What keeps you in it?

[SilverAndBlack]

With all this talk about so many people leaving the industry, whether it be voluntary or by lay off/budget cuts, it makes the profession seem so dank and dreary.

So, lets talk about some positive aspects of this job. For those of you in the business, as I am myself, what keeps you in it? What makes the wacko hours and low pay worth it to you? For me.. I do enjoy the adrenaline rush of writing on deadline and relish the chance to talk sports, analzye games/plays with experts in the field.

 

[Den1983]

I love the fact that I'm writing about sports for a living. So cool. I also, as SE, appreciate the responsibility of dictating the sports coverage for an entire city. I welcome that pressure and opportunity.

 

[YGBFKM]

Not wanting to move back in with my parents.

 

[kleeda]

Junkets to Vagas.

 

[zeke12]

Not wanting to move back in with my parents.

This.

And the groupies.

 

[kleeda]

Make that Vegas. Damn, already had too much to drink.

 

[Ace]

Inability to find a paying job outside the business, mostly.

 

[RickStain]

Inability to find a paying job outside the business, mostly.

This, combined with my pride in my family and friends knowing I'm working a "professional" job and not something mere entry-level, despite there being little difference in pay.

I did apply to be a cable installer a few weeks ago but never heard back. Would have been a $2.15/hour raise.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

Inability to find a paying job outside the business, mostly.

Bingo bango bongo. In my case, edit to read "Inability to find a paying job inside or outside the business, mostly"

 

[Zeemer]

My almost but not quite noble need to destroy myself for an ideal.

 

[MTM]

After 24 years, I don't know how to do anything else. I'm too young to retire and too old to start over with a new career.

 

[zagoshe]

Because after watching the movie "Dead Presidents" I realized that trying to hijack armored cars can be risky and the after watching the movie "Set it Off" I realized that robbing banks could be a very-high risk way to make a living as well....

 

[rpmmutant]

I'm in the groupie camp. Nothing like the attention of an irrational cross country parent and unpredictable 16-year-old volleyball players.

 

[apeman33]

Not wanting to move back in with my parents.

This.

And the groupies.

Both of these.

And finding out a few years ago that outside of doing this, in this tiny market, my journalism degree is as good for getting another job as a piece of toilet paper.

 

[podunk press]

My mortgage.

Otherwise, I would have gone part-time and returned to college.

Nothing about journalism excites me anymore.

 

[flexmaster33]

I love the fact that I'm writing about sports for a living. So cool. I also, as SE, appreciate the responsibility of dictating the sports coverage for an entire city. I welcome that pressure and opportunity.

Ditto...exactly what I would say.

 

[EagleMorph]

The fact that no day is ever the same. Sure, games become familiar, faces become familiar, but something different always happens.

I'd be interested to see how the morale compares between those out in the field writing consistently and those who put the paper together at the desk.

 

[Fredrick]

After 24 years, I don't know how to do anything else. I'm too young to retire and too old to start over with a new career.

I think some of us are going to have to reassess that type of stance. We're probably going to be forced to start over in a new career of some kind. I'm really starting to sense the only copy editing/reporting/paginating jobs to be available in this business will be for workers 21 to 30. The salaries will be very low. There still will be jobs for people up to middle age in management, but the butt kissers have those filled for years to come. I'm closest as I've ever been to getting out. I just need some good sound advice.

 

[HanSenSE]

I love the fact that I'm writing about sports for a living. So cool. I also, as SE, appreciate the responsibility of dictating the sports coverage for an entire city. I welcome that pressure and opportunity.

Ditto...exactly what I would say.

Another "amen" from the congregation, for I have seen the light!

About 10 years ago I took a job on news copy/design desk, essentially for more money and to improve skills. But at my current shop, the opportunity arose to get back into the games, I took it, and haven't looked back. Yes, you're on the first row of history as a news sider, but with all the **** going on in the world, to spend 8-10 hours a day covering baseball, football, ect.? I think it really helps define me!

 

[TrooperBari]

Because I don't want to quit.

I've quit on a fair few things in my life -- and not all in the negative way -- but I don't want to walk away from something that I'm good at and enjoy doing before its time. I tried the 9-to-5 world and it was uninspiring to say the least. This job engages and challenges me creatively on a daily basis, and I get the chance to entertain and inform people by bringing them stories they wouldn't otherwise see.

Sports I can take or leave, but what I enjoy most is the chance to work around a bunch of sharp, like-minded wiseasses each day and create something new. To me, that's worth making a few sacrifices others might deem a bridge too far. Someone will call me idealistic and misguided, I'm sure, but that is the life I have chosen.