The Truth about Sportswriting
Every time I tell somebody, particularly a man, what I do for a living -- I'm a sportswriter -- the reaction is almost always the same.
"Whoa, so you get into the game free and you get to meet the players and stuff?"
Don't get me wrong, the job has perks. I get paid to watch games. I get free food. But people who don't cover sports for a living don't understand the following:
1. The players aren't that cool. The majority of them are just as boring as you are, only they're rich and boring. You're just boring. Really, they're regular dudes who won the genetic lottery. Many of them spend 3-4 years on top of the world, then crash into personal disaster.
2. Covering a game is not like going to a game with your buddies. Sportswriters don't cheer or tailgate or drink. We show up an hour early and leave sometimes two hours late. We have to go into a locker room and try to coax interesting material from boring people who don't want to talk to us. We're on deadline pressure. Yes, it's better than laying brick. No, it does not pay better than laying brick.
3. Everybody associated with high-level athletics is lying. All the time. They're politicians. Everything they say is constructed to make themselves and the organization look good, which makes being a journalist very difficult. And it makes it impossible to be a fan of any team you cover. In fact, most sportswriters hate the teams they cover.
4. Sportswriters don't care who wins games. Really. Even guys who are covering their alma maters or the teams they grew up watching don't really care anymore. This applies to editors, too. Sports sections get incessant criticism for favoring one area high school or college over another. While this might happen, it has nothing to do with the teams the journalists like and everything to do with the teams who are a) accessible and b) interesting.
Sports journalists care about two things: 1) themselves and 2) getting a paper out in time to hit the bars. The outcome of a game is a necessary evil.
If it sounds like I'm bitching, it's because I am. Don't get me wrong, I like my job. I'm young enough I could get out if I hated it. But sportswriting is not what most people think it is.
Out.
