Field Guide to Covering Sports. Joe Gisondi
or focus on a player who has recovered from a severe illness or injury. “Tom Rinaldi specializes in these pieces,” Sielski said. “At the end, you’ll usually be a puddle [when watching them on ESPN].” But, as Red Smith warned more than 80 years ago, don’t God up the athletes, turning them into something beyond what they are: fallible human beings. Don’t ascribe traits to them that do not exist. Plus, don’t view athletes only as they appear on the field. Just because a player like Phillies second baseman Chase Utley or Andrew Luck is an excellent athlete on the field does not mean that they are virtuous outside the lines.
▸ What do I think of this? This remains a staple of column writing, Sielski said, because it remains a fulcrum of the sports columnist’s job: Letting readers know what one thinks. “You can’t get around that,” he says. “They [his opinions] still generate the most reaction to what I write.”
▸ News writing. These revolve around breaking news, such as a player’s injury, arrest, trade or signing. Frequently, columnists will then explain how this news will impact the team.
▸ Interview-based column. These focus on exclusive interviews with key sports figures who reveal information on topics they typically do not discuss or who answer a question unusually. During these interviews, Sielski says, take people into new directions. In addition, ask questions that enable you to develop narratives, which can be powerful.
▸ The “new thing” column. In these pieces, one approaches a traditional topic in a new or different way. For example, is Nick Foles not performing well because he does not have enough time to throw the ball or because he is making poor choices? Check on statistical analytics to determine why he did not play as well as in the previous season. Conventional wisdom might be that the quarterback must not be getting as much time because of a weak offensive lineman. But the metrics might reveal that he did have plenty time to throw.
▸ Historic. These columns can address personal or team milestone from the past, a coach’s milestone victory, or they can assess a significant historic moment, such as when LaSalle went to the Sweet 16 in the 1950s—a topic that would be more newsworthy, of course, during the NCAA basketball tournament. “It’s almost like you’re doing a research paper,” Sielski said. “It’s fun going through old clips and talking with people who want to recount the past.”
▸ Personal. Not everything that happens to you is inherently interesting. But sometimes the personal connections enable a writer to connect more intimately to sports topics. Sports Illustrated’s Rick Reilly, for example, wrote a column about his mother and Falcons coach Dan Reeves both facing heart issues in the weeks leading up to 1999 Super Bowl (“Now Their Hearts Are In the Right Place”). Sielski wrote an equally poignant piece about his autistic son halting his tantrums when he watched the Phillies on TV (“A Son’s Perfect Swing”). The column generated more response than anything else he had written for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
▸ Write locally. Focus on teams and events in your town or campus, not about a regional pro sports franchise where your information will likely be secondhand or thirdhand. Give your readers local insights they cannot get elsewhere, such as the volleyball team’s indispensable libero or a struggling punter on the college football team.
Writing a column is not easy, as anyone who has written one can attest. You can’t claim anonymity or objectivity. The words are your thoughts and beliefs. The words are you. So before you head out to write your next column, consider some of the points addressed at the start of this piece. But also know: To find great columns, you’ll need to put in some time—on a beat, at practices, and at games. Coaches and athletes will then see that you are as dedicated as they are, not just some reporter stopping in for a quick peek. You’ll get much better insider information this way. Watch intently. Speak (and listen) to not only the athletes but also the trainers and groundskeepers hanging around the fields. Do the research.
“Like most of us, I became a journalist because I wanted to touch people,” Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times told young journalists at a national high school convention. “I wanted to make them laugh. I wanted to make them cry. I wanted to leave them angry. I wanted to make them think. In some professions, one might not elicit that range of human emotions from a customer in 20 years. In column writing, it can all happen in the same 20 inches. Such is the beauty of our craft. One cannot just examine and report on a landscape but, however slightly, change it. One can not just touch readers, but embrace them and shake them.”2
General columnists are losing some ground to beat-based columnists and bloggers, which can also create challenges for column writers. Few people know a team better than a beat writer, but how does this beat writer retain personal objectivity after writing blog posts, tweets, and columns filled with opinion and jokes?
“In a world filled with blogs and opinion on talk radio and on cable television, there does seem to be a pretty good craving for expert analysis—the real insight of someone who is there,” says Tom Jolly, sports editor of The New York Times.3
But the focus for writing these opinion pieces should not change. Writers still need to offer pieces that are reflective, thoughtful, and comprehensive.
“Once you have the reporting,” says Andera, “the rest comes down to good writing ability and a simple mantra: Get in, make your point, back it up and get out.”
The purpose and formula for writing sports columns has changed a great deal since Higgins and Sielski attended college. Several decades ago, newspapers were the only way to get any information in any depth. Today, blogs and social media enable anyone to have opinions, forcing columnists to work even harder to stand out. Here are some other tips and suggestions to do just that:
▸ Be real. If you are funny, let the humor come through. Don’t force it. Be who you are. Write a column as if you’re sitting in a bar and talking to someone after the game. “If you can do that,” Higgins said, “that’s when you’ve found your style.”
▸ Be accountable. If you criticize a player or coach, make sure to attend the next media opportunity, whether that is a game, press conference, or practice. Let them vent, if necessary. “That’s how you earn respect from the people you cover,” Higgins said. “You don’t dodge and you don’t hide.”
▸ Be a team player. Ask colleagues what they are going to write about so you do not steal their angles. And if you have breaking news, feed that info to the beat writer. “Remember, you’re all in this together,” Higgins said.
▸ Don’t overwrite. Don’t make anything bigger or worse than its true actuality. For example, don’t treat a regular, mid-season game as if it were a playoff game.
▸ Don’t be a one-trick pony. In other words, don’t always be negative, fawning, or attacking. Don’t be predictable. Like a pitcher, vary your pitches. Said Higgins: “Don’t get in a rut where you’re writing the same thing all the time.”
▸ Be super observant. Look for things that most others would ordinarily not consider. For example, Higgins once noticed an Alabama basketball player had written “I Love My Girls” on his sneakers. After the game, the ‘Bama player revealed he was referencing his sneakers as “girls,” and not actual children.
▸ Think it through. Don’t write off the top of your head. What are the ramifications of each scenario? Be consistent in what you write. Avoid the hot take, writing something to get a reaction or biggest response at that moment.
▸ If you criticize, do your homework. Like a lawyer, build your case. Learn everything you can about a team, player, issue, or subject before you lambaste. Get quotes, facts, and other details that help support your arguments.
▸ You are not the story. Focus on the story itself. Said Higgins: “I’m just the guy who writes the story.”
▸ Understand your responsibility. So don’t cite rumors, act unethically, be overtly offensive, or make light of tragedies