Plans for the "Hiatus"?

Yes that's right. Journalism is needed. It's just that the suits and CEO's aren't getting better, only worse. The chains are in it for one of two reasons: to pad the wallets of the CEOs and to keep them bathing in money or 2. the hedge funds to bleed all businesses of their assets most importantly the buildings. It has nothing to do about reporting and there is general disregard/mockery of the little guy and gal, the reporters and copy editors. One goal above all else: get rid of the salaries! Keep em low, low, low.

 

Yes but the medical people have no chance of being laid off. Reporters daily face either getting laid off, furloughed or salary cut. According to the suits, anybody can do this job even citizen journalists.

 

I agree with this for the most part, it's not that I think doing the job isn't important.

But I'm going to say something that may get me excommunicated here, but it's how I feel now: Does covering sports really matter?

I've done this my whole career and I have so much respect for all my peers and colleagues. But the older I get, the more sports just bore me. Full disclosure, I've gone through some very major (positive) life changes in recent months, so my perspective may be a little "new" at the moment. However, I just don't care about it that much anymore. I love watching the games (which are gone for now, of course), but the rest of it? I couldn't care less.

Like Tom Brady going to Tampa. I didn't read one word, one sentence, of the 10 zillion stories written about it. I'm sure they were mostly well done and well reported. But I don't care. I really don't. I'll be interested to (hopefully) watch him play this fall, but a professional QB switching teams (even if he is the best ever) is so minor and unimportant to life and has so little actual impact on people that I honestly find it ridiculous that anyone could spend hours and hours analyzing it. I couldn't spend 10 minutes.

Who really cares?

The reporters covering coronavirus right now are doing something that's needed. Not for one second do I think that what I do matters at all. It pays bills, that's it.

I have no passion for this anymore, which is why I'm changing careers soon. Just at the moment, you can't really do anything obviously, so I'll stick with it. For those still passionate, you're better than I.

This, for the record, is 100 percent my opinion. Not trying to preach.

 

Alden asking readers to pay them more. This is ballsier than foreign based cruise companies wanting US tax breaks

 

@Moderator1 @Big Circus

 

No excommunication by me. You've clearly undergone a change of perspective(s). And I always find that process fascinating, and usually, positive and life-affirming, and often, life-changing.

I must say, you've got me very curious to know some of the life changes you had that have contributed to your new view.

 

Sure, I don't mind sharing at all. I'm open about it.

I'm in early recovery for alcoholism and substance abuse. I was always very functional for the most part, but it was getting worse and worse the last couple years or so. Combined with anxiety and depression that I've always had, everything just came crashing down on me a while back and it was obvious I needed to get better or I was going to start losing everything. I took a LOA and have since spent a lot of time focusing on my recovery. That has to come first and really always will. I was putting work ahead of everything before.

I'm back working again, thankfully my employer was just incredible in giving me time and encouraging me to take a break and work on getting healthy, plus our short-term absence policy is real good. I'm fortunate. No matter what happens, I can't ever badmouth my employer and my immediate superiors, they've been amazing.

I'm doing well now, taking it slow. But independent of my issues, I was losing just a lot of passion for the job in recent times. Obviously, I have a responsibility and an obligation to do my best, and I will always honor that. I still love the games and the people for the most part, but it just seems so formulaic to me now. In general, I don't have the same passion for sports as I used to. I thought I'd be missing it terribly during this situation, and I definitely wish I was watching the NCAA regionals and opening week for MLB this weekend, but I don't miss it nearly as much as I thought. I'm plenty interested in other things to occupy my time.

I will always love sports, and it's very possible that I'm just going through a lot right now so things are just kind of out of whack. I may feel that passion once again, but I doubt it. I'm too young yet to have a midlife crisis, but I suppose getting older and having a family changes things. Many of you know the feeling, I'm sure. There's just more important things in life. I used to be just crushed when my favorite teams lost and elated when they won. Now, it's no big deal either way.

In my time in recovery, I've met incredible people suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction. Some of the kindest, smartest people I've known. They need help. They deserve better lives. I really have developed a knack for talking in groups and listening to people, and I've gained more knowledge on the science and mindset of addiction than I thought I ever would.

I'm planning on getting into substance abuse counseling, which will probably take a year or two of school, though I already do have a bachelor's Of course, I'm not doing anything until the fall anyway, and the whole world is basically at a standstill now, so I'm doing this job for the near future.

But it's time to move on. I'll always remember it fondly, and my writing skills will always come in handy.

 

In reference to someone who posted about "audience appetite for sports" amid the coronavirus... Web traffic for sports at my property is well below normal, though that would be expected. More discouraging is how poorly most coronavirus-centric sports content is performing. Hard news does fine, sure, but there doesn't seem to be much of an audience for "senior loses promising season," "how athletes are coping," and other similarly-angled features.

 

Give ‘em what they want.

 

The only thing moving the needle for us was NFL free agency and even that was below what it would be in a normal year. Everything else is drawing zilch.

 

Congrats, Bryan Curtis linked you in his RIP sports writing column:

With No Baseball, FanGraphs Is in Peril. It Won’t Be the Last Sports Media Operation to Face Hard Times.

 

I'm not watching any live TV (since my gym is closed) - are TV stations still doing the traffic and weather checks? I guess weather would makes sense in order to give people an idea when the best time to go outside might be, but really - that's about it.