Early Season Beat Writer Change at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette?

You're right. We all should be piling on the guy for making a choice that he thinks will reduce stress in his life. Now, he didn't necessarily say he was going to be doing any of those things you brought up as potentially being similarly stressful, but you really should look at some of the surveys and studies out there about where journalism ranks in order of stress and effect on quality of life. It ranks very very high on those lists.

 

Who is "piling on" the guy? I'm just trying to establish a sense of proportion.

Maybe he should have looked at those surveys before he signed on for journalism.

 

Preposterous and delusional

"As a general rule?" You seriously believe this crap? Only sports writers are emotionally invested in their jobs? What world are you living in?

Smasher Sloan is spot on.

Good for this Colin guy. He obviously did what was right for him & his family. But to think for a second that doctors, lawyers, teachers, cops -- you name it -- aren't just as emotionally invested in their jobs as we are is just ridiculous.

 

The post you quoted, I was responding to Smasher's list that included real estate, insurance, education, retail and government. Yes, I would say sportswriters as a rule get more emotionally invested in their jobs than those folks do. Smasher then expanded to doctors, teachers, firefighters etc. Even against those jobs, journalists rank very high in the amount of stress. (A CDC study in 2005 found journalism #7 among most stressful jobs, and I can't see how the stress levels would have dropped in the last five years.) There is lots of burnout among doctors, teachers, police officers and firefighters too, but I don't know why that would invalidate the idea that a journalist could feel the same way.

Also, it has been my experience that the police officers I know -- including a considerable number that I consider good friends -- have a much easier time leaving their work at work than do the sportswriters I know. This is not to say that the cops aren't dedicated, only that for whatever reason they have a better shut-off valve than writers do.

So, basically, I don't understand Smasher's huffy indignation to the writer just saying he didn't want to end up like a lot of the people he sees in this business. That's the future he could see in front of him and set about to changing.

Anyway, I didn't really think this whole thread was much of a debatable topic, it was mostly just people wishing someone the best and encouraging him on a big decision ... so, again, to the thread subject, good luck and have fun. The rewards will never end.

 

Colin did what the vast majority of people, in any profession, would do -- if they could.

 

I didn't begin in journalism yesterday.
Or before this season.
Or the last season.
I've been at it for quite a little while.
And, when I "signed on" the newsroom was much bigger --- many more bodies. Since then, there have been two (maybe three) rounds of buyouts at the shop. Also, there's been the proliferation of Twitter and, more important, a pay wall for where the baseball blog is behind where they expect you to make more than a handful of posts a day. Again, this all happened, after I "signed on" for a career in journalism.
In short, journalists are being asked to produced far more while newsrooms are smaller than ever; it is a disproportion that is staggering and, in a life/work balance realm, flawed.
There's your sense of proportion.
I can absolutely, positively deal with stress -- have done it for quite some time. I just wanted to move in a new direction where, when I'm at work, I'm working. And when I'm off work, I'm not working.
Most --- if not all --- of those other careers you cited, offer that. Even with the high-stress involved.

 

Good luck Colin. I think every young married guy with kids like us is feeling the same thing.

When I was in college, I wanted to cover the Yankees full-time. Now, 10 years in the biz when I am actually qualified to do it, I wouldn't even entertain the thought.

 

I bet the odds on Bill Brink getting this position is about 70-30.

 

God bless the doctors, teachers, etc. But I don't see them packing for a 10-day West Coast swing too often.

 

Just like I don't see military personnel collecting Marriott points or turning in expense reports in Afghanistan.

WTF?

Pilots for commuter airlines make less than a lot of metro sportswriters and they're packing for that Ames-Toledo-Evansville hop five times a week.

Lots of jobs come with hardships, you know?

 

If you want to be a doctor you can't get married.

 

>>>Also, it has been my experience that the police officers I know -- including a considerable number that I consider good friends -- have a much easier time leaving their work at work than do the sportswriters I know. This is not to say that the cops aren't dedicated, only that for whatever reason they have a better shut-off valve than writers do.<<<

Yes, I'm sure they shrug off finding a battered baby's dead body much more easily than we let go of a misspelled name.