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

That's true. Though you especially make small talk with trainers, coaches, assistants, secretaries, etc.

 

I cover prep and college sports and have in the past covered minor league baseball. I've never covered and NFL game in my life. But, I was once asked by my mother-in-law, "you get tickets to the Super Bowl don't you?"

 

that you're supposed to take it seriously. it's better playing it for laughs. the more self-important and intense the players and coaches, the more comedic it should be. deftly, of course.

 

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

One for the holiday season: that journalists don't work holidays. I've been explaining to relatives that if they want to read a paper Christmas morning, New Year's morning, etc. that someone has to be there, putting together that paper.

 

I get the annual e-mail from my friends back home asking if we're coming in over the holidays. These are intelligent guys, too, who somehow don't get that someone has to work the holidays, especially in sports (especially in a college football-heavy market around bowl time). Or that it's not so easy to fly back over a fall weekend.

Here's a sports copy editor-specific misconception — trying to explain to people what I do. People who magically think the newspaper lays out itself can't grasp that you can work for a newspaper and not be a reporter or a pressman. And even after explaining, I still occasionally get "So what do you cover?"

 

That I like my job.

 

Yeah, that ditch-digging job must be looking better every day to you.

 

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

Some of mine, in no particular oder:

1. That my life revolves around all sports. In reality, I cover one sport (all levels) then fill in as needed at Local City's other pro teams. But as far as a fan goes, I follow the one sport plus my college football team. That's it. The rest of my life falls outside of sports. Imagine that.

2. That I am willing or able to give Joe Fan on his/her fantasy sports league. Especially when it's not the sport I cover. Get a life, people.

3. That my life is interesting because of my job. For me, news is the job and sports is freelance, but it's the one people grab onto. "You do what? That must be awesome!" No, my little niche is fairly easy really not that exciting. It's a paycheck. The best stuff I do is monthly feature stories, and those aren't so much sports stories as human interest stories that happen to be about people who work in sports.

edited to add a No. 4: That if I am in the office, I am watching sports on TV and am able to give fans who call updates for some random game taking place three states away. Last time this happened, I was desperately trying to write a small college basketball gamer off a scoresheet and some woman called me "unpatriotic" because I wasn't able to update her on the Army-Navy game. She rudely informed me it was on CBS. Was I not a sports writer? How could I not be watching that game? Gee, m'am, because I am busy writing sports.

But all I do in social situations where people do ask questions, I just answer it, then ask the person about what he/she does. Usually I find it far more it interesting than I find my own job.

 

To nobody in particular, just in general ... we have a skewed view of things sometimes.

Forget about being the person that Joe Fan sees down at the press table at the NCAA Final Four. Forget about being the person that Joe Fan sees by the batting cage two hours before a Yankees-Red Sox game.

They can see you in a press box at West Bumfuck covering the latest HS football game, and even that looks like a cool job to them. And you know what? It IS cool. I'm not that far removed from the days in high school press boxes to understand that.

Sure, it's only a part of the job. Sure, we have to deal with assholes on the phone. Sure, some people don't get out of the office.

But, people ... we get to cover the sports world for a living.

You try explaining how tough you have it, how your job is a millstone around your neck to the guy who's checking out from third shift at the steel mill, and he's liable to slug you.

 

Nah. I'll just keep on filling a spot that could otherwise be had by someone with a passion for this work.