Sports Bloggers in the Press Box

The Big Lead, Deadspin....and some others. They certainly have scoops here and there.

 

Give me the BLOGGERS!!!!!

They talk more REAL shit than these boring HACKS that write for the rags.

I like it when they POUND EVERYBODY and get folks fired. That excites me.

 

1. I'm a newspaper guy.
2. NFL press boxes are all too often crammed with people who don't need to be there (I'll say it's what you have called the "pretty TV" people and bloggers who wear team colors and openly root for their team.

 

I think I would allow a blog in if it was real journalism in the blog. Can bloggers be journalists? Yes. Are all bloggers journalists? No.

It is a matter of definition. If the blog is an economic enterprise (trying to make money), like rivals/scout or the blogger is actually doing professional work while blogging, I say let them in.

But, if it is a fan site where a guy doesn't adhere to journalistic standards, then I don't think he she it should be allowed.

Is the blog essentially a diary and ramblings? Or is there an actual attempt at analysis and well-informed opinion. Also, the blog has to be read. It has to have some modicum of credibility and following.

A good example of a fan blogger I may consider letting in would be something like celticsblog. It started as a fan blog, but it has slowly evolved to a Celtics outlet. They don't do much actual journalistic work, but the site acts like a fliter, and has an independent following. If they wanted to cover a game, I find no reason to shut them out as long as they act professionally.

I am not for allowing guys who are psycho fans and cheer, inside the press box. But, the medium is evolving, we have to understand that.

 

1. Many weeklies have Web sites that could provide daily coverage of a pro/college team if the readers are asking for it.

2. I love how some members of our establishment are always looking for media that are lower down the food chain to "prove" themselves, either through readership or traffic or something as nebulous as "providing a fresh angle." As if a daily newspaper or a television reporter would ever have to meet such standards for entrance into the press box.

I thought this was hilarious, BTW:

You really shouldn't be concerned. I mean, how much space can a tiny chair for a chicken little like you take up?

 

It's not that hard. There are rules in place now about rooting or wearing team colors in the press box. Just enforce them. And if we're going to start defining "real journalists" out of the press box, we're gonna lose an awful lot of columnists, I'm thinking.

 

The solution is pretty simple, I believe, and most of the following requirements already exist most places:

In order to qualify for a media credential for a sporting event, you must be paid and/or contracted by a media outlet which requires your presence at said event for the specific purpose of submitting coverage of the event in print and/or electronic form for publication or production that day or at a later date. Access to the clubhouse/locker room should be restricted based on the specific need to obtain pre or post-game comments in order to satisfy the requirements of your job as stated by your employer/contracting agency.

I think this eliminates most bloggers, outside of those who maintain blogs in addition to their primary responsibilities as journalists for various media outlets.

Saying fan site bloggers should be permitted to obtain media credentials to pro sporting events is like saying someone who starts a blog in support of President Bush should be permitted to have White House press corps creds.

 

They are credentialed media at the conventions.
Can't speak for the WH.

 

Thanks for all the input. Keep it coming! Plenty of useful information and opinions.

Rufino, thanks for pointing out the typo. My editor missed it!

 

The Nextel Cup race at Infineon last year. Some 450-pound blogger shows up, plants himself at someone else's seat(s), pushes everyone else's bags, laptops, and notebooks out of the way to clear space for his computer and his boom box.

Turns the volume way up on the TV with SPEED network on after every race/qualifying of the day (deadline-type shit).

Is asked repeatedly to mute it which he does for two or three minutes before he turns it back up. Periodically falls asleep and starts snoring at least a half-dozen times throughout the three-day event. Snorts himself awake each time.

Spills a glass of wine in the workstation. Leaves two-or-three plates of half-eaten food laying around on Sunday.

Talks nonstop to anyone and everyone within earshot.

Answers his phone like it's part of a Comedy Central skit -- "WHAT? YEAH IT'S ME. HEY WHAT'S UP DUDE? NO, I'M AT THE RACES. NO, THE RACES. YEAH, THE RACES. YEAH, INFINEON. I DUNNO. YEAH. GORDON'S A DOUCHEBAG. SURE I'LL TELL HIM. WATCH ME. NO. YEAH, THE YAHOO.COM GUY IS HERE TOO. DAMN RIGHT JENNA FRYER IS HOT. YEAH. NO, DOCTOR SAID IT WAS JUST A RASH. OF COURSE IT BURNS. SHIT YEAH, I HAVEN'T CRAPPED IN TWO DAYS. OK. LATER."

Then there was the little old lady working for the internet publication who made my boss move his laptop six or seven times because she said she couldn't see the TV next to him. She didn't want to trade places, just wanted him to move. Eventually he handed her the TV. Literally.

 

Someone made the point that a number of media people don't act professionally in press boxes and locker rooms and some even act like fan boy losers.

I agree, but the difference is they at least have some reason to be in the press box and locker room and they aren't wasting interview time, which if you have noticed is getting shorter and shorter, with their inane fan boy questions or worse, trying to have conversations about how much they enjoy watching a certain player play or how they have something in common (I grew up the next town over and my dad said he took his car to your dad's shop to get fixed") with an athlete or just clogging up the space in the locker rooms.

And anybody that thinks bloggers have more of a reach than any decent sized newspaper with an internet site is kidding themselves. Even the Rivals and Scout sites--if you read the team message boards there are maybe 20 or 25 unique posters at the most on just about every one of them.

There is no reason any blogger needs to be in the press box unless his blog is connected with a legitimate media outlet and he agrees to adhere to the same journalistic standards as all of the rest of us. I'd even go so far to say the blogger must also be getting paid for blogging because that would eliminate about 95 percent of them right off the top.

 

That is the primary distinguishing factor.

We're credentialed because we are being paid by a media outlet which requires us to be there.

I realize that our jobs are kinda cool, at times, but why do so many people want to go to work with us?