Before they were famous hacks

[clintrichardson]

also you should recognize that the reason many people get into sportswriting is not just that they like sports, but they realize that the sports section contains some of the best writing in the newspaper. which everyone knows, on both news side and sports side. and the people on that long list from the national are all examples of that writiing. if you find out who those people are and read what they did, you'll realize what sports can be, and it will give you something to shoot for, if not at this place then at the next place you earn the right to move to by doing this job as well as you can

 

[e4]

Maybe I'm just in the wrong place then. But it's hard for me to take it seriously when the opinion of my employers is basically "your job doesn't matter, your opinion doesn't matter, write non-controversial, nice stories and do it by deadline."
......
I am curious to know why you guys feel the way you do (other than it's your lifelong profession). Are sports really that important in the grand scheme of things?

The games aren't important at all, but sports -- precisely because they lack that life-or-death/make-or-break significance -- may be the most meaningful thing we've got going. People watch, play, coach, love sports because for the briefest of moments they don't have to worry about their jobs, a mortgage payment, their kid in Iraq, sick family members, their retirement, homework, a divorce, car repairs or life ("If it ain't something, it's something else") as we know it from one day to the next. The sporting world, from Little League to The Show and beyond, is both an escape and a comfort zone. Yet at the same time it is also a lens, a prism that forces us to examine the world, to deal with issues such as racism, sexuality, eating disorders, drug abuse, nationalism, diseases/health, anything, everything -- things we may not understand or critique if not for that comfort zone, a common ground.

A lot of people, journalists included, can lose perspective in this comfort zone. How did  the Yankees do yesterday? or What's the deal with so-and-so's groin? or How much money is that frickin' idiot making anyway? It dominates what we call "news," and the airwaves, sure enough, deliver hours of drivel about some guy's partially torn hamstring when the season is still four months away. Really, that stuff isn't news, so I agree with you there; it's a damn shame. But you shouldn't dismiss it as whole, or even your role in it.

As the saying goes, sports don't build character, they reveal it. They also teach people about confidence, humility, work ethic, commitment, dedication, success and failure. They provide role models -- good ones and, sadly, bad ones -- and at times provide glimpses of true courage. Not buzzer-beating shots or walk-off home runs, but people overcoming odds -- sometimes even just to compete.

What is our role in all of this?

I think it's to help shape that perspective.

If you're just showing up at your job thinking it's meaningless and hating it and doing whatever you're told to do, maybe you should think about getting out, either the business or your job. Newsrooms are places where debate and passion should thrive. If your editors don't work that way, are you really being a good journalist if you follow suit? What we write influences people, even in the simplest, most significant ways. You don't have to seek out "controversy" to do good journalism, but there is no reason you can't challenge conventional thinking in how you approach stories or your reporting. To wit: If you just show up, half-ass it and mail it in, aren't you only contributing to the very problem you're complaining about?

You could put it to a vote here: No one really likes going to cover Little League games or fifth-grade soccer. But that stuff is the day-to-day grind; it's our version of a 9-5 job with rush hour traffic, a flat tire on the way home and a frozen dinner just waiting to blow up in the microwave. We do these sort of gigs to pay our dues, to work our way up, to be around to tell the great stories when -- yes, it really does happen -- sports transcend stats and a final score, giving us meaning and perspective to life at large. Let me ask you this: Would you rather kids didn't play Little League so you'd have a great misguided youth story to write for the "news" side?

It boils down to this: If you love it, you do it. I like to think that's why most of us hang out around here. We recognize both the potential and the shortcomings in our profession, but we have a lot more faith in the potential. So, yeah, it's just the "sports" page, you can say that if you want, but I like to think it's just as well-crafted and just as important as the rest of the paper.

-30-

 

[jgmacg]

Are sports really that important in the grand scheme of things?

Organized sports are all that humanity has left of mythology.

For example, a couple of billion people around the planet are going to watch the World Cup this month.

It will make some of those people happy and some of them sad.

But they will share, however briefly, and whatever their differences, a common experience.

You tell me.

Is that important?

 

[MichaelKruse]

Sports are as important, or at least should be to YOU because they are to your readers, as the White House is to the folks who cover the White House, or the mayor, or the city council, or cops or courts or planning and zoning. The most important thing you could possibly be covering? Your beat right now.

 

[Orange Hat Bobcat]

Thank you, e4, that was eloquent and wonderful and should be printed out and taped above computers.

Along those same lines, I took a line from "Office Space" and explained to friends (far less fluently) why I do what I do. Here, then, that movie line and the adapted explanation. ...

"Most people don't like their jobs. But you go out there and find something that makes you happy."

So I found something that — and someone who — makes me happy. I'm a sports writer. What more do you need to know? I work nights, weekends and too many hours to maintain much physical fitness. When my friends play, when everyone else plays, I work. And when they work, I sleep.

But I get paid to write about men and women (and boys and girls), who play childrens' games. And I have a wonderful girlfriend, my best friend, who understands all the crazy hours, and all the miles on the car, and all the time I spend in front of my computer — when I slowly bang my head against my desk until the words come.

And I will never forget that what I do, really, doesn't mean much in the grand scheme. And I will never forget how lucky I am to have found something I enjoy, and someone with whom I can just escape from everything.

Whenever I wonder why I'm doing all this, I read that. Now, I'll read e4's words, too. Thanks, man.

 

[DyePack]

This thread was destined to crash and burn. It now has all of the elements:

* The call to worship various names.

* The need to give fellatio to the young up-and-comers, as if this hasn't been done 50,000 times already.

* Homophobia, which will now be followed up with PC posts.

* The call for "perspective," which includes the call to worship and give fellatio to the various teen athletes, many of whom will enjoy a year or two of notoriety, then fade into the background of life itself.

Now we just need some design fellatio, followed by some bashing, a few threadjacks, all-out conflict and the inevitable conclusion, the locking of the thread.

 

[Tom Petty]

This thread was destined to crash and burn. It now has all of the elements:

* The call to worship various names.

* The need to give fellatio to the young up-and-comers, as if this hasn't been done 50,000 times already.

* Homophobia, which will now be followed up with PC posts.

* The call for "perspective," which includes the call to worship and give fellatio to the various teen athletes, many of whom will enjoy a year or two of notoriety, then fade into the background of life itself.

Now we just need some design fellatio, followed by some bashing, a few threadjacks, all-out conflict and the inevitable conclusion, the locking of the thread.

wow dude, not afraid -- in the least bit mind you -- of being accused of a homoerotic folo.

god, that post reminds me so much of the beach scene from Rocky III all over again ... not that there's anything wrong with that.