What's the biggest misconception people you know have about sports journalism?

People with 9-to-5 jobs can't fathom the fact that we don't get weekends off. My parents constantly ask me to do stuff with them on weekends, and I explain a thousand times over that it's not going to happen because I'm working.

 

Re: What's the biggest misconception people you know have about sports journalis

Why not? If you don't enjoy your job enough not to "have fun" when you're covering a game, then it might be time to take a break.

Gotta enjoy this gig to get anything out of it. The pay and the hours certainly ain't gonna do it.

 

we're underpaid, but over-privileged.

is it not thrilling because, "we get to talk to the players?" to an extent, but we're all jaded. 26 years into doing this, i still feel like i don't work for a living. my friends want to think it's way cool? i have no problem with that. i've been truly blessed in every way but financially.

how many people can say that? the rest is just whining that i reserve for others in the biz. no one else should want to hear it.

money's the primary misconception. the other misconceptions? just laugh 'em off..

 

Re: What's the biggest misconception people you know have about sports journalis

Ooh, here's another of my favorites: I'm a woman, I work in sports, therefore I must be a dyke.

I usually don't mind, because that kind of thinking helps me avoid unwanted attention, but it sucks that people are still buying into that stereotype.

 

that we're mostly overweight, bitter and a heart attack waiting to happen... oh wait!

 

Okay, at the risk of threadjacking, I don't understand the issue with this one.
Yes, I've gone to events that suck bull's testies.
Yes, being on the desk makes me want to pull my fingernails out.
Yes, sometimes the events I cover and the people I deal with make me shake my head at where humanity is headed.
Yes, I grumble when the press box at Watkins Glen is an oven, the race sucks, they have only one bathroom, and the NASCAR official needlessly keeps the gathered media waiting for close to an hour to explain a highly questionable call.
And yes, I can come off as cynical as anybody else in the biz.
But honestly? I love being a sports writer.
I love going to games -- or in my case, most of the time, races -- for a living.
And yes, I have fun.
I'm not talking about being a nut-hugger, because frankly it doesn't matter to me if it's a Cup race or a Thursday night show at the local race-what-you-brung type of track. I don't get off on being up-and-close with Johnny Star.
But I love watching sports. And, even more, I love watching people. I love watching how they deal with stress, how they interact with each other in and out of competition. I love how competition creates situations unique to any other facet of life.
I love observing life.
And I love doing what I do.
There's a reason I've been doing it for 13 years. And a reason I wouldn't trade my job for any of my friend's jobs -- despite the fact that they are all making way more money than I ever could.
I get paid to watch cars go around in circles.
Or a bunch of kids run around the field playing soccer.
Jesus, there's a lot of ways my life could suck worse.

So whenever I'm headed off to an event and somebody says, "have fun," chances are, I usually do.

 

He's right.

But, yeah, I get that, "Well, aren't you a fan?" question all of the time.

And this was my favorite response from a woman one time who wasn't happy that we didn't cover some regular-season high school game because we were short-handed, "You don't need vacation. Your job isn't that tough."

 

It's either that or we're trying to get into some athlete's pants. Yea, I work the desk in sports so I can try to land one of the Leaf boys. Give me a freaking break.

 

How about these?

1. That space decisions are entirely up to the sports department and when a ton of stuff has to be packed into a small section it isn't poor ad sales or somebody's budget panic, but the lazy sports staff.

2. That the people who screw you on space (and let you answer to the public) are "making it up to you" with two extra open pages on, say, June 24.

3. That news-side colleagues who go home at 6 o'clock believe they're the ones with real "deadline pressure."

 

Bing-bang-boom.

On point with all three.

Another addition is that all travel must be great travel.

"Gee, I wish I could do all that flying around for free."

Yeah, because my first choice would be to waste eight hours of my day sitting in airports and riding on two crop dusters in order to go cover the Southern Miss-Tulane game in Hattiesburg. And then turning around and doing it all over again to get back home the next day.

 

Yes. Yes. And yes.

Seriously, on Election Night we have pizzas delivered, deadline doesn't matter, etc. But, god forbid, we're ever late on a football Friday.