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Sports Journalism and losing your fanhood

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by verilos, Jul 4, 2009.

Page 3 of 7
  1. badmoon

    badmoon Member

    You can love the sport -- in fact, it helps -- but you must be indifferent to the outcome. It's not that difficult.
     
    badmoon, Jul 4, 2009
    #25
  2. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Key point. Sports journalism isn't all pro/college beats. And there will be far fewer of those jobs available to young bucks today than just a couple years ago, much less 10-20.

    You'll see the word "hyperlocal" bantered around here, sometimes followed by profanity. But the fact is a lot of papers are greatly narrowing their sports scope, which means less of the pro team two hours away but plenty about the local high school and even the middle school and %&!* Little League. If you can embrace that kind of coverage, you'll be fine. You'll almost certainly *have* to embrace that in your first job -- we all did -- but can you embrace it 5 or 10 years from now when it might be the only way to stay in the field? Because the automatic trips up the ladder are going to be far fewer.
     
    playthrough, Jul 4, 2009
    #26
  3. budcrew08

    budcrew08 Active Member

    Verilos: If you read nothing else of this thread, listen to this guy.
     
    budcrew08, Jul 4, 2009
    #27
  4. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    why, thank you, bud! ;)
     
    shockey, Jul 5, 2009
    #28
  5. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    Also, as someone else said, don't rule out other sports-related careers. Sports marketing. Announcing. Umpiring/officiating. Administration. Check it all out while you're young and still a fan.
     
    Johnny Dangerously, Jul 5, 2009
    #29
  6. budcrew08

    budcrew08 Active Member

    no problem, sir.
     
    budcrew08, Jul 5, 2009
    #30
  7. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

     
    dooley_womack1, Jul 5, 2009
    #31
  8. budcrew08

    budcrew08 Active Member

    what? confused?
     
    budcrew08, Jul 5, 2009
    #32
  9. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    Oops, forget the [/crossthread]. See McNair thread
     
    dooley_womack1, Jul 5, 2009
    #33
  10. highlander

    highlander Member

    I have football and baseball season tickets for my alma mater. I yell and cheer but also catch myself seeing things that other people don't see, just because of insight and having seen so many football games at different levels. I don't think I'll ever lose my love for sports but I do agree with something I saw that you secretly wish the team you are covering in the playoffs will lose because it means extra work for you. I think in a span of seven years I found myself out of town or at a state championship football game six times on the Saturday before Christmas.
     
    highlander, Jul 5, 2009
    #34
  11. rpmmutant

    rpmmutant Member

    One of the best pieces of advice I got about sportswriting was this: You have to love the writing more than the sports. If you can write every day, find something new and interesting to put on paper or on your computer screen, then you will love being a journalist. It's easy to have a passion for sports. Millions of people around the world have a passion for sports. Very few have a passion for writing. It takes time to develop, time to master, time to craft. It's not easy and demands daily modifications. In this world of blogs and web updates, it sometimes takes hourly modifications. Make sure if you want to be a sportswriter that the writing is more important than the sports.
     
    rpmmutant, Jul 5, 2009
    #35
  12. WriteThinking

    WriteThinking Well-Known Member

    Actually, the key to this job is not loving sports more than anything, like a fan, or otherwise. It's a given that most of us do, or at least, that we did, especially when we first started out.

    The real question is whether you love journalism -- interviewing, reporting and writing. If you're in this business, you should be a journalist first.
     
    WriteThinking, Jul 5, 2009
    #36
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