Missing It

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?

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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?)

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.