Before they were famous hacks

[spinning27]

Feinstein a great writer?
I'll pass.
"Season on the Brink" provided a great look at one of the most interesting characters in sports, but I wouldnt call him a great writer. He gets access no one else gets, but I've never read anything of his and thought, wow, that's great writing. What's more (a phrase he uses too much), he repeats himself like a broken record. By the 200th page of "The Punch" it was like, all right, we get it already, Rudy worked hard for everything he got; and yes, there's more to Kermit than the punch.

"forkING OFFICIALS!!!"

 

[Bristol Insider]

Denver Post/early-mid 1980s

Rick Reilly
Wojo
Shelby Strother
Woody Paige
Jim Armstrong
Mike Monroe
John McGrath
Tom Patterson
Jim Herre

And many more ...

 

[CarlSpackler]

I heard the staff at the '79 Beloit Daily News was dynamite.

 

[House]

Wow, I've heard of none of these people.

it's not necessary to know all the names on that national list, but if you are interested in sports journalism and interested in becoming a better writer/reporter, it might not hurt to familiarize yourself with frank deford, dave kindred, charles pierce and john feinstein. then there's a whole other subset of talented writers, then another subset and so on.

I'm doing sports right now by accident. Just kinda fell into it. Never even covered a prep game in college or as a part-timer. I mean no offense to anyone here, but I don't take sports writing all that seriously. It's just sports to me.

 

[Tom Petty]

And this back-and-forth relates how to this thread topic?

i don't understand how you 'topic of thread' nazis get so bent out of shape if a thread doesn't go where you hoped.

it's called free discourse there man, a topic you should, i guess, defend.

 

[Tom Petty]

Wow, I've heard of none of these people.

it's not necessary to know all the names on that national list, but if you are interested in sports journalism and interested in becoming a better writer/reporter, it might not hurt to familiarize yourself with frank deford, dave kindred, charles pierce and john feinstein. then there's a whole other subset of talented writers, then another subset and so on.

I'm doing sports right now by accident. Just kinda fell into it. Never even covered a prep game in college or as a part-timer. I mean no offense to anyone here, but I don't take sports writing all that seriously. It's just sports to me.

wow, why don't you come back when you do take it seriously?

 

[House]

Wow, I've heard of none of these people.

it's not necessary to know all the names on that national list, but if you are interested in sports journalism and interested in becoming a better writer/reporter, it might not hurt to familiarize yourself with frank deford, dave kindred, charles pierce and john feinstein. then there's a whole other subset of talented writers, then another subset and so on.

I'm doing sports right now by accident. Just kinda fell into it. Never even covered a prep game in college or as a part-timer. I mean no offense to anyone here, but I don't take sports writing all that seriously. It's just sports to me.

wow, why don't you come back when you do take it seriously?

Sorry, wrong answer, but thank you for playing. ;D

I write about high school sports. Kids play, kids score, boring. Sometimes a kid smokes pot and gets suspended, but we can't write about it, so there goes anything remotely interesting. Nothing serious about my job. It's why I had another thread asking people about jumping to (or back to) the news side.

 

[Tom Petty]

Wow, I've heard of none of these people.

it's not necessary to know all the names on that national list, but if you are interested in sports journalism and interested in becoming a better writer/reporter, it might not hurt to familiarize yourself with frank deford, dave kindred, charles pierce and john feinstein. then there's a whole other subset of talented writers, then another subset and so on.

I'm doing sports right now by accident. Just kinda fell into it. Never even covered a prep game in college or as a part-timer. I mean no offense to anyone here, but I don't take sports writing all that seriously. It's just sports to me.

wow, why don't you come back when you do take it seriously?

Sorry, wrong answer, but thank you for playing.  ;D

I write about high school sports. Kids play, kids score, boring. Sometimes a kid smokes pot and gets suspended, but we can't write about it, so there goes anything remotely interesting. Nothing serious about my job. It's why I had another thread asking people about jumping to (or back to) the news side.

sorry, right answer. why don't you get the heck out of sports and stop bastardizing the profession?

speaking of hacks ...

 

[Mizzougrad96]

If you're in this business and you haven't heard of DeFord or Kindred, you need to read more...

 

[blondebomber]

Wow, I've heard of none of these people.

it's not necessary to know all the names on that national list, but if you are interested in sports journalism and interested in becoming a better writer/reporter, it might not hurt to familiarize yourself with frank deford, dave kindred, charles pierce and john feinstein. then there's a whole other subset of talented writers, then another subset and so on.

I'm doing sports right now by accident. Just kinda fell into it. Never even covered a prep game in college or as a part-timer. I mean no offense to anyone here, but I don't take sports writing all that seriously. It's just sports to me.

wow, why don't you come back when you do take it seriously?

Sorry, wrong answer, but thank you for playing.  ;D

I write about high school sports. Kids play, kids score, boring. Sometimes a kid smokes pot and gets suspended, but we can't write about it, so there goes anything remotely interesting. Nothing serious about my job. It's why I had another thread asking people about jumping to (or back to) the news side.

If you don't take your work seriously, then no one should ever take you seriously. How you handle your profession, whether covering high school sports be temporary or for good, reflects your character. Unless you're just trying to get a rise out of the folks here, your comments show you have zero professional character.

 

[House]

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 don't dislike sports (except soccer), but I'm finding out that the only people who take sports journalism seriously are the people who do it. Why should I beat my head against a brick wall if my employers don't give a shirt? It's just until I can find a news job.

Now for the modest number of you writing about college and pro sports, I'm sure it's great. But most likely, over 70 percent of us, I'd guess, is in some small place writing high school and little league roundups.

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?

 

[pallister]

In the grand scheme of things, sports are nothing more than a catharsis, an enjoyable and often-needed break from the life of responsibility -- paying bills, raising kids, dealing with relationships, etc.

However, as mentioned previously, you should take pride in the job you do; otherwise, you'll never be any good at it. And who cares what your bosses think. Hold yourself to a higher standard than anyone else expects of you.