William K. Wolfrum - Latest Comments on Being a sportswriter is easy, regardless of what those covering the PGA Tour will have you believe

david cummings [Visitor] in response to: Being a sportswriter is easy, regardless of what those covering the PGA Tour will have you believe

david cummings [Visitor] — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:05:21 +0000

My inspired blog thought for the day...where do I sign up. Please, please let me cover sports all day. I will honestly do it for chump-change, but I will not, will not, definitely will not pay you. I am broke all the time or I would. I love sports even though it is so superficial to girls and academians. I'm such an addicted sports fanatic from the South that I even went to the RBC Center in Raleigh to experience outside on a big TV screen last year the Hurricanes winning (can't say whipping butt) in some artic Indian semi-sport. You might have seen me screaming, jumping up and down in the background on Canadian TV. Go 'Canes!! Until I know all the rules, hockey is the same as lacrosse without icing. So move me to Denver and I'll cover the Broncos for free... I mean, I'll do it for whatever you get. I'll even cover golf.

RonMon [Visitor] in response to: Being a sportswriter is easy, regardless of what those covering the PGA Tour will have you believe

RonMon [Visitor] — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 13:36:57 +0000

A) I love when Alex and Judge Smails carry on their romance in the sub-blog of the commentary. It's like meta-blogging.

B) Sportswriting IS easy...who writes sports because "it's a living"? People work in fields, factories, and streets because it pays enough. They choose to write sports. If their language skills suck turpentine, then they get fired. If you don't know how to use Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com, they you shouldn't be writing sports. If you don't know how to read the works of others in the time that you are not writing and watching events (and avoid plagiarizing) then you shouldn't be writing sports.

C) Sportswriting as Rick Reilly and Tom Chiarella have perfected IS difficult. There are others who write at their level, but redundancy and repetition are unnecessary (unlike most of my blogs)

D) Some of us who blog are mildly or severely inspired by blog thoughts at all hours of the day, and just poop them out into our laptops or desktops. If Stacy truly works at her blog with due diligence, then my toupee is off to her.

Stacy [Visitor] in response to: Being a sportswriter is easy, regardless of what those covering the PGA Tour will have you believe

Stacy [Visitor] — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 20:55:26 +0000

Sorry lklndjo, but I do not agree with this statement: "A blogger only has to show up, have an opinion and only a casual interest in the facts. Then type something, send it and go home. That is a great gig."

Being a blogger isn't necessarily easy...

I take my blog very seriously and the only reason I even continue to write about golf is because I really love it. For those people who think it only takes a few minutes to write a quality blog, think again. During my twelve hours/6 days per wk on my current job I am always thinking about what interests me this week and how to relay it to my readers.

I don't know how long it's supposed to take to write a blog but mine usually take several hours of writing, rewriting and then re-reading several times to make sure the details are in order. Hardly a "type it and then go home" ideology.

Judge Smails [Visitor] in response to: Being a sportswriter is easy, regardless of what those covering the PGA Tour will have you believe

Judge Smails [Visitor] — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 20:42:27 +0000

Alex,

Perhaps he has Bubbles in his head.

Alex [Visitor] in response to: Being a sportswriter is easy, regardless of what those covering the PGA Tour will have you believe

Alex [Visitor] — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 19:01:41 +0000

Judge Smails,

Leave it to Jim C to inject Bubbles into the discussion regardless of the subject of the blog.

Oui Oui Oui [Visitor] in response to: Being a sportswriter is easy, regardless of what those covering the PGA Tour will have you believe

Oui Oui Oui [Visitor] — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 14:37:13 +0000

I am in complete agreement. I can not stand it when the media view themselves as doing God's bidding - just look a those nightly news of the major networks.

Just as much as I do not expect a private audience with some famous people, I do not understand why the media think the celebrities owed them something. Last I checked, journalism does not have to go through vigorous certification/qualification test. Any Tom, Dick, and Jerry can do it as long as they are hired by a media outlet - On second thought, you don't even need to be hired if you are a freelancer.

Yes, above is my 'editorial comment'....Perhaps that makes me an 'editor'.

William K. Wolfrum [Member] in response to: Being a sportswriter is easy, regardless of what those covering the PGA Tour will have you believe

William K. Wolfrum [Member] — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 14:00:00 +0000

I can tell you that fighting a deadline for an AM paper is not. You have to be fast, accurate and possess the ability to write tight.

This is by no means as hard as you'd like to make it out to be. Plus, did you notice that golf events end before it's dark? And it's really no grand achievement to have your story basically written in your head/notebook by the time the final putt falls. And everything happens in front of you. It's not like the Dow Jones falls 15 points and you have to analyze why, and get authoritative opinions before you post a story.

Aside from that, what Kiel said.

You're right. A blogger only has to show up, have an opinion and only a casual interest in the facts. Then type something, send it and go home. That is a great gig.

You sort of missed a main point I made early in the blog.

All Vijay is doing now is reaping what he has sown.

So you believe a sportswriter's job is to always make sure some type of karmic justice is upheld?

Hey, you'll get no argument from me, Wolfie. If you can do it, anyone can.

(Grudgingly) Well played.

--WKW

Judge Smails [Visitor] in response to: Being a sportswriter is easy, regardless of what those covering the PGA Tour will have you believe

Judge Smails [Visitor] — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 07:10:50 +0000

Hey, you'll get no argument from me, Wolfie. If you can do it, anyone can.