Sports Bloggers in the Press Box

Like Huck, I'm asking the mods to look up the IPs and report here that they're not the same.

It's really 'effin amazing that if someone around here offers a different opinion, they come under personal attacks such as this. They can't argue on the facts, so they throw out accusations that have nothing to do with the debate at hand.

It's really unbelievable. In fact, it's childish. Except that's an insult to children, who would see right through the BS being tossed around here. Aren't reporters supposed to be open minded, look at both sides of the issues? Clearly, that's the case among certain folks around here.

Let me make one thing very clear:

If you have readers -- if people make it a point to go out of their way to read the material that you're writing and reporting, no matter what medium it appears in -- you're just as legitimate as anybody else. The market is giving you legitimacy.

You know, when Gutenberg invented the printing press, newspapers became the new technology. And I'm sure some guy up in the castle who issued the news of the day from the king was probably pretty upset that this new-fangled contraption gave a voice to other people.

How'd that work out for him?

 

Um, it's called business cycles. Look into it. And go to a mall on a weekend and tell me retail shopping still isn't an integral part. But you're dodging my main point: helluva lot of people went under counting on the hegemony of the Net.

 

You don't ... but if you're good and people like your stuff and you have 150K unique coming to your blog every month, then teams need to think about issuing credentials .. no matter how you started out.

Nobody's saying issue credentials to every blogger. What theyr'e saying is that, if there's a good web site (or blog) out there with a big audience, the organizations in question might want to think about giving them credentials to cover their team.

It's a perfectly logical request in that situation.

Who cares where you started out, if you have a good product and an audience? Shit, Harper Lee never wrote anything but a single novel. Does that mean her book is no good ... that nobody should read it?

You might want to tell the Pulitzer folks that she didn't work her way up.

 

Dools:

When do you predict an upturn in the business cycle of daily newspapers? Seriously. Not trying to be a smart ass or argumentative, just askin'.

When do you see print newspapers expanding again and why?

 

Um, bad example. Malls, like newspapers, have seen much better days. (Check out deadmalls.com). By the way, in mentioning Web sites that have gone out of business, how about the number of newspapers that have gone out of business? Or magazines? That an industry can have companies or outlets that go kaput is hardly a reason to keep them out of the press box.

Again I say -- reporters are not the keepers and enforcers of the press box. Teams are. And if they decide fanboy looser bloggers are a better way to reach the audience they want, fanboylooserblogger.com will get primo seats, and you'll have to buy a ticket to cover the game. Not that that is happening soon (or should).

And if being a fanboy looser automatically locked you out, then most college football press boxes would have a lot more elbow room.

 

True, Bob, but power centers and "lifestyle centers" still are popping up left and right these days. Very few daily newspapers are starting up. Most recent one I know of is BostonNOW, and they should be called BostonRECYCLES, since no one pulls the copies out of the boxes, it seems -- even though it's free.

 

I dunno, some people just take glee in the Internet supposedly killing off stuff. Anyhoo, Almost_Bacon was right about one thing: there is a crisis of imagination at newspapers, and mostly in management. I'll say for the umpteenth time: newspapers shouldn't give a crap whether kids read them or not. It should be the niche for grownups. A newspaper can't become a duck. It has to be what it is: the best source of analysis and in-depth coverage, with far larger and compelling art than what the Net can possibly have. Point is, newspapers need to imagine that niche, and build toward it.

And A_B, for every Harper Lee, there are thousands of Not Harper Lees. Generalizing from an anomaly has to be a logical fallacy of some kind. Dunno, some people just take glee in asserting that experience don't mean jack.

And zagoshe, some paper in the next decade will try to go all Net, with an entry fee for the reader. (AJC seems to be positioning itself that way). How that will jibe with the everything-must-be-free Net culture, we shall see.

 

Ok, I'm going to enter this ring even though I don't believe I have a fist in this fight at all because I don't believe it's an "us" and "them" issue. I'm a blogger. I've been credentialed for MLB games. However, it only took the first time to realize I had no interest in being in the press box (what's the point? I can see better from my seats and a be a fan!). The only advantage to being in the press box is to get up-to-date information on a player who may have left the game injured or transaction news that the fans in the stands don't hear unless they have a radio plugged into their ears. Oh, and of course gawk at the curiosity that is professional journalists doing their job Believe it or not, fans/readers are very interested in how the "behind the scenes" stuff works, even if you find it ordinary. My credentials do not include clubhouse access, so the beat guys don't have to worry about me getting in their way in there. Although, I'd like to think I wouldn't get in the way as I try to be courteous and thoughtful at all times. I don't wear team gear when credentialed and I cover my mouth when "my team" hits a homerun. So I guess I'm a fanboy/girl loser, but I do act professionally when on the field.

So I use my credentials for photography to relay the gamer in photos, and I also do some video. I cover pre-game festivities that are usually not found anywhere else. I cover a relief pitcher's new tattoo or other fan-interest type of things that the players are willing to share (and I have to work ten times harder to get players to trust/talk to me). When I started, I was just trying to fill the void media was missing. Is my work any good? Well, I don't know, but the team seems to enjoy it so I'm running with that. I have come to realize and accept that I'm just a tool for free marketing, but that's ok because I get to keep doing what I love.

I have a contract with a publisher right now to author a book for them, so I like to think my writing skills don't suck as much as most of you are stereotyping bloggers. I write because I love to as a creative outlet since I work a non-creative tech job for my day job. I like to think the "working" writers don't mind me around - and I'd feel pretty crushed to learn they can't stand my presence. I know a couple of them would prefer that bloggers aren't credentialed, but they don't seem to take issue with me personally and have been very friendly and accepting of my presence to my face. When I was speaking to someone at a recent team event and saw two writers waiting for her to become available, I wrapped things up and said I believe the writers want to talk to you - and pointed to them while excusing myself.

I just wished when I first started and gave my site a name, it didn't have the word "Fan" in it because I feel very awkward and self-conscious when people ask who I work for after reading a couple of the threads here.

Some newspapers are embracing new media quite well and I love what they are doing. If I don't have a void to fill anymore, so be it. I wasn't looking to get famous doing this - in fact, when I started it was for me and I didn't expect anyone to start reading. I think some of the stereotypes I've read in this thread are blind, one-sided, close-minded and hurtful. Keep an open mind - you might actually like the blogger you share space with.

 

JustAGirl, welcome aboard and thanks for joining in. Of all this baloney spewed by most of these on here, the fact of the matter is most of them fear you.

They fear you innovation, your different perspective, your unique insight that they don't have themselves because of the rigid lines their own jobs have. They fear that you will take their place in the pressbox someday. It's hard for them to be open-minded and objective when they are dealing with a threat to their livelihood. It also takes experience and maturity to keep an open mind.

Don't be afraid to voice an opinion here, right or wrong. I've been doing this a long, long time and I'm still learning from people just like you. Thanks for your input. Hopefully, they won't be as rough on you as they have been on me ... and I'm not even a blogger!

 

I, for one, am shaking in my shoes at the mighty power of BLOGS!
Seriously, J-a-g, you write for a living, you're OK by me.

 

It's born out of petty jealousy.

Imagine how frustrating it must be for someone that started off covering 8 man high school football in South Dakota and worked their way up to getting into a press box.

And then a blogger, who somehow attracts 150K people to his site each week that he writes during his lunch break on his 9-5, comes along and is issued credentials.

Aside from the fact that people out there WANT to read what this blogger has to say...he never paid his dues and shouldn't get in the club.

I'd be upset, too.

 

I thought there was a perspective missing here.