The Lost Art of Sports Journalism

All so called journalism is mostly inhabited by hacks now. Its not the worst case in Sports, frankly. The so called news journalists are worse.
 
Thanks for sharing that article, Hos. Great read.

Secretariat's Belmont Run in 1973 is among my personal greatest moments in sports.

I am also known to heavily criticize many in sports "journalism" as idiots. Your opinion is spot on.
 
FuzzyLumpkins;3249108 said:
Youre original assumption is wrong. People don't get into sports journalism because they love to write. They do it because they love sports. Pretty much every guy in this place would jusp at the oppurtunity to write for the DMN.
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I got into sports journalism because I loved sports and writing; it seemed a marriage made in Heaven to me.

From a young age I loved to read and from seventh grade loved the craft of writing. I began to write poetry, short stories, and made the obligatory attempt at a novel. I also wrote with heart. I liked and always searched for the human element of sports. When I became a sports columnist my editors thought this to be quaint and even endearing, but ultimately wouldn't publish articles with heart, or edit them heavily if they did. I would open the magazine to read an article with my name on it that was unrecognizable compared with my submission. They would almost literally pat me on the head affectionately, saying I wasn't jaded enough yet, and then smile amongst themselves.

When I became the sports editor, and an associate editor of the magazine, I had more say. But the managing editors, and editor-in-chief, still kiboshed many of my articles or ones I'd helped develop with other fledgling sportswriters.

Behind-the-scenes they openly requested articles that attacked players or coaches. They didn't follow sports, so only knew the headlines, and would make wild assumptions based on the little they'd heard, and direct me to exploit an angle I knew to be spurious. My protestations would fall on deaf ears, so I'd write the article but attempt to find a way to make it balanced, which was next to impossible without being completely contradictory. Inevitably, they'd edit out anything that didn't fit with their angle, and the result would be a hack piece... not so much written by me, but edited by them. It was often an embarrassment.

I asked for a meeting with the managing editors, and chief-of-staff, and stated my position, and said I wasn't willing to compromise it. They felt it was cute, the guy with the heart was standing up for himself. I mention this to let you know the culture, how showing heart in the industry is often seen as weakness, and diminishes your credibility. Cynicism is the modern day art form amongst many in publishing.

The end of the story is predictable. They said I made good points and would allow me to write with more freedom. It lasted for one or two issues and then returned to normal whereupon I submitted my resignation and went back to school for Sports Psychology.

The players themselves responded to heart because it's as elemental to competition as good grammar is to writing. But then we'd all read the sports columns, and shake our heads at the disconnect, the skewed perception of the writers (or editors). Somewhere along the way heart disappeared from print but it will never disappear from the playing field.
 
Om;3249327 said:
Glad to do it, hermano. Not that many of us etymologasauri left roaming the web. No way we go silent into the good night.

Oh and btw ... your team still sucks, my friend.
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That's the cauldron calling the crucible obsidian.

:laugh2:
 
stardeep;3249345 said:
I got into sports journalism because I loved sports and writing; it seemed a marriage made in Heaven to me.

From a young age I loved to read and from seventh grade loved the craft of writing. I began to write poetry, short stories, and made the obligatory attempt at a novel. I also wrote with heart. I liked and always searched for the human element of sports. When I became a sports columnist my editors thought this to be quaint and even endearing, but ultimately wouldn't publish articles with heart, or edit them heavily if they did. I would open the magazine to read an article with my name on it that was unrecognizable compared with my submission. They would almost literally pat me on the head affectionately, saying I wasn't jaded enough yet, and then smile amongst themselves.

When I became the sports editor, and an associate editor of the magazine, I had more say. But the managing editors, and editor-in-chief, still kiboshed many of my articles or ones I'd helped develop with other fledgling sportswriters.

Behind-the-scenes they openly requested articles that attacked players or coaches. They didn't follow sports, so only knew the headlines, and would make wild assumptions based on the little they'd heard, and direct me to exploit an angle I knew to be spurious. My protestations would fall on deaf ears, so I'd write the article but attempt to find a way to make it balanced, which was next to impossible without being completely contradictory. Inevitably, they'd edit out anything that didn't fit with their angle, and the result would be a hack piece... not so much written by me, but edited by them. It was often an embarrassment.

I asked for a meeting with the managing editors, and chief-of-staff, and stated my position, and said I wasn't willing to compromise it. They felt it was cute, the guy with the heart was standing up for himself. I mention this to let you know the culture, how showing heart in the industry is often seen as weakness, and diminishes your credibility. Cynicism is the modern day art form amongst many in publishing.

The end of the story is predictable. They said I made good points and would allow me to write with more freedom. It lasted for one or two issues and then returned to normal whereupon I submitted my resignation and went back to school for Sports Psychology.

The players themselves responded to heart because it's as elemental to competition as good grammar is to writing. But then we'd all read the sports columns, and shake our heads at the disconnect, the skewed perception of the writers (or editors). Somewhere along the way heart disappeared from print but it will never disappear from the playing field.
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That was freaking awesome. Thank you for sharing a personal look into the craft and priestcraft that is warping it.
 
Sounds about right. Who cares really any more about doing a good job and being proud of your work as long as you get paid and get a headline or byline? That is pretty much the attitude I see in just about everything in print no matter the subject or area.
 
burmafrd;3249331 said:
Fuzzy, read the book WIlliam Nack wrote in 1974 about Secretariat. Its called Big Red of Meadow Stable. You will see that his writing has not changed in all these years. He is a fine writer and journalist.

Hoss that was a great article- I hope you have the book which that article is now part of. Secretariat was an incredible horse- the absolute best racehorse that ever lived.

Actually Risen Star, a son of Secretariat, came close to the triple crown. He was not fully there at the Derby, but easily won the 86 Preakness and at the Belmont Stakes the announcer said after he blew away the field "He looks like his daddy!"
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Actually I do not have that book because I didn't know there was one. I read recently that they may do a movie about Secretariat based on his writings. I would love to watch that movie. I will look for the book and read it.
 
Yet another good one.


I'm loathing here...................................... ;)
 
Had not heard about a movie but that would be great. Penny Tweedy and Ron Turcote are still alive to be talked to.
 
"What changed?

We did."

I to am sometimes guilty of this. Hostile, you are correct in that they are only giving us what we want. I remember Jay Z once saying he had to dumb down his lyrics to sell records because what he really wanted to do, as an artist, wouldn't pay the bills. Sometimes I think this is the same situation for sports writers.
 
I refuse to think that top writing would not be read and appreciated. I do not think we have fallen THAT far into the black hole.
 
I could give a damm about horseriding, but that was truly a great piece of work.

Great read, Hos. And I totaly agree with you.
 
One more time I wanted to post this clip of writing by Blackie Sherrod because it paints such a magnificent picture. I can see this as I read it. The part about staring unseeingly at the horizon rings so true.

"Nearly as I can remember, Dorothy Lamour was not there. But she certainly would not have been out of place, with a red print sarong and a white hibiscus blossom in her flowing dark tresses. She could have padded barefoot through the lush grass carpet under the rusty old palms, stepped around the fallen coconuts, so long on the ground that they had taken root in the tropical lushness and sent fresh young green shoots through the rotting husks. She could have emerged from the shadows onto the narrow beach, a clean, curving blend of white and beige, with hard coral crests on the jutting flanks.

The Caribbean waters, interrupted by occasional long furl of whitecap, were blue as a baby's eyes. On the horizon, there was a dramatic break to a pale sky. The only signal of man was a sort of primitive umbrella, a thatched bowl atop an upright pole. Underneath, in a lawn chair embedded in sand, was a muscular man in flowery trunks, head bent in hypnotic fascination on an object in his lap. Occasionally, the man would lift his eyes and stare unseeingly at the horizon, then bend again in study.

Dorothy Lamour was missing all right, but had she paraded the beach in slinky seduction, she wouldn't have drawn a flick of notice. The man was Tom Landry of, oh, an eon past, and the object in his lap was a thick, looseleaf binder. It was a Dallas Cowboys' playbook."
 
burmafrd;3249371 said:
I refuse to think that top writing would not be read and appreciated. I do not think we have fallen THAT far into the black hole.
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society on the whole i would say has. there are plenty of people who are frustrated by the lack of good reporting, as someone mentioned (i can't remember who) earlier in the thread not just sports, but i don't think the demand is there for it to make a proper comeback. depressingly i would say quality sports journalism is now a niche market.
i'm sure its the same over here but i know people here who will tell me with certainty how a certain player played on the saturday on the strength of having watched a five minute highlight package and argue with me that i'm wrong even though i was at the game. their trump argument to prove me wrong is always the man by man ratings out of ten given to them in whatever tabloid they read. people aren't interested in forming their own opinions on players (or in the wider scheme of things just forming opinions of their own at all)
much easier to just be told what to think, then you can always just go back to your "source" for re-assurance that they're right.
 
has more to do with the death of newspapers than anything.
 
stardeep;3249345 said:
I asked for a meeting with the managing editors, and chief-of-staff, and stated my position, and said I wasn't willing to compromise it. They felt it was cute, the guy with the heart was standing up for himself. I mention this to let you know the culture, how showing heart in the industry is often seen as weakness, and diminishes your credibility. Cynicism is the modern day art form amongst many in publishing.
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That's pretty much was I as saying in a response earlier, that the media outlets have a particular demographic they are targeting and this is what they want. I would venture a guess that most journalists wouldn't take the stand that you did, they would do what was best for their career and give the bosses what they want.

I saw this even in business when I worked for IBM. Management didn't want the details just a picture and a few bullet points and move on. I call it "Comic Book Management", give them a picture/graph/chart and a couple blurbs and then on to the next slide. It is pervasive in all strata of society these days and frankly will only get worse.
 
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