Drinking on the job

Your analogy has nothing to do with the original questions on this thread: 1) is it reasonable to drink before you cover a game, and 2) is it reasonable to drink while you're writing.

Look, I don't want my lawyer having a drink on the way into a negotiation...I don't want my hairdresser having drink before she cuts my hair. I can't think of any profession that justifies drinking during or en route to work. Maybe strippers, I can understand that. And proctologists.

But to answer your question: if you're completely 'faced' after a late night in the bar, and a story breaks on your beat? Get someone else to take it, or at least ride shotgun on the story. You owe it to your newspaper, and certainly to your career.

 

Sales and politics come immediately to mind when thinking of occupations that drink on the job.

 

21 makes a great and practical point. To widen the discussion a little though, how much does the whole two-fisted history of sportswriting and drinking play into a thread like this? What would Ring Lardner think about it? Or Dan Jenkins? How much of their work was routinely done over cocktails or under the influence? For good or ill, isn't being able to hold your liquor a big part of the lore and tradition of sportswriting? And are those notions still appealing to young sportswriters? Or has the hard-drinking, tough-talking romantic poet of the pressbox gone the way of the Dodo?

 

You forgot Hemingway.

But he's dead, and probably not reading this thread.

 

Yes, I think he has, and probably should. The world is different. The business is different. With newspapers looking to cut costs, I sure don't want to give anyone a reason to save money by subtracting my salary. The hard-drinking tradition of the newspaper business in general (remember, Lou Grant used to keep a bottle in his desk drawer) is the reason almost every pro press box I've been to (NFL, MLB, NBA) have beer available while writers are working -- and, yes, I've seen quite a few (usually older guys) helping themselves while cranking out copy. Personally, I won't touch the press box beer. For one, it looks unprofessional and it could conceivably be used by management as a cause for termination if management is so inclined. Plus it plays into the perception that we all got into this business for the free beer.

 

I don't know about press box beer and I don't let sources buy me drinks, but I'm a business reporter, and occasionally I'll go to a big Chamber of Commerce networking dinner or something like that, where there's an open bar and most people (most of my sources) are availing themselves. I'll usually have a beer. Just one, not enough to have an effect. But one. It's a social thing, and I don't see the harm in that.
FWIW, my editor, and the editor of my paper, usually do the same (though they may have more than one, I don't know).
Of course, when I was interviewing for my current job, an editor took me out to lunch and had a couple of beers. Then another editor took me for a beer after work. So standards at my place may be unusual.

 

Why not file the story and then drink a cold one? I do have a problem with drinking before any type of game. If it's a bad girls' basketball game or whatever, I usually pray for a quick game and a fast ending to the game! Hasn't failed me yet.

 

My first-ever beat at the 80,000-circulation at which I worked at during college was soccer, a sport I knew virtually nothing about. This is 1979. The coach of the most prominent program in the area, however, used to spend a lot of time teaching me about the game. He was a great guy, turned out a city champion team on an annual basis. Riding the team bus back from away games (often Randall's Island) we'd sit together and he always reached into the first-aid box for his little half-pint of Scotch. It would have been wrong, insulting even, to turn down his generous offers. Besides, I enjoyed those times immensely and developed a great relationship with him. Of course, after I'd gone back and filed my story we'd often meet up again at the local pub, where he switched to Manhattans. This is all to say that I don't think you can develop too many hard-and-fast rules about this type of thing in our business.

 

I agree that there is nothing wrong with one drink while working on a story at home.

But I do think it is a problem to drink before going out to cover an event. I think it's unprofessional and people do notice.

I know a long-time sportswriter in PA who would often have a couple of beers with dinner before covering games. We all knew it and I remember hearing whispers behind his back. That's not a good sign.

I also worked for a sports editor who would occasionally leave the office at 5 or 6 p.m. for "dinner," and never return until the next day. He often left work undone, including the budget for the next day's section. We'd try to call, though we probably should have hit the bars.

The guy was a lousy sports editor. Pretty good reporter, but a reputation for being a bit irresponsible. I wonder why.

Seriously, if you need a beer to get through two hours of watching a sporting event, something is wrong. Even if it is really shitty girls basketball.

I know...I know..sanctimonious, judgmental jackass...that's me...

 

Sometimes sanctimonious is just a loaded word used to counter something somebody doesn't want to hear.

Especially vis a vis drinking and driving, we could use a lot more sanctimony.

 

Next round's on Montezuma.

 

All things in moderation, especially moderation.