Sports writers and drinking

I'm watching TO talk on SportsCenter in my hotel room right now. I'd rather be drunk.

Friday night post game, Ketel One and tonics were going down well. Saturday night, post game, Ketel One and tonics were going down nicely, but I stopped after three.

At home, the only beer I have in the house is for guests or for boiling bratwurst or polish sausage.

But on a nice, warm afternoon where friends and I take my pontoon boat out to the sand bar? Mount Gay rum and Coke can flow.

I think I've put a few bar owners' kids through college, but actually have cut back significantly, and it was more a matter of circumstance than any choice. I've done it long enough and now live far enough away fro downtown that I no longer have a regular bar. I miss having a regular bar, but my finances don't.

 

Mizzougrad's claim is patently false. As someone who has covered double-digit NASCAR races for 12 seasons, I have never -- NEVER -- seen reporters walk out of a media center with cases of beer in their arms. When RJR was the title sponsor, smokes were readily available, stacked in a corner next to team releases and media guides. Thankfully, those days ended when Nextel took over. Now, it's not uncommon for reporters to pack a cooler of their own beer in the trunk and have sort a reverse tailgate party after all deadlines are met and roadways are still choked with 150,000 people trying to get out. But whatever Mizzougrad saw, it isn't common. The NASCAR beat is like any other, populated by many young, enterprising, and responsible reporters who enjoy a drink when off the clock. But walking out of a press box with free cases? Does not happen.

 

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I know I'm in a scary situation. An Episcopal sports writer.

I'm post 30 and get hammered about once every other month. Outside of that, with the late hours that I work, I can be fine going to a bar at 12:30 p.m., drinking 3 beers or one brown liquor drink and calling it a night.

What does that say that I'm doing that about once a week? Good, bad, who cares?

I've wondered about that a lot.

 

Not sure what it had to do w/ being a sports writer, but my wife and I turned this summer into one huge party. We were pretty much going out every night -- whether I was working (we'd go out later) or not. Got a little crazy, and at some points, out of hand.
We're only going out once or twice a week now, and it's generally much lower key.
I have started to notice that some of my hangovers -- even when I'd just been drinking beer -- are absolutely sidelining me the next day. That's helping to curb it too.

 

This may well be a rhetorical question because I know it's probably not something you'd be comfortable admitting:

Isn't there anyone else whose boss would bring a case of beer in for post-deadline on really rough nights?

Anyone else who used to go out with the newsroom to the parking garage behind the building for a few?

 

I'm confused. Do you mean 12:30 AM? Or do you work some crazy shift for an AM paper, so "calling it a night" happens in the early afternoon?
Either way, I wouldn't worry about it. Having a few beers one night a week after work isn't going to hurt you any. To be honest, I'm a bit surprised by how many "barely touch the stuff" responses there've been on here.
I don't drink on the job (though I used to have an editor who spent most afternoons soused), but I have anywhere from one to three drinks almost every night after work. I work more or less 9 to 6, so I'm talking with dinner, after dinner, etc. That said, I rarely drink enough to get drunk. I think twice all summer, both times at weddings.
Drinking is just a natural part of life. My parents, my wife and many of my friends are the same way. Maybe it comes from growing up in a family that was in the liquor-store business, I don't know. I certainly like my beer, and I've never really tried stopping, but I don't think of it as a problem.

 

I've never drank in the office, but at my last shop we used to share a few beers with whoever wanted to hang out in the parking lot after work.

 

Mizzougrad's claim is patently false. As someone who has covered double-digit NASCAR races for 12 seasons, I have never -- NEVER -- seen reporters walk out of a media center with cases of beer in their arms. When RJR was the title sponsor, smokes were readily available, stacked in a corner next to team releases and media guides. Thankfully, those days ended when Nextel took over. Now, it's not uncommon for reporters to pack a cooler of their own beer in the trunk and have sort a reverse tailgate party after all deadlines are met and roadways are still choked with 150,000 people trying to get out. But whatever Mizzougrad saw, it isn't common. The NASCAR beat is like any other, populated by many young, enterprising, and responsible reporters who enjoy a drink when off the clock. But walking out of a press box with free cases? Does not happen.[/quote]

Thanks for this post. I do believe Mizzougrad's incident must have been isolated as from what I have read by his posts that he is experienced and well-informed in most areas. At least you shed some more light on this.

Having never covered NASCAR, I was horrified to think that Mizzougrad's experience was typical for media involved covering racing events. The free smokes is still pretty disgusting to think about, too.

But in the Good Words of the legendary Paul Harvey at least I now know "The Rest of the Story."

 

Thanks for this post. I do believe Mizzougrad's incident must have been isolated as from what I have read by his posts that he is experienced and well-informed in most areas. At least you shed some more light on this.

Having never covered NASCAR, I was horrified to think that Mizzougrad's experience was typical for media involved covering racing events. The free smokes is still pretty disgusting to think about, too.

But in the Good Words of the legendary Paul Harvey at least I now know "The Rest of the Story."


[/quote]

Again, the cases of beer was not NASCAR, it was drag racing. A sponsor came in and offered the cases and one writer walked out with a couple. The cigarette incident, I have seen happen several times, at NASCAR events, but none within the last five years...

I hope that is clear... ;D

 

Nobody could get me drunk enough to cover drag racing.

 

It wasn't by choice... ;D