Ace
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Jerry Brewer intervew with TBL
- Thread starter Ace
- Start date
Jerry's an absolute class act. One of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, no ego, always willing to bull**** about anything, even with a college kid like me. He came and talked with our newsroom at the UW student paper for about two hours one day, just telling stories and talking about journalism.
That Andruw Jones story is priceless.
That Andruw Jones story is priceless.
imjustagirl
Active Member
I'm now more surprised when SportsJournalists.com ISN'T mentioned on TBL.
sorry. this is one admited "geezer" who couldn't care less what a 31-year-old columnist thinks about anything. sorry.
not enough experience at the job of "just" being a reporter nor experienced enough at life for his opinion to matter, either. he should still be listening, not lecturing. and columnists are nothing if not lecturer's correct? ??? ??? ??? ???
not enough experience at the job of "just" being a reporter nor experienced enough at life for his opinion to matter, either. he should still be listening, not lecturing. and columnists are nothing if not lecturer's correct? ??? ??? ??? ???
Ace said:
come backiwhen you have something constructive to add, son.
the players are the story. what they think, as wrong-minded as it might be, and do is part are the subjects of the stories we write. i'm paid to find out what they think and write about it.
a columnist is supposed to tell me what he thinks while giving me a reason to care about what he thinks. it's a trust thing. there ain't no 31-year-old i can think of who's opinion i care about enough to read.
Mystery Meat II
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shockey said:
Jesus Christ was between 30 and 33 during the years of his ministry.
Full of Shit
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I will be HUGELY disappointed in the SportsJournalists.com community if SOMEONE does not come up with a home-run smart-ass retort to this line.
B
broadway joe
Guest
shockey said:
Sorry, but that makes about as much sense as a 31-year-old saying he won't pay attention to columnists over 50 because they're too old and out of touch for their opinion to matter. I have no idea what Brewer's background is, but I wouldn't immediately dismiss a 31 year old man for not having enough life experience.
broadway joe said:
don't be sorry. just an opinion. one i hold dear and true.
and lest anyone think it's jealousy, it's not. knowing your limitations is a huge plus to me. i'm 52 with no desire to be a general columnist. for a variety of reasons.
that said, while i worked for a major metro, i was offered a chance to go from "just" a beat reporter on an nfl beat to our nfl columnist. i'd "only" been on the beat four years and had missed another for medical reasons. when the nfl job opened up it was offered to me -- perhaps foolish, i turned it down. i didn't think i was ready. i was 30.
i recommended a guy who was hired and remains there. i later had to leave the paper for the same job with another, but i never regretted it. i wasn't ready.
now, jerry may indeed be ready. still doesn't mean inexperienced opinion should influence me. just ain't happening. sorry back at ya.
imjustagirl
Active Member
spaceman said:
Awesome.
Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!
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Full of **** said:
Jesus covered too few swim meets, failed to give the SEC its props and pissed off soccer parents. He was crucified in the comment sections.
deskslave said:
i've always loved the "why not put more hot chicks on the cover" attitude to drum up readership. hey. how 'bout erin andrews as a columnist? perfect!
if newspapers can be saved it won't be because too-inexperienced columnists are drawing in young readers. you either read or you don't.
but i suspect we'll be going in circles on yet another topic here. i have neither the energy nor desire tonight. i give up. you win.
bring on all the knowledge and inexpeience a columnist has to offer! i'm in.
imjustagirl
Active Member
Shockey,
I don't want to argue with you either, so I'll try to do this as non-confrontationally as possible, and would appreciate the same from you.
Sometimes, columns aren't about "experience." Yes, there is some living one should do to FORM their opinions. But you want different voices in your paper. I'm guessing Jerry sees things differently than Pat Forde would, or Peter Gammons. A paper should have a varying group of voices. No one wants all 75-year-old white men, or all 22-year-old Asian men or 40-year-old black men or 30-year-old Latina women.
It's a variation. Jerry (whom I don't know, but share mutual friends with) comes at things with a different viewpoint than someone else. And that can NEVER be a negative.
IMO.
I don't want to argue with you either, so I'll try to do this as non-confrontationally as possible, and would appreciate the same from you.
Sometimes, columns aren't about "experience." Yes, there is some living one should do to FORM their opinions. But you want different voices in your paper. I'm guessing Jerry sees things differently than Pat Forde would, or Peter Gammons. A paper should have a varying group of voices. No one wants all 75-year-old white men, or all 22-year-old Asian men or 40-year-old black men or 30-year-old Latina women.
It's a variation. Jerry (whom I don't know, but share mutual friends with) comes at things with a different viewpoint than someone else. And that can NEVER be a negative.
IMO.
B
broadway joe
Guest
imjustagirl said:
Well-said.
imjustagirl said:
i'm hearing you. really. and i am all for diversity in columnist voices and understand the importance of it.
that said, most papers these days have, what, one? two? three general columnists? freaks like the n.y. daily news and maybe the n.y. post have may have more, though incredibly neither has a woman in that role.
now, i, too, don't know jerry. nor do i know how many columnists are in his section. but i would simply say that, imho, the demographic that would have the least influence on me is the inexperienced, below 35 voice.
in today's world, my ideal sports staff would be comprised of at least three general columnists who can write with intelligence and insight. they would certainly include an african-american voice and a female voice. a "youthful" voice would be the lowest of my priorities for general columnist.
the voice of today's youth would be my last priority. that's my acknowledged prejudice, i fully admit. i prefer my columnists to be able to write with intelligence aided by experience. if that make me a reverse-agism advocate so be it. i simply don't think a young voice can be a persuasive voice for a newspaper.
perhaps i have that attitude because i've always lived in a pro sports-dominated city. if i worked for a paper in a smaller town, with different priorities, perhaps i'd feel differently. entirely possible.
maybe that's another perspective that should be part of the direction i've unfortunately steered it towards. how much does/should a section's coverage priorities dictate the gender/race/age of its columnist(s)?
by the way, with the trend for downsizing at almost every paper i can think of -- except perhaps at the aforementioned daily news and post -- have we acknowledged the n.y. times is now down to only one "sports of the times" columnist?
bill rhoden is the only one left standing. george vecsey, i believe, is going the way of dave anderson, writing only occasionally as he moves into semi-retirement. harvey araton, i believe, is leaving the sports section to write special investigative features for metro.
but their main page features many faces of beat writers now also blogging/tweeting! http://www.nytimes.com/pages/sports/index.html
i believe the plan is to have the beat writers rotate and do weekly columns. it's all kinda muddled, i hear.
seems like the times is flailing away trying to reinvent the wheel just like everybody else. thoughts? (how's this for a double threadjack?)
Joe Williams
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Without dealing with specific individuals, I too don't think that three years of beat reporting -- not even on one beat, but moving around -- is enough to prepare someone for a regular columnist slot. Double that, do it on one beat in the same market, and it might be more reasonable. Triple it across two or more beats, better still.
Moving someone along on a fast track to diversify the voices in a section isn't a good enough reason either, IMO.
I still don't understand the assumption that non-readers might come to the product if only they could read writers who are of-and-like them. When I became a regular newspaper reader, I wanted to read people who knew way more than me and had an insider's knowledge, not just writers who were "like" me in age, race, whatever. I wanted, and want, to read stuff from people who have been at it long enough to have perspective, who know where the bodies are buried in my market, who can link today's news to my favorite teams' past events and so on.
Don't have to be 75 or any particular color or gender. Probably can't be 25, regardless of color or gender.
Moving someone along on a fast track to diversify the voices in a section isn't a good enough reason either, IMO.
I still don't understand the assumption that non-readers might come to the product if only they could read writers who are of-and-like them. When I became a regular newspaper reader, I wanted to read people who knew way more than me and had an insider's knowledge, not just writers who were "like" me in age, race, whatever. I wanted, and want, to read stuff from people who have been at it long enough to have perspective, who know where the bodies are buried in my market, who can link today's news to my favorite teams' past events and so on.
Don't have to be 75 or any particular color or gender. Probably can't be 25, regardless of color or gender.
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