The Identity of a Sports Writer
Dylan Millard
Professor Davis
WRA 110
3 April 2012
The Identity of a Sports Writer
For this paper I couldn’t decide between doing Hospitality Business or Journalism as my main focus, but when it came down to it I decided to go with Journalism. I just believe this major fits me as a person better than Hospitality Business. The discipline inside the major that I am going to focus on is becoming a sports writer. Everybody dreams big when it comes to sports. When you’re a kid, your imagination stretches as far as your dreams. We’ve all been there. Shooting hoops in the driveway turns into the NBA finals. Batting practice turns into game seven of the World Series. That race against your brother turns into a race for Olympic gold. But what if your dreams don’t pan out? Don’t worry; you’ll be just like the rest of us who have never played in a Super Bowl or game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. Just because you’re not good enough to play sports professionally doesn’t mean you can’t be around them. Part of what makes sports so great is the people involved. Yes, I’m talking about the coaches, the fans, and the executives. I’m also talking about the sports writers. What is a sports writer anyways? It sounds easy. You watch the game, and then you write about what happened. That’s basic comprehension skills. Right? Not quite. Sport’s writing is more than re-telling a specific event. It’s more than reading a statistics sheet or interviewing players. It’s different from other kinds of writing. There’s a certain type of literacy that needs to be understood. It’s not necessarily the type of literacy that can be learned from a book or in a class. It’s something to be born with. Through my research, I have tried to come to an understanding of the true identity of a sports writer.
The interesting thing about sports writers is the fact that not every writer can be a sports writer. Writers can be grammatically perfect with flawless writing skills, but it means nothing if they
Professor Davis
WRA 110
3 April 2012
The Identity of a Sports Writer
For this paper I couldn’t decide between doing Hospitality Business or Journalism as my main focus, but when it came down to it I decided to go with Journalism. I just believe this major fits me as a person better than Hospitality Business. The discipline inside the major that I am going to focus on is becoming a sports writer. Everybody dreams big when it comes to sports. When you’re a kid, your imagination stretches as far as your dreams. We’ve all been there. Shooting hoops in the driveway turns into the NBA finals. Batting practice turns into game seven of the World Series. That race against your brother turns into a race for Olympic gold. But what if your dreams don’t pan out? Don’t worry; you’ll be just like the rest of us who have never played in a Super Bowl or game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. Just because you’re not good enough to play sports professionally doesn’t mean you can’t be around them. Part of what makes sports so great is the people involved. Yes, I’m talking about the coaches, the fans, and the executives. I’m also talking about the sports writers. What is a sports writer anyways? It sounds easy. You watch the game, and then you write about what happened. That’s basic comprehension skills. Right? Not quite. Sport’s writing is more than re-telling a specific event. It’s more than reading a statistics sheet or interviewing players. It’s different from other kinds of writing. There’s a certain type of literacy that needs to be understood. It’s not necessarily the type of literacy that can be learned from a book or in a class. It’s something to be born with. Through my research, I have tried to come to an understanding of the true identity of a sports writer.
The interesting thing about sports writers is the fact that not every writer can be a sports writer. Writers can be grammatically perfect with flawless writing skills, but it means nothing if they
Cited: Arnold, Jeff. "Beat: Sports." The Quill 94.4 (2006): 23-. ProQuest Research Library.Web. 30 March 2012. “Frank Deford: Sports Writing in the Internet Age." Nieman Reports 64.4 (2010): 54. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 30 March 2012. Odoardi, Anthony. Personal Interview. 2 April 2012.