There are signs of him in every newsroom; from the Cheetos-stained keyboard to the wall of sports memorabilia to mountain of team rosters from over the years that surrounds his desk. He’s the one in charge of the newsroom’s fantasy league and if you ever need an obscure baseball statistic, find out who won the state championship before you were born or the explanation of a sports analogy, he’s your guy. He’s the newsroom sports guy.
The sports guy sticks out like a typo in most newsrooms. For some reason the paper’s dress code doesn’t apply to him. He usually comes to work in a jersey of either the local high school team or the amateur hockey team he plays on. He couldn’t tell you who was the mayor of the city or who was in the White House but could, without a pause, tell you who played fullback for the [insert local college team] in 1998.
And it’s not hard to find out where the sports guy sits. Just follow the trail of fast-food wrappers to the desk that is messy, even compared to other journalists. If there’s not a Double Gulp next to his monitor then he must be out refilling it.
And he’s most likely one of the newsroom’s longest resident. He’s been there longer then most reporters and shares stories of the old days with the newsroom’s grumpy old reporter.
But the real reason journalists like the sports guy because of all the journalists in the newsroom, he’s probably the one who loves his job the most.
While the “news” journalists like being journalists, they don’t necessarily like every beat they cover but for the sports guy, he lives and breathes sports. Most journalists would moan and groan if they were given a last-minute story assignment on a Friday night, but the sports guy jumps at the opportunity to cover a high school junior varsity volleyball tournament three hours away. Sure, Journalists know the names of the city council members, but the sports guy, not only does he knows the name of the starting lineup, but also their height, weight, what their favorite foods are and the fact that they can’t carrying a running game unless they’re playing at home.
The sports guy loves what he does. Sure, he may have gotten into journalism so he never had to wear a suit or shave on a daily weekly basis or so he could relive his high school football glory days but no one could do his job better than him. And that’s why journalists like the sports guy. They just wished he’d clean up his desk. Everyone blames him for the ants.
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Loved this one! As the grumpy old reporter at my newspaper, some of my best friends through the years have been the sports guy. And we had competitions as to the messiest desk. But alas, our sports editor left for greener pastures, and the new guy has only been with us a couple of months. So his desk remains pure, for now. I give him another four months, and the competition will be on again!
Hockey jersey? Please! You don’t know the half of it…. if I ever have to work Sundays I come in wearing sweatpants!
(Also, I think most sane sports guys would agree that the day we go on the road to cover junior high volleyball tournaments will be the day that we officially become alcoholics.)
i love it! why? because this is ME!
“And he’s most likely one of the newsroom’s longest resident. He’s been there longer then most reporters..”
- Either “one of the newsroom’s longest residents” or “the newsroom’s longest resident.”
- Longer THAN.
#partylikeajournalist