A question for beat writers - does this piss you off?

And that's why the only Florida question was a TV guy not invited to the post-fellatio party

 

what the hell though. if you're not getting any access anyway, nothing to lose.

a couple years ago, I wrote a big long involved story on a college senior who was about to get drafted in the first round. I spent a couple days with him on campus, arranged it with him and his mom. he couldn't have been nicer and more accomodating. later, I called the sports info office and asked if they could email us a couple action shots. they asked if I needed to set up an interview and I said, no, it's already done. so they refused to send the photos since i didn't set up the interview with the sports info office. I just laughed at the guy. what a loser.

 

it's interesting how different coaches - and even players - develop different philosophies. my sense is that this has changed over the past couple of decades.

what i mean is that a lot of athletes and coaches would give their local beat guys all the time they needed and were suspicious about out-of-town and national reporters. now the coaches and athletes know that a 5-minute segment on sports center is worth a whole lot more publicity-wise than a 90-second segment on out-state TV or a front-page story.

for people like saban though, you'd think he'd understand the importance of keeping the alabama public happy. when those fans turn on you, they turn on you. if that means giving 10-minutes to every reporter from dothan to huntsville, he should do it.

 

The big dogs swooping in and getting access locals can't get is a fact of life, particularly on the college beat. Look at the Michael Bishop example, from Snyder and the KSU athletic department's point of view. If they give a rare one-and-one to a local, what good does that do? The fans are in the team's hip pocket anyway. But if Bishop get a big splash in Sports Illustrated, then Snyder can take that on the road with him in recruiting, and sell a hot, out-of-state athlete on the idea that you can get big-time recognition in Manhattan, Kan.

The same thing happens, by the way, on the business beat. I've had situations where I've been covering the hell out of some company or niche, and yet it always makes sure to leak the big news first to the Wall Street Journal or New York Times. At first I was upset, but I realized that companies did this because they wanted to get maximum exposure in the publications their investors and Wall Street traders read. Which was not mine.

And you can't assume every big name is big-timing it. While covering Indiana football in college, I got to meet Doug Looney of SI, who was in Bloomington for the week to hang out before the Hoosiers' big game against Michigan to see who would be first in the Big Ten. (Which means I was in Bloomington in either 1967 or 1988.) Looney was frank with me about why he was able to hang out in the coaches' offices, talk to players, get all the access I couldn't get -- and it had nothing to do with himself. "I don't get this because I'm Doug Looney," I remember him saying. "I get it because I work for Sports Illustrated."

 

I've been on both sides of this situation. I've been a beat writer that has had somebody swoop in. But I've also been the "swooper." For example, a year ago, we had a fairly local kid who ended up being a lottery pick. I went to his school during the season, got a bunch of time with him and the coach alone.

In some ways, I don't think it's that bad to have the interviews be separate. I asked a lot of questions that had already been asked by the beat writers previously and I asked some local related questions. I'm pretty sure the beat writers didn't want to listen to all of that. Did I break any new ground with the story on the player? Maybe a little, but it wasn't that huge of a deal.

In terms of getting extended 1-on-1 access on your own beat, here's my advice: Plan ahead.

If you know you want to write a big takeout on Johnny Smith for the football special section, then you need to start working on that in the next month or so. You need to approach the SID and say, I want to do this story for the special section and I want your help. Can you get me some time with him during spring ball? after spring ball? early in the summer? Tell him, I need 45 minutes or an hour alone.

On my basketball beat this season, there was a player I knew I wanted to write a longer feature about at the beginning of conference play (I think it was 35 inches or so). I talked to the SID in early December, told him what I was working on and asked for some extended time. A week later, I met the kid in the SID office at like 10 a.m. and did the interview.

You can't play this card all the time. Probably a couple times a season with the football SID and a couple of times a year with the basketball SID.

If you approach them in advance and with something of a plan, I think most SIDs are going to be willing to help you. Their hands get tied at times, but I do think almost all of them (90 percent) do try to help us when they can.

Tip #2 on this front: Let's say the school you cover signed a kid who is going to be a stud as a freshman (this is probably more a basketball thing), but the coach doesn't allow freshmen to talk right away. Then you had best find a way to get to the kid before he gets on campus.

 

I think my post about Andy Katz came across as I think the guy is a fuck face. That's not true. My conversations with him, Seth Davis, Grant Wahl, Ivan Maisel, etc. etc. have been nothing but pleasant. But they play by their own rules, and while that's irritating, I'd do it too if I could.

 

Saban didn't include the Alabama media in his sessions with the Florida and Louisiana media because he doesn't need to repair any damage in Alabama. He does in Florida and Louisiana, where he will be trying to recruit players.

He knows he doesn't need the Alabama media right now. The entire state is eating out of his hands. It's the honeymoon of honeymoons.

 

Oh, I know why he did it; doesn't make it right and sets a shitty tone for a place he's making a fresh start...

And if I'm the Florida media that didn't get to sit in on the 40-minute love fest in Satan's office, I ask question after question at his Alabama introduction...

 

I hear you. And I know you know. You know?

Nice tagline, by the way.

 

If there was one person who I knew would enjoy it, it's you, brother...

 

Strikes me that anyone who says they'd do the same thing if they could, has no right to complain when it's done to them.

Just my 2c.

 

That's incorrect. Who's to say that the national guy has any idea that the local guys are being cut off? Why should the national guy care at all? He/she calls and asks for the interview and if he gets it, that's not his fault.

It's the media relations people who are at fault. The TV guy isn't cutting anybody off. The SID is.