Going from news to sports

a polisci degree AND a job in journalism? wow. impressive.

 

So many sports stories today are news stories ... the Clemens stuff, Congress looking into drug testing in sports, stadium financing, franchise sales, economic impact (or not) of major sporting events, athlete arrests, etc, etc.

If I were a sports editor and you could show me clips on those kinds of topics, that would impress me more than a clip on an Acme High volleyball game.

Sports clips can't hurt, of course. Maybe you can cover some Friday night football to keep your event coverage fresh. But you can get plenty of relevant sports experience on the news side.

 

There's also the option of stringing Friday night football games or the local college games for anyone who you can convince needs it. Just a small dabble here and there won't give you that knockout story you need for the portfolio, but it will keep you on your game.

 

Well, there are those newsies who strongly believe every story's lede should be a straightforward who, what, where, when and don't understand why sports isn't the same. But as long as you're not one of those types ...

 

New side experience is a plus. It's nice to know that a candidate will be able to check with the cops and courts and flood the school with FOIs etc.

That only comes up about a half-dozen times a year.

 

it is sad how many sports guys are ignorant to freedom of information.

 

At most places it's the news editors looking down on sports reporters, not the other way around.

 

Hey, I went from Sports to News and I'm doing an even amount of work in both areas.... of course I'm covering a county school board that is.... well, here's an example: One board member has been accused of living in another county with his BOYFRIEND (no one ever saw that one coming) for the last five years. It came to light when a police report from December 2007 surfaced. In the police report it shows the board member was arrested for slapping and attempting to strangle his "boyfriend." Plus I've had to cover a meeting a night between the board's old committee structure, and the community's newly formed groups designed to recall the entire board. I work late five nights a week.
Then again, (because of my sports background, and school system contacts) I was given the responsibility of doing the story about Don Shockley (D.J. Shockley's dad) resigning as a high school football coach because he was keeping pictures of an assistant principal - in her nighties - on his laptop at school. A student found the pictures and started passing them around school and the internet.

 

I went from news-side to sports-side at the same paper a while back. I was mainly a sports guy at my college paper, but worked in news right out of college. I've always felt my news experience helped me with my sports work and vice versa. The FOI stuff I did covering city government made me a lot more comfortable with it in my sports work, plus I've always felt working in news made me a little more resourceful in digging up information.

If I were an editor, I'd have no problem hiring a person from news. If he or she has talent there, it should translate to sports. My biggest concern would be whether I could plop that writer on a high school football sideline, have him or her keep stats and churn out a good 12-inch gamer with stats on the bottom in half an hour. If he or she can do that, we're golden.