Getting out ... just to get out

There was a thread a couple of years ago where someone had some interesting posts about how much of a stigma that sports writing could be when interviewing for some jobs, surprisingly. Some employers didn't understand the deadline pressure aspect of it. To them, it was fun and games for a living. The poster recalled some specific passive-aggressive questions, I think from a hospital public relations hiring manager. Something like, "Now, this job actually comes with a lot of pressure. It's not like sports writing."

On one hand, it's ludicrous. On the other hand, I've seen posts here from people about how they covered a car accident or a murder once and decided that they were meant for sports. In fairness, that reticence isn't limited to sports writers. I remember my assistant managing editor on the college newspaper decided against journalism as a career the week we had to cover the murder of a student. Another guy I graduated with and started work with at the same shop quit a month in after he had to cover a fire in which a family lost everything they owned.

 

I got that a lot. I work for one of the biggest companies in the country, make more money than I did when I was in journalism, I've gotten to work from home for the last year (I've been there almost three years...) and I rarely work more than 45-50 hours a week and I'm constantly asked, "So, are you trying to get back into journalism? I can't imagine being happy doing this after you were doing that..."

They don't understand. They don't want to understand and 9 times out of 10, there's nothing you can tell them to make them understand... You can say, "I worked 80 hours a week, had to be away from my family all the time and had no job security..." and as true as all that may be, we look whiny because someone who has never done it, doesn't understand that while being a sports journalist may be a very cool job, it's not as glamorous as they make it out to be.

Whenever someone bring up my past profession, I usually say, "Oh, that was a lifetime ago..." I think that helps hammer home the point that I'm not interested in going back to journalism.

 

In the middle of playoff basketball season, I realized that I was waking up tired. The alarm would sound at 5:30 for me to get up to go down my fifth or sixth desk shift in seven days and I just felt like I'd been beaten by Tiger Woods' ex-wife with a 9-iron.

I remember the first day I talked to a friend of mine from church who got me into this business. I remember the pure joy of covering high school football as a correspondent and thinking that I'd hung the moon. $35 per story, for this! I remember the joy, a feeling that lingers like the smell of freshly baked cookies.

That part is over for me. It's been 12 years and for it I've worked holidays, as everyone has here. I've got one broken marriage under my belt and it nearly killed me. I've worked a month in a red-hot Florida summer without a day off covering Dixie League baseball. I've worked for some of the greatest people in this business and some of the most soul-crushing individuals that have ever walked the Earth. I still deal with depression. I deal with the regret of not listening to my Dad, who told me "you won't make dollar one in that business." I've dealt with burnout, as everyone has here. Some days, stories write themselves, others, you just have to muddle through.

I remember the day when I was laid off by a mid-sized metro. I wasn't shocked and I realized that I felt sorry for the people who remained as the cubicles became more and more empty.

Despite all of that, I still loved the job. But now, I'm ready to do something else. I don't think I'll miss it when it's over. My wife thinks that I'll miss those 18-hour Friday nights and the adrenaline rush of deadline. No, I won't.

 

Well....that's not exactly fair. I gave the "I work well under pressure and on deadline" line when I interviewed for my current gig. But, shocker, this job doesn't come with a whole lot of either. Didn't mean I wasn't qualified for the job, though. They hired me, and I'm good at the job.

Just because you work well under pressure doesn't automatically mean you don't work well when you're not under pressure. It's not that simple.

 

One of the bigger tragedies/incidents this country has had in the last 20 years happened in a city where I was working and I had to help cover it. The day it happened was one of the hardest of my professional life, and while I didn't exactly take the whole day in stride, I was able to two stories related to the tragedy in the next day's paper, while there were people who were seasoned cop reporters and hard news reporters who had to beg off covering it. I helped cover it on and off for about two weeks and the second week was mostly sports related to the tragedy. But after the dust settled they announced that an editor and three writers were assigned to cover the aftermath and everything that came later... Two of the writers left within six months and both had begged to get the assignment because it was so high-profile. Neither left for a better job. The editor who was in charge of them seemed to have no soul whatsoever. He enjoyed his job way too much and seemed to get excited by some of the dark things that happened in the aftermath of the tragedy. He was just creepy to be around, but holy shit was he good at his job...

 

Working well on deadline also usually translates into "I can work fast and efficiently." and in most jobs that's a pretty good thing...

 

It's a weird thing. I fully confess to being excited about covering bad things. It was probably my ego - I felt like if this was going to happen anyway, I'm the one who can tell the story the best. Getting to cover things, and educate readers on the surrounding issues, actually was therapeutic for me, because I didn't fell helpless in the face of a chaotic world. I felt like I could move the needle. 9/11 helped push me out of sports writing, but that was because I felt I wasn't involved enough in it and the politics surrounding it.

 

This is why researching employers is vital. The "works well under deadline" line shouldn't be one of the first things you say to sell yourself. What are the day-to-day duties?

Don't say you can juggle multiple projects unless the job required you to do just that. If all you doing is punching out widgets, then multitasking is not essential.

 

I never minded covering things that were controversial or scandalous, but covering funerals and talking to families who had just had a loved one die tragically... No thanks... In sports, you have to do that occasionally, and you just suck it up and do it, but doing that regularly... I couldn't do that...

 

I'm at a crossroads myself. The biggest thing for me is my kids.

My eldest is a high school freshman and a varsity cheerleader. Unless I cover the school's games, I don't get to see her cheer, and frankly, I don't much of a chance any way because I'm covering a game.

My youngest daughter plays soccer for an out-of-town club (the local club, to make a long story short, didn't have a team for her and didn't offer her a spot on another team). That's a lot of traveling just for practices. The games are in the same place she and her brother play at, so that doesn't matter. But her first spring tournament is in Oklahoma City here in a couple weeks, and I won't be able to be there Saturday because of work. Maybe Sunday if the team has a chance to qualify for the finals, but even then, that's two cars traveling extensively. Gas ain't cheap these days. She also recently joined a traveling basketball team, although that season just ended. But soccer is her deal. She always talks about wanting to play for the USA, like a lot of kids, and I've explained the process to her. ODP tryouts, state ODP if she makes it. That alone is time consuming, not to mention costly. I don't know how much I can help in that regard with my job. My wife is a day-care provider, so if she takes days off, she doesn't get paid.

My son plays soccer, basketball, baseball, you name it. He's a little shit when idle, so we have to keep him busy. He has no real offseason. His basketball season ends this weekend, and his first soccer practice is Monday. And I'm not going to deny him the opportunities his sister has. If he wants to playing traveling basketball, we'll do everything we can to find him a team.

Did I mention the kids have school functions? Concerts, plays, conferences, etc.? I miss too many with my job.

I'm not looking over my shoulder. It's a good paper with good management. I've been blessed with an editor who often tells me that my family comes first (and he means it), but I know there are times when my job has to come first. And I'm getting tired of missing my family's events, even something simple like Wednesday night church activities. That's why I don't know how much longer I can through with this. I mean, covering a small college softball doubleheader when my kids have soccer games? I shake my head at the thought.

 

Keep the gig while you look for something out of the biz.

In 10 years, don't regret missing your family's most cherished events.

Get out, because that's what I just read your heart telling your soul.

 

I couldn't go back to working nights after not working nights. When I come in the door each day, around 7, my 3-year-old races at me in a full sprint and yells, "Daddy!" Like he's been waiting all day. My dad worked nights. At his funeral, my brother talked during his portion of the eulogy about how he always associated "All in the Family" with my dad, because it ended at midnight on Nick at Nite, and he knew when it was over, my dad was coming through the door.