For the ex-journalists here...

[PEteacher]

Just thought I'd start a discussion for those of us not in journalism to reflect on your previous career...

1. What do you miss most about sports journalism?
2. What do you miss least?
3. What do you do now?
4. Are you happier with your new career?

My answers:
1. The adrenaline rush around deadline time.
2. The hours.
3. My SJ handle says
4. Much happier. My wife and kids are happier, so I am too.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Just thought I'd start a discussion for those of us not in journalism to reflect on your previous career...

1. What do you miss most about sports journalism?

Occasionally, I'll turn on the Super Bowl or the NCAA Tournament or something like that and I think, "If this was a few years ago, I would be there." but that doesn't happen very often. Maybe a few times a year...

2. What do you miss least?

The uncertainty of the future. I spent two years waking up most days wondering if that was going to be the day that my career ended and that there was probably little to nothing I could do about it. That's no way to live.

I never had any problem dropping everything to chase big news, but what would pish me off would be when I would have to walk out of a family function to try to get a quote about the signing of a fourth tight end who wouldn't be on the roster in a week.

3. What do you do now? Sell computer equipment to the government/military.

4. Are you happier with your new career? Yes.

 

[bpoindexter]

PE, great idea for a discussion. Now, since I'm currently still in sports journalism (well, today anyway), I can't take part. But I'm going to check back frequently hoping to see some other people's thoughts. I'm most interested in what others have to say.

 

[LongTimeListener]

1. Sitting in the press box. Maybe it doesn't strike anyone, but sportswriters are a pretty hilarious group of people to work around and hang out with.

2. Feeding the beast. Right now, "deadline" means something is due in a couple of weeks. I can plan the rest of my life and fit work into it.

3. Proposal and technical writing for a couple of different groups, one a company that provides government services and the other a trade magazine. Both part-time as independent contractor, a route I highly recommend for anyone whose spouse has benefits at his/her workplace.

4. I don't have a career. I have a job. And I suspect it will be this way for the rest of my working life. Because it's a job and not a career, I am happier with my entire life.

 

[micropolitan guy]

1. What do you miss most about sports journalism?

The knowledge that I knew more (on my beats) than the average Joe. Press-box banter. Road trips. Talks with sources.

2. What do you miss least?

The nights. The weekends. The petty complaints from readers. The times I missed my kid's games and activities to cover other kids' games and activities.


3. What do you do now?

Still in a sports-related field, working for a sports team.

4. Are you happier with your new career?

Oh yeah.

 

[MileHigh]

1. The thrill of deadline. Beating the competition on a story. Putting out a product that matters.

2. The politics and backbiting.

3. Just hit the layoff line (though still getting paid with a severance package coming). So, looking.

4. Thought I was at a solid place, but nothing is guaranteed in any field these days.

 

[93Devil]

I miss high school football sidelines on Friday nights. I miss carrying on in the news room.

I do not miss working shirtty hours for shirtty pay or working on holidays just because some forker wants to run a 5K on Thankgiving morning or kickoff the girls basketball season on Thanksgiving night.

I never, ever want to feel job insecurity again. Never.

Education

Much happier.

 

[mediaguy]

Good thread.

 

[Jim_Carty]

1. The people around Big Ten football and basketball, of all types.

2. Seeing my friends laid off so media companies could maintain profit margins.

3. Attorney.

4. Yes.

 

[J-School Blue]

1.) More than anything I miss working in a newsroom, and the kind of people I used to work with. There's a feeling of being plugged into what's going on, even if most of what you're doing is just keeping an eye on the wire services from Podunk, Nowhere, and bullshirtting about it with some very smart, sharp people.

2) shirtty pay, terrible hours, having to live in the middle of nowhere for the pleasure of doing it.

3) Claims investigation, for property insurance at the moment. It has more in common with journalism than one might initially think. Lots of interviewing, a good deal of report writing (albeit in much dryer style). Tons of research and fact-checking. Each case has a "story" and facts to uncover, even if it's for very different purposes.

4) Yes, I'm happier. Though the people I work with are surprised. Reporting sounds cool to people who've never done it. I miss the more creative, "writerly" aspects of journalistic writing, but that's all I miss. While I'm considering grad school, it'll be something that augments my current career (law or possibly a master's in library science that's heavy on archivist stuff). I don't particularly want to work in the media again, especially given how uncertain the industry is right now.

 

[JJHHI]

1. MISS MOST: Very little. I still get many of the perks, such as cracking jokes with the hacks in the press box and being around sports. Seriously, I miss it a lot less than I thought I would.

2. MISS LEAST: Filling in on the desk every time somebody or their kid got sick, covering miserably shirtty high school events (i.e. 7-0 tennis matches or terrible volleyball or soccer mismatches), miserably long Legion baseball games and basketball doubleheaders.

3. WHAT NOW?: SID/Marketing at the NAIA school I used to cover.

4. HAPPIER?: Immeasurably.

 

[McNuggetsMan]

1. What do you miss most about sports journalism?
Having sports be part of my career. Getting paid to, in part, watch major college football was thrilling. I loved Saturdays in the fall.

2. What do you miss least?
The prep parents. The pay.

3. What do you do now?
Management consultant.

4. Are you happier with your new career?
I am much happier with my pay. I am much happier with the life it provides my family. But it doesn't match up to the thrills of writing college football on deadline.