Why did you get into sportswriting?

I didn't.

I got into sports journalism.

I admit it, I appreciated the gallows humor in this one.

 

cause i had nowhere else to go ... seriously.

 

Honestly because I love sports and love writing and so the two came together. That and just getting to see the side if sports not many people do

 

First off, that's a great story by Karen Crouse ... hard to top that one.

I actually went to college thinking I'd be a lawyer (yikes), and majored in political science because it was a good "pre-law" major. A friend I knew at the college paper said they needed someone to cover the college tennis teams and they would pay me $10 a story. I've been making a high-paying living in journalism ever since!

Actually, other than college, I've never been a "full time" sportswriter, but have always written up and shot games as either a freelancer or news-guy-helping-out-sports because it's a challenge and I enjoy it.

It's easy to forget amid the complaints from coaches and parents, but it's nice to shine a little light on the local high school athletes (and students, for that matter) to let the community know about who they are and what they're doing.

 

Yes, I read the linked story. Amazing, but not at all surprising if you know Karen Crouse. Truly one of the best people persons in the business, and an excellent writer.

I got into journalism for journalism -- loved my experiences at my college newspapers, and had even been "on staff" for my elementary and junior high school versions of them, and had always liked to read and write.

I loved the four newspaper internships I had -- one as a general reporter writing for various departments and sections of a newspaper, then one in news only, and also, two in sports only.

Then, my first regular, full-time newspaper job was a half-news, half-sports position, and so...

Because I'd had experiences with both the news and sports sides of newspapers, I was able to actually decide, legitimately, which way I wanted to go on a long-term basis after that. I opted for sports just because I liked it better and I'd always been a fan anyway. (I was one of those kids that was always up before the sun, even as a 10-year-old just so I could run out to the driveway and pick up the paper and read the sports section first each morning. One of those mid-night/early morning strolls down the long hallway of our house and to the front door led my dad to follow me down, baseball bat in hand and raised overhead, until I finally heard something in the dark behind me and turned on a light, only to see him, ready to swing at the "intruder" he thought he'd heard... ).

I do have to say that I thought about careers in teaching and biology/conservation, as well, when I was in college, and if the newspaper there had not caught me first, I might very well have ended up in some other field.

So often, people just "end up" in the fields they're in just because that's the one that happens to engage them first. I'm of a mind, now, that that first thing is not necessarily always the best or the only way to go.

 

I think almost anyone who writes in any genre has some kind of similar "satori" moment that hits you over the head and makes everything else seem a little bit less. For me, it was reading poem by Langston Hughes when I was fourteen. It split the whole world wide open.

 

I'll read all the posts later, but add my 2 bits:

I was a broadcasting major in college with no aspirations of newsprint. I worked at the student and college radio station, was the producer of the student TV news show and was a PTer at the local NBC affiliate in sports along with being assistant PD at a volunteer AM Christian Rock station.
Then, my buddy (who was the student newspaper SE) asked me to be a writer and cover women's hoops. I did it, wasn't very good at it, but he corrected my mistakes and I did it for I think two years.
Fast forward to graduation day and I got my degree and turned down a TV station in Illinois to do a weather/sports weekend combo gig to become a GA news reporter at my hometown station that I had interned and PTed at for years.
Big mistake.
I sucked balls at news. I was lost. Luckily, a guy I went to school with had landed a gig as a sports reporter at the local rag in town and we both were talking and he said he wanted out. Well, I wanted out of my job, so he put in a good word for me. I grabbed some clips of my student newspaper work and got the job and left the TV world in less than 90 days.
I was at that paper for 2 years before I got married, but still wanted to get back into TV. It took about 4 months of working odd jobs before landing a production job at a station. Within 6 months of that, I was back on the air and did so for about 2 years.
Managment drove me nuts. I hated that fucker. So I looked for a full-time radio job and found one in a small town as an afternoon jock with play-by-play duties for high school games.
That lasted two weeks. Why? Because the SE (who is a seldom poster on this board) got a new job and moved and since I knew how to use Quark XPress, I was a good candidate for it. So they slid me over there (it was a twice-weekly) and I did that job AND the radio stuff for 2 years before I finally just did the newspaper gig only and kept the PxP (which was HELL on Friday nights, but I liked it nonetheless).

So, how did I get into sportswriting? Both times...pure, dumb luck! LOL

 

Wanted to be a sports broadcaster. Really thought I'd be good at it too.

When it became clear that I was not going to get the necessary airtime at the student radio station to get my foot in the door in that business, I joined the school paper, got hooked up with a couple of decent beats I didn't deserve (but worked my butt off at), and after nearly 4 post-grad years of freelancing, landed a small-time job at a weekly. I love going to games, even small high school games, and I put up with the rest because of it.

 

It was Spike Chiquet's fault

 

And now you're unemployed. See how much fun this industry is? Glad I took you away from that cushy job on the beach. [/bluefont]

 

Because I wanted to be a minority voice for the minority athletes who were often misunderstood and misinterpreted by sports journalists who didn't understand them or the culture.

And then Whitlock made me feel like it was a dumb idea unless I referenced The Wire at every opportunity.

 

Ditto. Though I really hoped there would be more groupies. Any groupies, really, would be nice.