If you were an athlete, would reporters like you?

My mother kept a lot of my clippings from when I was an athlete in high school. After I had been in the business 5-6 years I got curious as to how good of a quote I was. So when I visited her one summer, I looked them up.

Gotta say, I wasn't bad for a 16-year old.

In a way, a lot of us are interviewed by the media all the time, considering we always go on radio shows to talk about the teams we covered. I guess if you go on once and never again, you're probably awful.

 

Tell it like it is ... that's my motto.

I can't stand interview coaches and hearing the same generic stuff. In a game where Team A beat Team B 1,000-3 (not real numbers), Team A coach still said something like:

"Well, Team B's a good football team. We made a bunch of mistakes, but in the end, a win's a win."

Of course, he's not going to say, "Man, that program is terrible. We did everything perfect. If we didn't win, I'd quit my job." But don't tell me Team B is a good team, or you made a bunch of mistakes!

So from this experience, I could say reporters would love me, and my coach/administrators would probably not be too happy with me on a regular basis.

 

Yes and no.
I'm a horrible quote, and I usually draw a blank to the simplest questions. But I suspect that if I was on a team that lost, I'd be the guy to drop some F-bombs and givwe the all-encompassing "We sucked today" quote.

 

I blabber on when I'm nervous, so I'm afraid of what I might say if someone stuck a microphone in my face. Probably too much.

 

Kaylee, critics still say you haven't lived up to your sportswriting potential since being drafted in 2000. Now there have been questions about your attitude and your commitment to the craft. With all that's being said, do you think you can still make a solid contribution to the paper throughout the rest of football season?

You know, I'm really starting to get tired of all this talk. Why don't you guys ever write about the GOOD things? I mean, that lead story back in August, why don't you ever ask about that? Or about that FOI request that I made? But no, you guys just want to take a few instances of bad copy or run-ins with the SE and blow them way out of proportion. I'm not concerned about my performance, and you know why? It's a TEAM EFFORT. Those guys on the copy desk? They're with me. My partner on the beat? He's with me. As long as I've got that, I could care less what the media has to say. I'm done with this. Come back when you've got some different questions for a change.


No, I don't think I'd be a favorite.

 

99.9 percent of the battle is just getting athletes and coaches to understand what your job is and why you're asking the questions you're asking.

If they know that it's not personal, that you have no agenda, that sometimes you have to ask "dumb" or general questions just to elicit a comment, that there is no conspiracy to "get" them and that you have to ask them "why" when they perform poorly, then you'll get along.
It's really that simple.

So if I were an athlete, yes I'd get along with reporters because I know all that.

 

Why do you hate America, Billy?

 

Why do I picture Chris Farley making a lot of air-quote gestures, Billy?

 

If I were going to try to be an athlete, reporters would have nothing to do with me because I both suck and blow simultaneously as an athlete.

If I were any good as an athlete, however, I don't know. I'd be basing too much of my speculation on how I've been with media when I've been the one interviewed. I answer questions the way I do because I know what it's like to be the interviewer. If I were an athlete who had never set foot in a newsroom, it'd be a completely different situation because I wouldn't have the (limited) understanding I have of the media.

 

Unless you are paying attention to how their mother feeds them chicken. Blue font needed.

 

I'd be pretty good, I think, but anybody wanting a rip job on a coach or teammate or whatever wouldn't be very satisfied with me.