what it is, and your sentiments in light of that are understandable and admirable.

I mean that in the best way possible. Really.

But read through your posts again. Your naivety is almost painful to read, and then it turns to border on arrogance. No one in this business can afford that, especially now. So, just be aware of that, and try to be respectful of others and what they might be saying or feeling.

Because, you know what? We all used to be you. That's what we see, and that's why we see it.

That's probably even why it hurts.

P.S.: I can honestly say that I've loved this business just as much as you, and that I, too, have no real desire to leave it, either. But, alas, I might not have much choice in the matter.

 

It is as silly to marry yourself to this - newspaper sports writing - as your one and only route to happiness as it was to decide in ninth or 10th grade that the cheerleader in sixth-period U.S. History who you had never spoken with was "The One," and you could never be satisfied living a life that didn't include her. Most of us are smart people who could do a lot of things well and contribute. Tread carefully and with an open mind. There's more to life than asking someone why they can't hit a change-up.

 

Fixed. Embellished.

 

I am one of those people that believes there will be as many journalists 10 years from now - if not more - as there is now. The information machine needs feeding. Adapt and prosper.