Sports Journalism and losing your fanhood

Putting aside the issue of whether it's even wise to go into the field...

I have definitely lost my fandom in the 12 years I've covered pros (still had it when I covered local stuff). Sometimes I miss it. I see people who get so excited that their team gas won and I think "I'll never have that again." the only team I have an emotional attachment to is my Alma mater, which rarely does anything worth getting emotional about.

However, I don't hate sports. I still love sports as entertainment. I just don't care who wins. Usually I root for whatever would make a more entertaining story (an underdog, big comeback, etc)

 

Best post on this thread.

 

What you are saying is true of virtually any business. People get into these things because they are passionate. But then it becomes a job and not something you do for fun. Not saying you can't ever have fun, but that takes a backseat to doing the job.

As one person said "If you make your passion your career, it will cease to become your passion."

Have a friend who is a religious minister, something he always wanted to do, invested many years in schooling and is quite good at. Recently he told me how nice it would be to have an occasional weekend off.

 

C'mon, Rick, you're a good mate. But this isn't about job hunting; it's about the actual nuts and bolts of the job itself.

Lots of fields have very competitive labour markets right now. That stuff goes in cycles. Either it bounces back at some point or a lot of us just stay retired, no matter how much education, talent and passion we have.

At this guy's age, it's about "What do I want to do with my life?"

 

There are many of them, Verilos. Enjoy college and all it has to offer.

Or you could go the John Blutarsky route:

"My advice to you is to drink heavily."

 

I was going to come back and make this exact point. Not surprised that a poster with such a fine avatar would beat me to it. Well said.

 

I won't add much to the fire, because I think nearly everyone on here has chimed in with what I would say.

But if you do consider changing a major, look at some kind of business career while still working with the school newspaper. You'll have many more options in the future than a liberal arts degree will provide.

 

I kind of skimmed through here, but I saw a couple of generalizations up top I don't agree with. I gently disagree, with I disagree nonetheless.

I can't argue that there aren't plenty of people in this business who haven't lost interest in sports outside of work. I don't know that I was EVER a huge fan in terms of devoting tons of time to watching sports on TV, but I certainly went to a lot of events, college football games, things like that when I was younger. But sitting around watching a baseball game on TV? Not much.

Now, as I've said before, I have no interest in going to live games. Too much hassle for -- in my case -- very little gain. The only way I can see me doing it is if I find a significant other who wants to go because they haven't been, or if I eventually have grandkids. Getting together with somebody who wants to go to live games every week? Not going to happen, unless they want to go alone and meet me later.

But there's no inevitability to losing your interest if you go into this business. I have colleagues who are still big fans of the teams from where they grew up or whatever, still love to follow sports of any kind, still are big "fans." They simply know how to separate what they do on their own time with what they do when they're working. It's not that hard for a grown-up human being. And I have, for example, friends who are extremely good at their jobs who are Fantasy sports maniacs.

So what I'm saying is, there's no need to be terrified of anything. You'll either remain a big sports fan because you want to, or you'll get to the place where it doesn't interest you as much as you go through life, and then it won't be a tragedy, because it's where you want to be.

As far as other reasons not to go into this business, well, that's a whole 'nother deal.

 

All I can offer is personal experience. You'll still be a fan, just a fan in a different way. A better way in many respects, but you do lose some of the pure/regular fan experience.
I call it eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of the Lack of Good and Evil.

 

I find that I'm much less a fan of a particular team (other than the Colts) and more a fan of specific sports -- tennis, hockey, women's basketball.

Everybody's experience is different, but I watch way more sports on TV now than I did in college or high school.

 

I've wrote for a high school basketball website for a year and I think I've already lost my "fandom." For example, I covered the catholic school "a" division, the same division my school was in. I predicted them to finish third in the preview (where they would actually end up) and all of the players were pissed at me. None of them would talk to me and would even complain about me to the coach (coach is a great guy who understood what I was doing.) As time got on, I think they realized it was nothing personal and I was just doing my job. At the rivalary game this year, the gym was packed. All of my classmates were in the stands painted going nuts and I was on the sidelines with a polo shirt covering the game. I wasn't rooting for my school and I didn't want to be in the stands. I was happy to be where I was. I'm going to a Big East school and I'm hoping to be in the press box more than the stands.

This attitude has shifted over to professional sports. I'm a Mets, Giants, and Knicks fan but I'm no longer effected by what they do. If they lose or win, it really doesn't make much of a difference anymore. I've actually gotten to the point that I've looked down at fans because they are too caught up in it (I know that isn't a positive thing but it shows how far away I've gone to being a fan just because I've covered sports for a year). When I go to a game now, I would much rather be in the press box then the stands.

I'm majoring in journalism this fall not because I want to access to sports events or meet some famous people, but because I love to write and tell the stories other people would not know. There is no better feeling than: 1) being in the flow of writing an article and 2) attaining compliments from an article. I'm only doing sports because I have the most knowledge of it and because I'm most comfortable there. As I get older I wouldn't mind doing some politics stuff on the side though.

I know people are going to say I should change my major but i don't want too. Sure it may be the safe thing to do, but i dont have nor do I want a backup plan. This is the only thing i want to do and the only thing I can imagine myself doing. I'm already interning at a major (top 10 circulated) paper now so i feel i'm a little bit ahead of the game. But I'll never feel satisfied until I make an impact professionally.

If people don't have this type of attitide, I would find it hard to imagine making it. So I'm confident

 

In case no one else has already said this, GET OUT NOW!!!!

Even if someone else has already said it, GET OUT NOW!!!!

Oh, sorry. To answer your question, it depends on the person. I still consider myself a fan of some of the teams I've covered in the past. I feel as though I have a few more insights into my favorite teams than other fans would after having covered them.

However, if I attend a game even as a fan, I have a hard time cheering the way I did before I started covering the teams. I'm so used to having to be objective that getting back to being a fan of a team is an exercise in futility, sort of like the Nationals.