No Time Outs: What It's Really Like to Be a Sportswriter Today

by Walsh, Christopher J.

• ISBN13: 9781589793026
• ISBN10: 1589793021
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-28
• Publisher: Natl Book Network

Summary

The popular perception of the modern-day sportswriter is of a pleasant schlub whose entire clothing rotation consists of half a dozen Hawaiian shirts, two pairs of jeans, and a pair of flip-flops, and whose days are spent watching men and women play games. The truth, according to Pulitzer Prize nominee Christopher Walsh, is that sixty hours is a short workweek for a sportswriter. Covering Super Bowl XXXV, for example, Walsh averaged four hours of sleep a night, wrote twenty-six articles, and barely even saw the game. "Sports journalism is not easy," Walsh writes. "It does not pay well. The hours can be lousy. Most writers grow eary of the aggravation, get burned out and leave the business." But sportswriting for him is still, in many ways, a "dream job."

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(6)
Part I: The Fundamentals
How a Newsroom Operates	7	(7)
So You Want to Be a Sportswriter	14	(14)
Getting Started---Florida	28	(45)
Jevon Kearse	34	(9)
Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe	43	(6)
Minorities in Sports and Journalism	49	(13)
Even Coaches and Kids Get Cancer	62	(11)
Breaking Through---Arizona	73	(54)
Randy Jackson and the Arizona Diamondbacks	75	(8)
Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire	83	(11)
Mike Tyson	94	(5)
Wayne Gretzky	99	(8)
Sean Elliott	107	(9)
Columns: From Pete Rose to Lute Olson	116	(11)
Part II: Practical Applications
Off-field Issues	127	(42)
The NFL's Salary Cap and Collective Bargaining Agreement	135	(7)
The Money of Sports	142	(12)
The Relationship Between Athletes and Reporters (Brett Favre)	154	(6)
Sports and Tragedy	160	(9)
Event---Super Bowl XXXV	169	(52)
Monday---Coaches: Offensive Gurus Make It with Defense	174	(7)
Tuesday---Media Day: Ray Lewis vs. the Media	181	(8)
Wednesday---Quarterback Second Chances I: Kerry Collins	189	(6)
Thursday---Quarterback Second Chances II: Trent Dilfer	195	(5)
Friday---Local Angles: Ron Dayne and News Stories	200	(6)
Saturday---Game Preview: Defense Still Wins Championships	206	(7)
Sunday---The Super Bowl: The Biggest Day in Sports	213	(8)
Beat---The 2002 Green Bay Packers	221	(73)
Every Ending Is a Beginning	222	(14)
Development, Discovery, and Discipline	236	(18)
New Highs and Lows	254	(19)
Every Beginning Is an Ending	273	(6)
Appendixes
A. Glossary of Newspaper Terms	279	(4)
B. My Story	283	(9)
C. Tips on Breaking into Sportswriting	292	(2)
Bibliography	294	(3)
Permissions	297