Input/advice sought re: a life-changing decision

I'm not even going to discuss the family aspect. That one is a no-brainer. You pick family.

Professionally, go for the news job. Years back I had worked in the same place...decent-sized, decent reputation mid-level paper for eight years. But I was on this revolving treadmill of covering some big beats, working the desk, covering NFL, back to desk when the season ended. It never ended. I was going nowhere. And then I got married. When the newsroom reorganized and I got an undesirable position offered me, I quit on the spot and never returned to the building. Stayed out of the biz for almost two years detoxifying from 14 years of all nights and all weekends through college and that job and discovering that a great world existed outside the sports bubble. But still wanting to write, I took a news reporter job at a small paper out of state and my wife and I picked up and moved despite the fact we were pretty well-entrenched in that community.

Three years later, I was running a daily newspaper, as in editor, several states away. Doing the news reporting job for one year made all the difference in the world on my resume. They liked the fact I had a lot of broad-basked knowledge. Had I stayed in sports, had I stayed at that paper, I might have eventually become an assistant sports editor, AKA glorified desk flunky, getting home at 1, 2 a.m. with everyone asleep. Whoopty do.

Of course, I'm not in journalism anymore, like many here ... but did it for 23 years. The news reporter job wasn't the most glamorous or fun thing ever, but it made all the difference. It allowed me to have a life and eventually, a halfway-decent income.

Hell, you'll get pizza on election night as well.

 

One thing sportswriters don't often get credit for: We have to know a little about everything and learn our subjects (a kid you're featuring, how to cover field hockey for the first time) very quickly.

Unless you're a low-rung GA on the news side, your beat will likely be much more focused. But that ability to pick up on stuff right away will be to your benefit.

As DK alluded to, it'll let you advance in your career much more quickly.

Best of luck in making the decision, but to me it's a no-brainer.

 

The SE at my last shop is now the business editor because the hours are more sane (he has a wife and 2-year-old).

Remember, you are a journalist first and a sports person second. You'll get the hang of the new beat just fine. True, it may not be your favourite to cover, but the tradeoff is all the things you mentioned earlier. And, if you find you really hate it, you can always get back to sports, either there or someplace else. Don't let fear hold you back.

 

I've got back and forth between news and sports at my shop a couple times. I'm in news now, and I absolutely do not want to go back to sports - namely covering preps (it's what our nondaily does).

Working newsside is so much more rewarding that genuflecting before teenagers. I feel like I'm accomplishing so much more in my career. And, it's nice to have a variety of responsibilities - copy editing, some layout, special sections, business coverage, some beat work, some online editing, some photo teching. And, it's nice to provide counsel to our younger writers, some of whom are fresh out of college.

And, the hours are sane - not too many nights and weekends. The days are long - usually 7:30 to 5, but the evenings and weekends are free. I'm a widowed dad with two teens, so it's nice to be around for them. My son is heading into his sophomore year of college and my daughter is heading into her junior year of high school. It's nice knowing that even though all we've been through with losing my wife/their mom in '08, they've just about made it to adulthood.

Take the leap to newsside - you won't regret it.

 

I can add that, from the editing side, the opportunities become much deeper with news experience added to a sports background.

 

I thank everyone who posted here most sincerely. You have helped ease my mind, and I appreciate that more than you can know.
So thank-you. Thank-you very much.