The "Homer" sports writer

[Moderator1]

You won't be able to tell by reading because I've done some cleaning up but this one is dangerously close to being locked and a couple of you are close to a woodshed visit.
Take the advice that is the theme of this thread - be professional.

 

[Overrated]

So, let me get this straight. Are you guys telling me when I'm sitting on press row at a basketball game I shouldn't hold my arms up during a free throw and say, "Whoosh" when it's good?

 

[forever_town]

I disagree.
If you are wearing black or white, no big deal, but if one of the teams wears virtually any other color, many people are going to ashume you're rooting for them based on your clothing.

I remember covering one Maryland game while wearing a purple shirt. It wasn't against Clemson, but one of the media folks there joked about my being a Clemson fan. I don't think I've worn that shirt to a game since.

 

[zebracoy]

I disagree.
If you are wearing black or white, no big deal, but if one of the teams wears virtually any other color, many people are going to ashume you're rooting for them based on your clothing.

I remember covering one Maryland game while wearing a purple shirt. It wasn't against Clemson, but one of the media folks there joked about my being a Clemson fan. I don't think I've worn that shirt to a game since.

Wow, that's extreme. I would have turned around and told the guy his blue shirt meant he must have been pulling for Duke.

Or, more likely, that the red shirt he was wearing proved a point.

 

[TwoGloves]

Saw an SE at a small-town paper who was a notorious fan boy ask a former NBA All-Star in the locker room for his shoes after a game. He actually got them then asked for them to be signed. When that request was granted, he said "Thanks Mr. So-and-So" and walked away with a big grin on his face.

 

[kingcreole]

You guys are being silly about the team colors business. Unless it's some odd combination you could only put together if you were rooting for a team, who cares?

I disagree.
If you are wearing black or white, no big deal, but if one of the teams wears virtually any other color, many people are going to ashume you're rooting for them based on your clothing.

God bless plaid shirts.

 

[kingcreole]

OK, here's a question:

How do you feel about attending a game, as a fan, of a professional or college team in your area, then later writing stories on this team? You're obviously not the beat writer or you wouldn't have the time. But you do occasionally write on the team..

I cover my alma mater once or twice a year. I find it very easy to take off the fan hat and become an impartial journalist.

 

[forever_town]

I can easily turn off the fanboi looserdom. I find it a lot harder to turn it back on when I watch the games and I'm not covering them.

I've actually gone to games as a rabid fan and then turned around and wrote a story when I covered the local MLS team for a soccer fan Web site. I still remember people's amazement that I could write objectively just hours after leaving the stadium as a fanboi looser.

The next year, I was in the press box to cover the games. I think I might have given an under-the-table fist pump one time that entire season. On opening night the next year, the team's media relations people had to tell the guy who took my place not to cheer in the press box.

 

[Bubbler]

I'm a stickler on the dress code color thing. I told one of the ashistant coaches for the team I cover my rule (I will only wear their colors if they're playing a team with the same colors) and he thought I was insane. Then he said I should be a homer. Yeah ... cram that right back in your piehole.

I felt really bad this year when I inadvertently broke my rule ... in a NFL press box of all places. Somehow, the synapses in my brain stopped working and I convinced myself when I chose what to wear that the team I cover was playing the Buccaneers, so I wore an orange sweater you can see from space. Ten percent as a tribute to the old creamsicle Bucs, but 90 percent for the reason I had little else clean.

About 10 minutes into my drive to the game it dawned on me that I was going to see the Denver Broncos, the Bucs were there the following week. So I looked like Orange Crush Boy in the press box. Ugh.

 

[Moderator1]

If you had shown them the tattoo on your ash, that would have been the real giveaway.

I wear sky blue shirts just about every time I put on a tie. I'm partially color blind, it goes with everything. Sure enough, I wore it to a UNC game once and heard a bunch of ship about that. I claimed the pink polo pony let me off the hook and then someone reminded me the Ralph Lauren did the Heels' uniforms. Cripes.

 

[forever_town]

If you had shown them the tattoo on your ash, that would have been the real giveaway.

That's only for special occasions.

 

[shotglass]

This has been really entertaining. You guys have seen some real winners.

Only thing I'll offer is that I think refraining from saying "good luck" is a little bit overboard. You don't have to be an emotionless machine.

And as far as the color dress code thing ... if people are going to get on you for that, well, they're just looking too hard. And they have deeper problems.