Hilariously Bad Interview Questions

As a news guy with occasional sports experience, I'll readily admit that you sports guys have more challenges facing you in live interviews than our side of the newsroom.

I think that's why a lot of reporters, quite a few on the national stage, struggle with it. For instance, "Talk about" or "Can you tell me what happened ..." are natural ways for us to start an interview, especially if we weren't there to witness the event ... once I have their perspective I can then poke holes in it from my reporting, depending on what I'm writing about ...

Plus, in general - definitely not all cases - a politician, a cancer survivor, or even an eye-witness at a murder scene tend to be a little more conversational than a quiet athlete whose been hammered by an SID or coach to watch what he says.

I definitely don't envy guys who cover tempermental coaches at bigger college and sports programs during the press conferences after a loss ... Obviously it's key to develop a good relationship with the coach or else they'll misconstrue every "Why" question you throw at them ... of course, I've had asshole prosecutors and attorneys who were the same way after a loss ... so in a lot of ways it's the same.

 

While it has been widely debunked, but to just to keep the legend going, this Super Bowl presser gem ... So Doug [Williams], how long have you been a black quarterback?

I think the person who actually posed the question posted on here.

 

I still honestly don't understand the issue some have with "Talk about ..."

We're not looking to see who can put their words in an interrogative structure. We're doing our job. And part of our job on deadline is to get good, relevant quotes from athletes/coaches in as short an amount of time as possible.

If that leads you to start the occasional sentence with "Talk about ..." so be it. So long as what you're doing doesn't get in the way of other people's work, that's just doing your job. Getting hung up on it seems pretty picky to me, but maybe there's a really good reason to do so that I've never heard.

 

I think once most people realized the guy who asked the question was black, they realized it wasn't a serious question...

 

Nothing wrong with ``Talk about ...'' as long as there's a specific point, as opposed to, say, ``Talk about the offense.'' I have no problem with someone saying, ``Talk about what you did to take advantage of the two-deep zone,'' or, ``Talk about Joe Schmoe's emegence as a scoring threat this season.''

 

I never use "talk about..." I find it lazy. That's why I take a more enterprising approach and use, "Tell me about..."
Actually, I find that one equally lazy. But when you're on deadline, your options are sometimes limited, and if you need a quick quote (not just a canned answer), "Tell me about..." can work wonders.

 

Can you talk about = Can you tell me about

 

To-MAY-to, to-MAH-to?

 

Some of you may know Bob Lovell as the host of Indiana Sports Talk, but I first knew him as the IUPUI men's basketball coach, athletic director, and instant educator of a fallow IUPUI Sagamore freshman reporter who asked a lot of stupid questions, i.e., me.

I believe it was our first interview when I asked him something stock like, "what is the key to winning the upcoming game." And he said: "Scoring more points than the other team." Well, duh.

At the time, he seemed like a bit of a jerk (which he could be), but he taught me better than any j-school prof about how to make sure to frame informed, insightful questions to get responses better than "scoring more points than the other team."

 

In the NJ Devils locker room after a game in Dallas. Joe Schmoe reporter talking to Martin Brodeur for about 10 minutes, asking about everything under the sun. Finally, one of the Devils PR guys comes over and tells him to wrap it up. Joe Schmoe asks, "So Scott, how big were a couple of those saves Brodeur made in goal tonight?" Brodeur smiles, says, "Umm, I'm Martin Brodeur. Scott Stevens already left," shook his head and headed for the shower.

Brilliant.

 

This was years ago at a school in Southern California. Can't remember the girl's name, but I remember the story.

 

That was kind of the point. Sorry, the irony didn't come through very clearly.