Sports reporter, Starkville, Miss.

If anybody has questions about this job, feel free to PM me and I will try and answer them.

 

Correctly?

 

Slappy, you know I'll answer them CORRECTLY. Honestly? Now, that's entirely different story. ;D

 

Why do you apply? You're a 21-year-old recent college grad. You take the job, rock out a story getting Stansbury fired and basketball on 20-year's probation, and you parlay that to a job at a major metro ... for $26k a year!

Good times.

 

A wage history? For what, making sure $20,000 isn't too much?

 

Is the writer who covers Mississippi State a "lifer" or is there a chance this hire can move into that beat?

 

He's not a lifer.

 

Hey all,

I, along with the one who puts4dough, can also answer a few questions about this gig. PM me if you need anything specific, and I'll do my best to answer them. I'll go ahead and offer some generic info now.

Firstly, I'm the former writer who went ahead and decided to throw away a lot of money, I mean go to grad school after sneaking into Northwestern back near home. While not completely vacating my hopes for a career in journalism, I'm also trying to branch out into the related sports administration field.

Before this, though, I spent two and a half years at the Starkville Daily, and I had a great time covering Mississippi State. Over the time I was there, I was able to turn coverage of the university into a, hopefully, legitimate beat after the hard-working editor who preceded me covered the university while having to split time with preps. I still had to do some preps coverage and some desk work, but I was able to make my main priority the MSU beat.

One thing I don't know is how the paper is going forward from here in regards to what the position advertised will be for. There was a preps writer hired recently who could also be a candidate to slide over and cover MSU.

As for the paper itself, some of the realities of it are probably similar to those at other small shops. My general mindset while there was similar to what others on here also seem to strive for – to work hard, build up clips and move up. All the while, you will not be paid all that well, but the cost of living in Starkville isn't bad at all. The town was fun while I was there due to the good restaurants and bars.

So I'm not being too long winded here I'll just say that coverage of MSU can be a rewarding experience at this paper. A young writer can learn quite a bit from a few talented scribes who also cover State. I know I learned quite a bit while here.

Even though I'm out of the business for now, I'll continue to be a reader of this board.
Aaron Seidlitz

 

I have a question. Shouldn't "puts4dough" really be named "yipsunderpressure?"

 

Sure, if anybody worried about Slappy's opinion. He just considers himself lucky I didn't take money from him too.