Missing It

[moonlight]

After almost 20 years in the business, I left newspapers a year ago. I now work in marketing. It's great on payday, and I don't have the daily stress of potential layoffs. But it doesn't scratch me where I itch.

I miss my old job.

I miss writing on deadline. I miss the "off the record" time with coaches after the interview. I miss writing enterprise features. I miss the press box during rain delays and the sidelines on Friday nights. I miss newsroom banter, bets and bragging. I miss picking up the paper and seeing my story. I miss the sound of the press. I miss keeping stats. I miss road trips.

I just miss the whole damn mess.

Anyone else who left the business feel this way?

 

[Michael_ Gee]

At first I did, acutely and in just the way you describe. But as time passed, the feeling ebbed gradually, so gradually I didn't really notice. It still flares up when I'm watching an exciting event and thinking, "Damn it'd be fun to write this one on deadline." But more and more often, my reaction to a good game now is "hey, I can turn off the TV and go to bed!"
Road trips were the first thing I stopped missing. That took about a week.
I need to add a PS here. I did go back for about an eight month period for the Website boston.com and enjoyed it very much, but I was writing on semi-retired terms. Once a week, no travel outside Route 128, etc. When my stint there petered out after a string of biweekly top management changes at the site, I felt no more than twinges of wistful regret.

 

[SFIND]

I miss the press box during rain delays...

I'm sure I will some most of what you do when I leave/get forced out (I'm resigned to the fact it will eventually happen), but being in a press box during rain delays is torture to me. There's no fun in sitting and looking at the radar, checking the time, trying to keep in the loop with the AD, and hammering out whatever copy I can to fill the hole in the paper.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I don't miss it, and never have. I was at the end of my rope when the ax hit me.

I've said it before, but I sometimes hate myself for staying in as long as I did.

 

[Cosmo]

I still get to write features for our magazine and cover events, and that's enough to keep me happy.

I don't miss coaching searches, the endless checking of message boards, feeling like I had to check Twitter every 20 minutes for fear of missing something, national signing day, long drives home from the middle of nowhere at awful hours, taking phone calls from high school games, etc.

 

[Old Time Hockey]

I miss the people I used to hang with in the press boxes. Most sportswriters are good, cynical, funny people to spend time with. But beyond that, nope. Hated the whole quantity-over-quality thing the job had become (to quote a friend who was working for MLB.com, "I'm not a writer, I'm a typist"), hated looking over my shoulder waiting for the ax to fall, hated the financial straits I was in.

 

[Johnny Prose]

I absolutely feel ya, brother. I was in the biz for nearly eight years, but with the inability to increase my earnings power, the move to get-out was inevitable. I no longer write. I no longer interview people. My move to the car business has been rewarding. Yet, I terribly miss being at the big-games. In particular, state tournaments.
With all that said, though, I am happy to not be working until 1 a.m. and working under stressful deadline conditions.

 

[JohnHammond]

I'd rather study the sociological implications of Game of Thrones than cover preps again.

 

[ChrisLong]

It's been hard for me to detach from being objective. Nearly two years now and I am just starting to be able to go to a game and actually root for a team, although I still think about how I would write the story. What has made it easier is the realization that I wasn't really happy near the end. I used to enjoy at the end of the night being so proud of what we produced. That eroded to the point where it switched from "We worked our asses off and it was worth it" to "We worked our asses off and still produced a pile of crap."
No, I didn't miss it all that much. Then a couple of weeks ago, I was approached about becoming the editor of my high school alumni newspaper. I accepted. (where is the puzzled face symbol?)

 

[MTM]

A co-worker recently left the business and he texts me often saying how bored he is and how he misses the action. I told him to enjoy the paycheck and all the extra time with his family.

 

[Johnny Prose]

The job definitely wears on you. I was exhausted towards the end, dealing with all of the egos and BS from certain folks. Nevertheless, sports journalism presented a uniqueness that can't be matched in any other occupation.

 

[Ace]

I miss the people but see them when I can. I don't miss what the job had become at all. I enjoy going out to a variety of high school and college sports.

 

[Bronco77]

Retirement is only a few years away for me -- if the layoff ax doesn't get me first. A few things I'll miss from a copy desk perspective:

The nightly camaraderie with co-workers and the teamwork that goes into producing the section, especially when a big event is going on.

Turning around a story on deadline -- still a challenge I enjoy after all these years.

Writing clever headlines.

Stealing glances at the TV during a close game and the reaction from the sports desk when there's a dramatic finish -- and the disapproving looks we get from the news desk for making so much noise (I've worked on both sides of the room, and while news was rewarding in many ways, I've certainly had more fun on sports desks).

And what I won't miss:

Deadlines that get earlier and earlier and make it difficult to get much night sports news into print.

Layoffs and buyouts -- and rumors of layoffs and buyouts.

Cattle-manure communication from corporate/upper management: "People are our most important resource." ... "These are exciting times in our industry." ... "Best practices." ... "Rightsizing." And so forth.

Upper management that discourages creative design and headlines because some marketing guru said readers don't care about such things.

Newsroom people who treat the desk like a back-office operation instead of professional equals.

Management by metrics.

 

[Larry Parrish]

After almost 20 years in the business, I left newspapers a year ago. I now work in marketing. It's great on payday, and I don't have the daily stress of potential layoffs. But it doesn't scratch me where I itch.

I miss my old job.

I miss writing on deadline. I miss the "off the record" time with coaches after the interview. I miss writing enterprise features. I miss the press box during rain delays and the sidelines on Friday nights. I miss newsroom banter, bets and bragging. I miss picking up the paper and seeing my story. I miss the sound of the press. I miss keeping stats. I miss road trips.

I just miss the whole damn mess.

Anyone else who left the business feel this way?

I have more than 20 years in the business myself but I am in limbo right now.
Part of me wants to find another full-time job where I can make substantially a lot more money and support my wife and family.
On the other hand, I don't know if I can deal with having a regular job with normal working hours. I am not wired to be an 8-5 person.
But I did tell my wife that if I do leave the business and find another job, I am going to spend a good deal of nights stringing games. I can't give up the rush of covering games and putting together stories entirely.
My wife is fine with that idea, by the way.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

With all the doom and gloom I'm the biz, I still love it. I doubt I'll ever have a job as fun as the one I have now.

Long way to go before retirement (barring a lottery hit or the death of a long, lost rich relative) so I'm sure I'll finsih my career doing something else.

But I've tried to stop worrying and enjoy it while it lasts.

 

[TyWebb]

I thought I would miss it, but I really, absolutely, totally don't.

I've been out of the business for about four years now. I've been in my current job for about a year, writing for an in-house marketing team, and have already been promoted twice. When I leave at 5, my work stays there. I work out more, eat healthier and have almost zero work-related stress. I can afford to take vacations and own a car that was made in this millenia. I have enough free time to maintain the best romantic relationship of my life. When I want to write more creatively, I do, just for ****s and giggles. When I want to attend a sporting event, I do, without having to worry about deadlines or keeping a running play by play.

I can say, unequivocally, that all the good things that have happened for me in the past few years were at least an indirect result of leaving the business. Sure, it was nice having sports be my job, and the things I write about now for a living are much more bland. But for every thing I liked about the business, I can name at least five that I like about not being in it.

This is just my personal experience. I don't regret for a second going into the business. It was a lot of fun while it lasted. But when I realized that it wasn't going to last, I started searching for my escape plan. Maybe I was never going to be a lifer like I thought I would be coming out of college. Maybe I was never as passionate about the grind as others were/are.

I've said this to a lot of people who have asked me about leaving: Sports used to be my passion. Now, life is my passion and sports is a pastime, and I like it much better that way.

 

[da man]

Been out since 2011 and I definitely still miss parts of it. But those parts are not worth the overall experience.

My job now is a much more positive atmosphere, not to mention the financial advantages. And I freelance whenever I can to get that writing-on-deadline rush.

The bottom line: They couldn't pay me enough to work full-time for a newspaper again.

 

[da man]

I'm sure I will some most of what you do when I leave/get forced out (I'm resigned to the fact it will eventually happen), but being in a press box during rain delays is torture to me. There's no fun in sitting and looking at the radar, checking the time, trying to keep in the loop with the AD, and hammering out whatever copy I can to fill the hole in the paper.

You are correct. Rain delays are the worst.

 

[MisterCreosote]

The bottom line: They couldn't pay me enough to work full-time for a newspaper again.

A few months ago, my last journalism boss called me and asked if I'd be interested in working with her on a new magazine project. I politely declined, but asked around to a few friends still in the business on her behalf.

They all laughed at me. Every single one. To a person, they all said the next time they switch jobs, it'll be to a nonjournalism job or to the unemployment line.

They'd rather be unemployed than re-up in the journalism industry.

 

[moonlight]

Thanks to all for lending a sympathetic ear. I'm glad I don't feel alone, and I'm glad some of you don't feel the way i do -- it makes me hope that someday I won't miss as much about my previous life as I do now. I can appreciate all the things listed here that are not missed. I will not miss angry parents, high school all-star teams, the AP wire, dimwits on the phone, taking a pay cut and having vacation time taken away.

I equate working in the business the past two decades to being on the Titanic. The ship was sinking and I had the opportunity to get on a life boat. But parts of me today still marvel at what a beautiful ship it was — before it hit the iceberg.

In my new job, stress is of a different kind, and I only feel a touch of it Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. I don't take work home with me and weekends are spent with my family. It's not a bad living at all. I never knew what I was missing.