What's the biggest misconception people you know have about sports journalism?

There is no greater joy than the look on the face of a parent after I've said, "I didn't go to high school around here. I'm from 2,000 miles away and don't give a shit about any of the teams in this area. I don't care now, and I won't care at the next place."

It's zen.

 

Bob - I think that doing all that different stuff is a path to job satisfaction that outsiders don't understand. It's fun to cover games, yes. But for a majority of us, it's a small percentage of what we do. I guess it would be nice to relate that to people, but they have a tough time grasping it.

"I have a million duties."
"The games, though!!! You go to games!!! What's that like!!!?? No, no. Let me guess ... Totally awesome!!! Right? Right?"

Maybe I shouldn't care, but I guess I want people to understand that I do more with my life than be a career sports fan, which is what they kind of think it is.

This is doubly so when I'm gathered with other professionals of some sort.

Me to my friend the accountant: "It's a good job. I just wish it paid more."

Him to me: "Yeah, but there are perks to make up for that."

Me: "Perks?"

Him: "Yeah, like covering sports."

Those aren't perks. That IS the job.

 

Re: What's the biggest misconception people you know have about sports journalis

Someone already wrote it in this thread, but it needs repeating...

-Management holding off on hiring replacements because you can handle it.

For a limited amount of time this is doable on a small staff, but it never works out that way. Months go by and when you finally get someone in the position someone else is ready to leave.

-Your only interest is sports and you should STFU about any other subject which comes up in the newsroom.

I know more about politics than the so-called political junkies in the newsroom, yet whenever I open my mouth to discuss a matter I'm met with silence or cold shoulders. Or passionate arguments where I'm ganged up on.

-Sports guy is on desk all by himself today. We'll give him eight wide-open broadsheet pages to do. I'm sure he can handle all the varsity high school reports, the inept photographer who always stays way too late at games and the inevitable technical glitch which will happen at deadline.

Some other gripes
News folk don't bother me. Photographers do. The ones we employ are big fucking drama queens who have absolutely no eye for sports. They come back without rosters. They expect everything to be handed to them. They whine constantly. At 11:30 p.m. they announce "Your pictures are in the system." You open the pictures and no cutlines. "Oh, I didn't know you needed cutlines."

 

Even after eight years of marriage, I can't get my wife to grasp this concept. Every conversation with her on my cell starts with "Are you busy?" This inevitably comes after whatever race I am covering has just ended. I think she assumes that if the TV broadcast is over, so is the work. She has yet to figure out that that is when the rest of us print journalists actually go to work. Double ARRRGGGGHHH!

 

i know a guy, who, when he did plenty of layout in the past, misspelled photogs names when they chose not to write cutlines. now he tells desk folks about his past indiscretions. (suggests they do the same.)

 

Oooh. I'm SO with you on this. I HATE that attitude and the phone calls like that SOOO much.

 

Re: What's the biggest misconception people you know have about sports journalis

I hope you don't mind, but I did a full copy and paste of the above for use on another message board. People talk about how poor the media is in a certain market (not mine...hell, I know I'm bad) and boast about their pet monkeys' ability to do better. I thought this was a perfect example of what a journalist does. I'm sure I gave away my cover when I posted it, but I don't really care.

 

All of these misconceptions are hilarious and I've heard them all at least once (and I haven't even finished school yet). The worst thing that happens to me is chicks at school asking me about 1st team all-conference wide receiver or preseason men's hoops player of the year's personal lives. "Oh, so you've talked to so and so, do they have a girlfriend?" That question is immediate met with what my grandmother, God rest her soul, coined the "bitch please" stare.

 

I agree completely. Although it eats at me any time I might see the slightest error in a story of mine, we're all human. And we all, for the most part, work diligently to see that it never happens again. I do think people take the job for granted, simply because they read a story and think anyone could write a few things and get a few quotes. But what they don't see is the personal communication, the talent for digesting certain info and knowing what to do and how to handle it, as well as making a person or item more livelier than it would have ever been had their unknowing minds been put to the task.

 

If you work a pro beat and you DON'T make small talk with the athletes you cover, you're not doing your job right. You think the only interaction between you and your sources should be formal interviews? How in the world do you think you build rapport?