Why My Views on Sports Media Have Changed
Many bloggers make very educated suggestions in their blogs that coaches or managers may not have considered, since they are seeing it in a different light. A good sports blogger is someone who follows their own personal code of ethics, but also portrays the voice of the die-hard fans in an easy-to-understand written format. Being a fan and a new-school journalist is a big responsibility that the serious sports blogger understands.
Many years ago, before I was granted media access by the St. Louis Blues NHL team, I wrote this portion of a large piece where I contested that nontraditional media should be considered for press-box access. I strongly believed this, as my main takeaways stressed that the people covering the team from a nontraditional source (blogs and podcasts) would tell the story that the traditional media can't. They don't have affiliations with the teams they are covering, nor do they have a producer or editor cutting down any negative comments about said team. This was a post that was well received by readers and possibly helped get my butt in a media seat, as soon after I landed a part-time gig with a local radio station as The Blues Expert for a St. Louis morning show. This led to work with KSDK NewsChannel 5 and The Morning After, as well as various projects, both on- and off-camera before leaving the media in April 2015.
As you can gather, I've been a part of both traditional and nontraditional media. It's been eight years since I wrote this article (although it feels closer 20), and I couldn't disagree with myself more.
[The original post has since been removed from LetsGoBlues.com, but you can read it here]
To answer this, let's circle back to the day I first received press credentials. I was just six months out of college, had been blogging about the NHL for over 11 years and successfully launched the first podcast dedicated to the Blues. I was contacted by a gentleman with 1380 The Fan 2, a local St. Louis sports-talk radio station, to be his Blues guy as he was mostly a football and baseball guru. I gleefully accepted, knowing that this brought with it the long-anticipated press credential I had dreamed about having since the age of 15.
It was a dreary November day when I received the call to head down to the station and pick up my media pass. The drive from my full-time job in Maryland Heights to Kirkwood created differing emotions.
Excitement about finally getting the media pass quickly turned into frustration and anger.
I had worked so hard to get to the press box at Scottrade Center. I put countless hours of free work into covering the team I grew up watching, yet every time I submitted for press credentials, I was vehemently turned down. All of a sudden, I would be talking about the Blues on a low-frequency radio station for about 20-30 minutes per week, and that is what finally landed me a press credential? It felt like nothing else I did mattered.
Looking back, I couldn't disagree with myself more. It was that work that caused me to get noticed by a talk-show host, which led me to receiving the press credential. It was my countless hours of work prior to getting on the radio that ultimately led to media access.
I regale you with this tale because it emphasizes how much hard work people have to do to get into the media. I worked some of the hardest and longest nights of my life getting a solid blog piece up or, more notably, getting the original Blues podcast off the ground (along with the help of my co-hosts Curt Price and Jeff Quirin). After speaking with many media members in my short tenure, I heard similar stories about sleepless nights getting an op-ed piece up for the school paper or interviewing a high school basketball coach who couldn't speak in complete sentences.
When you're in the press box, everyone has climbed the mountain. We just all reached the peak traveling from different directions with Sherpas from separate villages.
First off, allow me to clarify one thing: there are some excellent bloggers and podcasters out there. I have read pieces and heard interviews from non-media members that rival anyone in the industry. For the sports fan, there are so many great options to find content than ever before and it's a nice change from the past, when your sports news exclusively came from the morning paper or the 10:00 news telecast.
Having said that, for every top-notch new-media outlet, there are eight spammers, six click-bait specialists and four flat-out liars who claim to have sources. There's no reason to name names or point fingers, but you can usually detect these the minute you see that they can't differentiate "defenseman" from "defensemen."
It would be easy for teams and leagues to detect these fraudulent sites and outlets, but there are so many of them (seriously, so many of them), why even waste the time? Sounding truly negative, I believe that to be the majority of new media, unfortunately.
That's not to say there's not a lion's share of bad old-media reporters. In fact, I used to sit next to a gentleman who roamed around NHL blogs and rumor sites, copying points paragraph by paragraph and pasting them into a Word doc, only to change a few words and claim it as his NHL around the league-type post with his own "insider information." Yes, a truly despicable act, but this was not the norm in the press box.
Some of the hardest-working people I've ever been associated with were colleagues in the press box. Specifically, guys like Andy Strickland, Jeremy Rutherford and Lou Korac devote a ridiculous amount of time and energy in reporting to the masses, even when all they received was flack from the Blues fan base. They journeyed through the Hell that is journalism school, interning for a newspaper or writing for table scraps and came out on top. So many of them had to go through way more hurdles than I did ... and all I did was complain about the effort I had to put in before I finally made it.
These excellent bloggers and podcasters will filter through into a career in sports. If they are truly masters of their craft, they will rise above the rest and earn a spot in the media. In no way am I saying that I am the one to follow, but I put in the work, cranked out post after episode after tweet and finally got to where I wanted to be. Natural selection applies to the media, as it does all things.
Organizations shouldn't change their stance on who covers the team; it's those that cover the team who should change their stance. Yes, bloggers and podcasters have freewill to chastise or celebrate the team without worry of being reprimanded (once was a case that I thought favored letting those people into the media). However, shouldn't there be civility in the media? Shouldn't there be consequence for those who spew utter nonsense that has no semblance of truth? Organizations cannot take the risk that could come with bringing in new media, as no consequence from editors or producers has just as many negatives as it does positives. Without consequence, what's stopping someone from passing off his or her opinions as fact, simply because he or she wears a badge around his or her neck 41 games per year? Think about it: when someone credentialed in sports media claims to have sources close to the situation, doesn't that provide a bit more weight to their words than someone who has a podcast and 600 followers on Twitter?
The answer is an emphatic yes. To return to my mountain metaphor from earlier, only the fittest, bravest and strongest work their way to the peak. Credentialing blogs or podcasts simply because they have strong views throughout the season would be like placing an elevator at the bottom of Mount Everest and allowing patrons to collect a medal 29,000 feet above without even breaking a sweat.
Having said all of this, the point from the opening paragraph of this post is still true: some bloggers and podcasters do have excellent suggestions that others may not have considered. They may follow their own personal code of conduct that makes them a reliable resource of sports knowledge.
However, no one has ever reached a mountain's peak simply by watching mountain climbers and reading books about mountain climbing.
It's the journey that takes you to the top.
Want to read some of those non-credentialed blogs or listen to some of those podcasts that have excellent content I was commenting on earlier? Here are a few:
Many years ago, before I was granted media access by the St. Louis Blues NHL team, I wrote this portion of a large piece where I contested that nontraditional media should be considered for press-box access. I strongly believed this, as my main takeaways stressed that the people covering the team from a nontraditional source (blogs and podcasts) would tell the story that the traditional media can't. They don't have affiliations with the teams they are covering, nor do they have a producer or editor cutting down any negative comments about said team. This was a post that was well received by readers and possibly helped get my butt in a media seat, as soon after I landed a part-time gig with a local radio station as The Blues Expert for a St. Louis morning show. This led to work with KSDK NewsChannel 5 and The Morning After, as well as various projects, both on- and off-camera before leaving the media in April 2015.
As you can gather, I've been a part of both traditional and nontraditional media. It's been eight years since I wrote this article (although it feels closer 20), and I couldn't disagree with myself more.
[The original post has since been removed from LetsGoBlues.com, but you can read it here]
Why Has My View Changed so Drastically?
To answer this, let's circle back to the day I first received press credentials. I was just six months out of college, had been blogging about the NHL for over 11 years and successfully launched the first podcast dedicated to the Blues. I was contacted by a gentleman with 1380 The Fan 2, a local St. Louis sports-talk radio station, to be his Blues guy as he was mostly a football and baseball guru. I gleefully accepted, knowing that this brought with it the long-anticipated press credential I had dreamed about having since the age of 15.
It was a dreary November day when I received the call to head down to the station and pick up my media pass. The drive from my full-time job in Maryland Heights to Kirkwood created differing emotions.
 |
| Nov. 21, 2011: the day I received my media pass |
I had worked so hard to get to the press box at Scottrade Center. I put countless hours of free work into covering the team I grew up watching, yet every time I submitted for press credentials, I was vehemently turned down. All of a sudden, I would be talking about the Blues on a low-frequency radio station for about 20-30 minutes per week, and that is what finally landed me a press credential? It felt like nothing else I did mattered.
Looking back, I couldn't disagree with myself more. It was that work that caused me to get noticed by a talk-show host, which led me to receiving the press credential. It was my countless hours of work prior to getting on the radio that ultimately led to media access.
I regale you with this tale because it emphasizes how much hard work people have to do to get into the media. I worked some of the hardest and longest nights of my life getting a solid blog piece up or, more notably, getting the original Blues podcast off the ground (along with the help of my co-hosts Curt Price and Jeff Quirin). After speaking with many media members in my short tenure, I heard similar stories about sleepless nights getting an op-ed piece up for the school paper or interviewing a high school basketball coach who couldn't speak in complete sentences.
When you're in the press box, everyone has climbed the mountain. We just all reached the peak traveling from different directions with Sherpas from separate villages.
Today's New Media vs. Yesterday's Old Media
First off, allow me to clarify one thing: there are some excellent bloggers and podcasters out there. I have read pieces and heard interviews from non-media members that rival anyone in the industry. For the sports fan, there are so many great options to find content than ever before and it's a nice change from the past, when your sports news exclusively came from the morning paper or the 10:00 news telecast.
 |
| Why do I have a HB photo here? Well... |
It would be easy for teams and leagues to detect these fraudulent sites and outlets, but there are so many of them (seriously, so many of them), why even waste the time? Sounding truly negative, I believe that to be the majority of new media, unfortunately.
That's not to say there's not a lion's share of bad old-media reporters. In fact, I used to sit next to a gentleman who roamed around NHL blogs and rumor sites, copying points paragraph by paragraph and pasting them into a Word doc, only to change a few words and claim it as his NHL around the league-type post with his own "insider information." Yes, a truly despicable act, but this was not the norm in the press box.
Some of the hardest-working people I've ever been associated with were colleagues in the press box. Specifically, guys like Andy Strickland, Jeremy Rutherford and Lou Korac devote a ridiculous amount of time and energy in reporting to the masses, even when all they received was flack from the Blues fan base. They journeyed through the Hell that is journalism school, interning for a newspaper or writing for table scraps and came out on top. So many of them had to go through way more hurdles than I did ... and all I did was complain about the effort I had to put in before I finally made it.
 |
| The Athletic is an example of an excellent affiliated media outlet |
What's the Point, Guy?
These excellent bloggers and podcasters will filter through into a career in sports. If they are truly masters of their craft, they will rise above the rest and earn a spot in the media. In no way am I saying that I am the one to follow, but I put in the work, cranked out post after episode after tweet and finally got to where I wanted to be. Natural selection applies to the media, as it does all things.
 |
| Liars run amok in new media |
The answer is an emphatic yes. To return to my mountain metaphor from earlier, only the fittest, bravest and strongest work their way to the peak. Credentialing blogs or podcasts simply because they have strong views throughout the season would be like placing an elevator at the bottom of Mount Everest and allowing patrons to collect a medal 29,000 feet above without even breaking a sweat.
Having said all of this, the point from the opening paragraph of this post is still true: some bloggers and podcasters do have excellent suggestions that others may not have considered. They may follow their own personal code of conduct that makes them a reliable resource of sports knowledge.
However, no one has ever reached a mountain's peak simply by watching mountain climbers and reading books about mountain climbing.
It's the journey that takes you to the top.
Want to read some of those non-credentialed blogs or listen to some of those podcasts that have excellent content I was commenting on earlier? Here are a few:
- St. Louis Game Time (St. Louis Blues)
- Lets Go Blues Radio (St. Louis Blues – hey, that's my show!)
- Viva El Birdos Podcast (St. Louis Cardinals)
- Puck Podcast (NHL)
- The Hockey Writers (NHL)
- Oilers Live! (Edmonton Oilers)
- Illegal Curve Podcast (Winnipeg Jets)
- Broad Street Hockey (Philadelphia Flyers)
- Lighthouse Hockey (New York Islanders)
- SB Nation (all sports)
Comments
Post a Comment