Getting back in the biz

This whole thread has really been helpful for my mental state.
To answer a few questions:
1) My income isn't going to change my family's life. My wife wisely chose pharmacy and her decision to make money instead of chasing a dream means we're OK financially. We'd probably be taking vacations all over the world every year, but two kids changed that - and I don't mind in the least.
2) The 18-month gap in my resume has a lot to do with my location. Because my wife makes a good living, we're not going to pack up and leave so I can make 40K somewhere. We just built a house and I'd have to get a job making stupid money for us to move. For those unfamiliar with RI, there are eight papers/chains that have full-time sports staffers and 23 jobs in total. Since my departure, there have been four openings; two at my old chain, one at ProJo (which was for the Patriots beat and without pro experience, not one I had a good shot at) and one that was a retirement filled by the person whose job just opened up.
So basically, if you get a job and want to stay in RI, you stay forever.
3) The addiction comparison wasn't as offensive as you think. It's pretty spot on. I know that, in RI, the only way I'll make decent money is working at the ProJo. I don't care. I want back in, but I don't trust myself to work within the parameters of the law. I'll put in the 60 hours a week because I want my product to be better than everyone else's. This is a giant competition for me and I want to win. I know a lot of guys in-state who talk like winning awards isn't a big deal. I'm not one of them. For me, winning awards was validation for the work I did. I loved hearing nice things from the readers, but nothing was better than seeing my name on an awards list.
4) The "caddy game" isn't what you might think it is. We're there to ensure people who aren't members at the club don't fuck up our course. We're not lugging bags. It's forecaddie work and it's helped me lose 80 pounds the last 18 months. I love being outside, the money is good and being able to play the course is a fantastic perk. It's one of two jobs I've done that I was really good at.
5) Freelancing isn't for me. I don't mind doing assignments when people call and ask, but with such limited free time and more responsibilities with the kids and new house, the last thing I want to do is work when I don't have to.

Honestly, I don't think any of this is going to matter. If I had to guess, the person hiring is going to call my old boss at my old paper and that's going to end any shot I have because my old bosses - who brought such great things to my papers like "telling Rhody not to do 60 hours of work every week, giving him less pages to do, then getting mad that he's not doing the amount of work he was before" and "18 deck headlines" and "committing plagiarism and when called on it, pretending it never happened" and, my favorite, "getting told by an advertiser to fire a reporter and going through with it."
Perhaps I should have titled this thread "Why do I want to get back in the business?" because after reading this, it sounds insane that I still do.

 

Pre-Sandusky, Sara Ganim was just as expendable as everyone else.

Also, it sounds like Rhody was on his way to a pretty successful career before hitting a shitty-boss roadblock.

A strong body of work can still get you places in this business. It certainly did for me. Just because I wouldn't do it all over again doesn't mean it can't be done.

 

I kind of like the details of his caddy gig. 80 pounds in 18 months? Free golf? I suck at golf but I'd get better in no time with that kind of gig. But the 80 pounds in 18 months is tremendous.

 

It depends on your priorities.

When I hear about friends getting let go, for some often I'll think, "Oh this is going to be good for them in the long run." and others where I think, "Oh fuck, they're going to be devastated."

Obviously, I feel terrible for anyone who loses their job for any reason, but some people are equipped to handle it and move on better than others. The people I really feel sorry for are the ones who keep trying and failing to get back in or the ones who get let go from a crappy job only to move across the country and take another shot on another crappy job.

I think there are a lot of people out there who can't imagine doing anything outside of journalism and then as soon as they're forced to move on into a different field, they realize that there are some pluses to working a 40-hour Monday through Friday job and having holidays off.

 

Actually, she wasn't. And I would say I'm in a pretty good position to tell you that. Her talent was pretty clear already.

 

Yeah. If that's the number, 80 pounds, that answer the "what's it going to hurt?" question. It's going to hurt the entire lifestyle.

 

The shitty part is I don't take advantage of the free golf as offense I should. Usually I'm too tired after caddying to play or I just want to get home and see my family. I've played once for fu. At the course and hit to train new caddies three times, but I wish it was a lot more.
As for the weight loss, I don't want to completely blame journalism, but it didn't help. I ate like garbage and used work as an excuse not to exercise. I clocked in at 340 shortly before I was let go in January of 2013, got down to 275 by October 2013 thanks to eating better, exercising (which was walking two rounds of golf every week), drinking less and caddying, which consists of running around the golf course for 4 and a half hours. I was back over 300 after a sloppy winter, but in the last three months have shed the weight and I'm at 265 now.
But free golf and exercise is an unmatched perk for me.

 

That's great. Truthfully that would be the decider for me.

IMO you are completely right in forecasting what would happen going back to journalism. I had gotten to be a fitness nut around age 30. For many years I was actually well under BMI of 25 (the ridiculous line that supposedly decides who is "overweight").

Then I started blogging. Gained about 25 pounds that year.

 

The bottom line is this: Regardless of what one thinks of any industry, there's nothing wrong with applying for a job to see if you might be fortunate enough to enter a good situation.

If you are contacted at any point after you apply, you are then free to ask this prospective employer any questions you want. If you then find out it's not a good situation, you can always stop there and either stick with your current situation or find another job to apply for.

From everything Rhody has shared, he's doing the right thing by keeping in mind his current situation and not letting his desire to get back into the business override everything... but with that said, there's no harm in applying for the job to find out if it's truly worth pursuing his desire.

Yeah, from an overall standpoint, it may not appear to be the case. But just because that's the overall standpoint doesn't mean there aren't situations that might work for certain individuals.

 

Rhody's biggest advantage and disadvantage in this whole debate is that Rhode Island is an incredibly small state and everyone either knows everyone in this industry or has heard of everyone in this industry.
Meaning that, ultimately, whether or not he gets a look for this gig depends exclusively on who is in charge of making the hire.
If it's one of his peers who has actually worked with him or seen him work in a professional environment, he's golden. He'll be offered an interview and, more than likely, will be immediately offered this job. He's more than qualified and fits the bill perfectly.
In addition, he would kill it in this job.
But the problem is, there's a pretty decent chance the person making this call is someone who hasn't worked with him and, if that's the case, he's got a 50-50 chance at best.
This paper is a sister paper of the gig where he was fired and while they are notorious for hating that place where he was let go, if it's one of the upper-management people making the call, he might be right in assuming he'll be blackballed simply because of the way he was let go from it.
One of this paper's current editors was also let go from the sister company but that was strictly for financial reasons so Rhody and he was hired because he was the best candidate available.
So the bottom line here is Rhody may not have a lot of control in whether or not he gets a look at this gig. Unfortunately, in this state it's all in who you know and who they know.
I'm pulling for him but I'm not optimistic.

 

Are pharmacists still starting out at $80-$100K? Rhody is lucky to be in a position where he probably doesn't have to work, as long he can stay on his wife's good side.

 

And unfortunately for me, that means not playing as much free golf as I want to.
The one thing I've taken from this is the desire I have to get back at it. I don't know why. I want back in, but I want back in in the right situation; a good work environment, people who desire to be the best locally and nationally and maybe even a paycheck that wouldn't make me go on food stamps if not for my wonderful wife.
There are nights I think about where I could be if I would have just foregone marriage, kids, etc., and just tried to jump from shop to shop, moving up in the biz; but there are far more nights where I am happy about my life, my family and everything that comes along with it.
But like any fat guy, I want my cake and want to eat it too.