Have you given up?

Me too. I mean I just graduated college. I just entered this business and got my first full-time gig in August. This is all I can see myself doing. It's all I know. I went to college all those years just thinking about this and nothing else.
I guess I could get a job at some office somewhere, but doing what? Anytime I think of an office I think of Chandler Bing on Friends and how nobody knew what he did but he wore a suit to work everyday. That's all I can think of when I think of an office job: wearing a suit and sitting at a desk. I can't imagine the actual job.

Plus when I think of other jobs sports is somehow still involved. Like I work in sports PR or I'm a certified athletic trainer(yay more school). Or I'm always taking off from the office early to go to a sporting event or go watch sports.

 

I've gotten out of the business twice and was lucky enough to get back in. I found out the hard way there's nothing else I'd rather do.

 

New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules

With time the child draws in
This whipping boy done wrong
Deprived of all his thoughts
The young man struggles on and on he's known
A vow unto his own
That never from this day
His will they'll take away

What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never be
Never see
Won't see what might have been

What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never free
Never me
So I dub thee unforgiven

They dedicate their lives
To running all of his
He tries to please them all
This bitter man he is
Throughout his life the same
He's battled constantly
This fight he cannot win
A tired man they see no longer cares
The old man then prepares
To die regretfully
That old man here is me

What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never be
Never see
Won't see what might have been

What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never free
Never me
So I dub thee unforgiven

You labeled me
I'll label you
So I dub thee unforgiven

 

Funny thing is, reporting is probably the lowest paid job you can get with a journalism degree.

Just look--you can market yourself for a lot out there. And if you just graduated, you should be pretty Web-savvy, which opens the door for a lot of jobs these days.

I, too, went to school thinking this was all I would be doing, but once I got into it, I backed out and ran. Now, I'm just doing it on the side and if something big comes up, then so be it.

 

Hey John, thanks for the Corey Hart lyrics.

 

forever_town: for what it's worth, that Eagles song was a cover of an old song by a dude who wrote a few Eagles songs, JD Souther. I only mention it because it just won a Grammy, and I hate when covers win Grammys. Someone else gets a Grammy and sells a million copies of a song they didn't write, yay.

As for the thread . . . . I know the thread means "giving up" in the sense of quitting the business. But in today's world, it can be said that saying "I don't really know anything else, so I'm sticking around" is tantamount to giving up. Depending on the reasoning, of course. "Well, times are tough, but I'm not sure I can learn something new, so here I am." If you are lucky enough to love your job (a sensation many of us have been fortunate enough to experience), the idea of trying something else may seem distasteful. Sometimes, choosing to "give up" and leave the business might be a much more gutsy and productive thing to do than sticking around.

Someone also said people let this job define them. Perhaps . . . I suppose that's what keeps a message board for sports journalists so popular. Your profession is only a part of who you are, but taking into consideration hours worked and money made in that profession, many other things - ability to take a vacation, feed one's family, enjoy a certain quality of life - stem directly from your place of work. Success and failure there are very real things, that can affect everything else in your life. There have been a million comments on this site about the pay levels and hours involved in what we do.

Which is another reason why leaving the business is not tantamount to "giving up." Heck, some would also say that continuing in a job you love, but which hinders every other aspect of your life including family time . . . is giving up.

 

Not necessarily. I mean giving up the dream, perhaps just realizing this is as far as you're going to take it and realize you'll have to live with it or get out.

 

Don't ever repeat that line if you interview at a newspaper anytime soon. Just a word to the wise.

 

Here's the thing. Print still brings in like 95 percent of the revenue. True story.

 

Here's the thing. Revenue has nothing to do with your salary.

 

What I'm saying is, it's tough for news organizations to just scrap print because it's "dead" when it's still bringing in most of the money.

But go ahead and be a mocking, sarcastic prick. That's always the better option over a real discussion.

 

i know many guys (away from work) who've been in this business for less than three years. and while i'm still in the business, i've told each and every one of them to break into another profession while they're still young. while each one of these guys are smart individuals, the haven't made smart decisions ... "i want to see how far i can get doing this."

i think they'll pay for their decisions down the road when the mass exodus takes place.