fshorr's blog

There's a hierarchy to sports journalism jobs and while you might think beat reporting is all fancy hotels and charter flights, think again....it's not a place where you start, maybe not even a place you finish but with apologies to Charles Dickens, it can be "the best of times, the worst of times"...

Who doesn't want to cover a team?...after all, it's why we start covering the high schools, the little leagues, the minors...

ESPNBoston.com's Mike Reiss and Tony Massarotti of 98.5 The Sports Hub visited the B-U sports journalism seminar series just recently and while this seminar may be as far away from the students as last week's was close (Newcomers), the sense was, this is as professional as it gets...

Both Tony and Mike started when covering sports was a much more traditional, non twitter, non-internet era...Writing for a newspaper was the plum job and being able to follow one team all the time was the cherry on the sundae...Interestingly, both had external factors that shaped their fates...in Mike's case he'd beat the bushes and thought he was on his way working for Patriots Football Weekly ...But when he applied for other jobs, he found out that working for the team wasn't exactly advancing his cause; "It was a dues paying process to remove myself from that P.R. track, said Reiss, and move to the journalism track and then work my way back up."...Having his checks signed by the team he was covering proved problematic he found...

For Massarotti, it wasn't so much the beat that changed things, but rather the fortunes of the local teams he covered, his beat at 98.5 now being more than just the Red Sox but pretty much anything; "There was an astonishing amount of good fortune involved.  We(he and partner Mike Felger) have been lucky enough to work in what's undoubtedly the golden age of Boston Sports.  There's never been a run like this in any city in America, ever!  That's dumb luck, nothing more than that."

But as much as Reiss and Massarotti put in the hours and forged the relationships, it was their ability to adapt as beat reporters that advanced their careers, especially Reiss...Nobody could imagine what "that internet thing" would turn into back in the 90's when Reiss decided he could take advantage of the immediacy of the new technology and get his brand out there...He wasn't exactly embraced by his fellow journalists however; "Why are you doing that?  You're creating extra work for all of us", they complained.  "I just want to file my story and go home" they would say.  "My whole idea on that was why wait until tomorrow to read something i can tell you right now?"...Reiss was light years ahead of his peers.  One of the early models of advancing the story.

Like every other reporter doing his/her job, Massarotti and Reiss had to wind their way through the muck and mire of information...some of it good, much of it useless and unchecked....But both agreed, they weren't in it to beat the drum for someone else; "Why are they telling me (this)?  You should never underestimate that someone is carrying out some sort of agenda on their behalf too, stated Massarotti.  You're kind of using each other and everybody understands it and it's ok."

Consummate pros for sure, hard workers by trade and choice.  They both truly understand what it takes to "march to a different beat", "It's a volume job, Massarotti told the students, it's how I would describe a beat reporters job, it's hard work.  It doesn't mean that the quality of the work you're turning out is any less valuable (though). There's a lot of it, it's demanding."  While agreeing,  Reiss wanted to make sure the students didn't lose their passion along the way;  "Think like a fan.  You have a press pass and access to people that anyone would want (access to) so ask them what you think a fan would want to know."

Sage advice. You can't beat that!

I want to win!...there, i said it...but then again, who doesn't...we learn a lot about ourselves when we play sports but let's be realistic, if I'm gonna play, I want to win!...Sure, I learn something when I lose but face it, winning feels much better...

And so it is that we try to explain the role between sports and society...

Whether you're looking at the N-F-L, the Barclay's Premier League, the National Hockey League or even here on the Boston University campus, there's some good and there's some not so good...It was with this in mind that we invited Northeastern Athletic Director Peter Roby and Adam Naylor of Boston University to join us at the sports journalism seminar series recently...Let's just say the two schools are lucky to have these men associated with their programs and their athletes...

All too often, we only talk about sports and its role in our culture when something goes wrong...Take Saturday night's game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild, for example...Sixty two minutes in penalties, including 32 handed out with just :04 seconds to go in the game...So, if the players can do it, why can't the fans?...Check out the crowd at the Pepsi Center!...I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out...

But should we be surprised?...Probably not...Naylor points to the National Football League, America's game, if you will..."There's a lot of ugly stuff that went(goes) on but we still tune in, we still pay money to watch it, so does this reflect something about us because we are willing to watch?...Sports is wonderful and sports is horrible...That's how it is, we live in the shades of grey." ...No one condones Adrian Peterson or Ray Rice...But we'll buy the tickets and the jerseys, high five after the touchdowns...

In all fairness, it's not all bad behavior...I was reminded of that Sunday morning when I turned on the E-P-L Manchester City - Liverpool match...They have a tradition at Anfield that before each game they sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" to remember the ninety six fans who lost their lives at Hilsborough 26 years ago...It reminds us that sports can bring us together for a common purpose, if only for a little while each Sunday morning....

Sports isn't just fun and games, it's not just something that takes us away from our daily lives....it teaches us countless lessons on fairness, competitiveness and what we want to be as people, as a society...we don't always do it right, we don't always stand up for what we think is right (and wrong)...But it's a vehicle to try...

Here on our own campus, we woke up this past week to images of our highest profile athlete plastered all over the internet...a video taken at a post game celebration involving underage drinking...   No big deal?...perhaps, but when you're an athlete representing your team, you have a responsibility that goes way beyond scoring goals and getting headlines...As Roby puts it, "The learning is in the journey.  Part of what we want to do is treat them like adults, give them responsibility, but if they make a mistake and violate those values we espouse, hold them accountable (as well).  Where it breaks down, is, we say we believe in certain things but then the best player in the country makes that mistake and we give him a pass, that's the problem that happens in sports.  Because you're so good and people want to benefit from your talent, that they don't have the will to say I'm going to teach you a lesson."  Naylor took it one step further, "it's tough to espouse the core values when you feel like there's a gun to your head to win the next game."

And therein lies the problem on many levels...we want to set a good example but not necessarily if it means our best player(s) might miss the game...

Journalists have an interesting place in all this...how much do they report, how much do they risk the ire of the team, the media relations people, the athlete him or herself if they publish what i'll call "non-game related issues"   Naylor talked about the relationship between the media, especially student journalists, and the players and holding them up for scrutiny, "They're not different than you.  None of the guys (presumably ladies too) at B-U playing hockey are really that different from you with respect to how they were raised or what kind of kid they are.  The case may be they have the same insecurities that you may have, the same strengths, they probably enjoy the same types of things, they're just really gifted,  I think it's important that we don't assume that these folks that you're gonna cover (and write your stories) are so different than you.  In reality they're probably very similar to you."

Maybe it really is true that it doesn't matter who wins and loses, it's how you play the game...As Robyput it, it's all about the journey......

Becoming a sports journalist usually comes in stages...Step one is when you figure out you can no longer hit the jumper, make contact with the curve ball or find the net...So you turn to something next best, covering the game...And with that you find some inherent problems...How am I going to do this job? , for starters...

It was with that in mind that we asked Jessica Camerato of BasketballInsiders.com, Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics and Bruins defenseman Zach Trotman to join us at the Boston University Sports Journalism Seminar Series... Exploring the question from both sides can sound easier than it is...You're certainly going to be nervous the first time you walk into any locker room but with the advice of these pros, you'll come away with a job well done...

Be confident (or at least, look that way) when you make eye contact....You'd be surprised that the players you are nervous about talking to might also have questions....Think of it this way, "you're the new kid on the block"..."I cover the Celtics but I also cover the visiting team, said Camerato, so when a new player comes in I make sure I just introduce myself and have a conversation and find a commonality...It's just establishing, I know you're here, you know I'm here, maybe down the road we'll have to work together"...Doesn't sound that different than meeting a new friend does it?

That all assumes you're not star struck and can formulate a well thought out question...essential in the business you want to be a part of...Camerato went on to warn "There are so many ways to ask a question, if you put the player on the defensive, that interview will be terrible."...Trotman agrees, "Try not to put it (the question) in a negative way.  Obviously the player had good intentions but they went wrong.  Try to not phrase it so aggressively."

Locker rooms are places of business, sometimes with many people milling around, sometime just a few...Don't think for a minute the players don't notice who is there and even more importantly, who wrote(said) what...They may not have heard it directly but that doesn't mean it won't get back to them..."It's hard not to see, added Smart, you might not have seen it but somebody close to you did and they tell you...it's addicting (social media), you can't stop watching and sometimes as a player, it can affect you."...

Each stop along the way brings with it a separate set of circumstances...High schoolers can have that deer in the headlights look....college players perhaps, can't explain how they did something that comes so natural to them and then there's the professionals who do this for a living and the "sparkle" just doesn't shine as brightly for them as it might for you (at the beginning)...We'll deal with the media relations part of the equation later in the semester!

Don't ask for autographs, no "selfies" or photo bombs and keep in mind, they are people too...Get in, get out and always remember if you're in the Bruins dressing room, warns Trotman,  "Don't step on the logo!"

Pamela Wheaton Shorr is a middle school teacher in Salem and a professional writer...She has recently become an avid Boston Bruins fan and the proud owner(wearer) of a #37 jersey...

It’s March Madness in Massachusetts – and as any public school teacher knows, that has nothing to do with basketball and everything to do with the start of this year’s standardized testing. In cities across the Bay State, teachers are busy reviewing tricky MCAS vocabulary, deconstructing questioning syntax that could trip up understanding, and reminding kids of strategies for answering multi-part open response questions. But mainly, we’re talking about what to do when faced with the dreaded Long Comp, an untimed writing exam meant to ferret out whether a kid is able to write thoughtful, carefully crafted pieces in response to a specific writing ‘prompt’. Easy – or at least manageable – for students with strong language skills, the test can be agony for any child who struggles with writing, organizing thoughts, thinking critically about a topic, or even talking about him or herself.

The Long Comp writing test is administered in 4^th, 7^th and 10^th grades and consists of two untimed sessions that can literally take some students all day to complete. Students respond to a prompt that is meant to get their creative and intellectual juices flowing. Example: “Think of a skill that you would like to or have learned outside of school. In a well-developed essay, describe the skill and explain why it is interesting and important to you.” All you need to do is imagine a tongue-tied, insecure seventh grader getting this idea starter, and you get an idea of the problem. During practice writing sessions, this is what we hear: “I don’t HAVE any skills!” “I don’t DO anything outside of school!” “Skateboarding isn’t a ‘skill’!” “I don’t know WHY I like it!”

The number of steps it takes to break this prompt into something doable is extraordinary, and it’s part of the reason students panic during writing exams. Students have got to think about the definition of a ‘skill’ – does that include cooking? Reading? They’ve got to analyze whether they have any skills – not easy for a kid who feels unsure of him or herself. What if they don’t have any enrichment outside of school – does it count if they’re in an acting club during school hours? What if they don’t really know much about this skill, but it looks fun? What are they going to say about it? And most importantly for a middle schooler – what kind of exposure are they willing to risk? Isn’t it bragging to say they’re skilled at acting? Do they really want anyone to know about their innermost hopes and dreams?

Getting a ‘6’, the highest mark for topic development, requires “rich topic/idea development; careful and/or subtle organization; and effective/rich use of language”, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Teachers will gripe that to get a 6, a kid has to be attending Harvard Extension School on the weekend and fluent in six languages...and don’t even get us started on the philosophy and ‘authenticity’ behind writing to a prompt! The 2010 4^th grade Long Comp prompt on the joys of having a day off from school (aka ‘a snow day’) caused a furor at the time – as many students had never experienced one and had no idea what to write!

What to do to help our kids get through a day that requires stamina, vision and finesse? We’re a sports town, after all. The first round of the NCAA playoffs may be starting this week, the Red Sox may be strutting their stuff at spring training, and the Patriots may be restocking for next year, but in my heart, there’s only one Boston team – and one Boston sports star – to guide my kids through the Long Comp. Patrice Bergeron and the Big Bad Bruins.

It’s hard not to get inspired by a guy who refuses to leave the ice during a critical playoff game, even though he’s got a punctured lung. I tell my kids that Bergeron played through the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals with a separated shoulder, a broken rib, torn cartilage and, eventually, a punctured lung. The only thing lower than some of my students’ interest in writing a ‘well developed’ essay is their stamina to do so. But with the help of Bergeron’s unflinching stick-to-it-iveness, I can make the point to well, suck it up. Still whining? I throw in Greg ‘Soupie’ Campbell’s choice to stay on the ice and help kill off a penalty after breaking his leg, and for good measure, I mention honorary ex-Bruin Rich Peverley, who literally died on the bench and asked to return to the game after being resuscitated. Now pick up the pencil, children!

Maybe you can’t figure out what skill to write about, and maybe you aren’t even sure whether you have a skill, I say. But you have to start somewhere, and what’s more, you’ve got to play the position you’re given. Though Patrice Bergeron was called up for this year’s Canadian Olympic team, his position kept getting shifted around. Instead of getting flustered, Bergeron’s response was simple.  “Whatever it takes, right? I’m just happy to be here…Whether it’s the right side, the left side, it doesn’t matter to me,” he told an NBC reporter. (Source: http://nesn.com/2014/02/patrice-bergeron-excels-in-canadas-somewhat-sloppy-olympic-opener/)  And by the end of the Olympics, Bergeron was being hailed as the “best all-around player in hockey” and the “greatest defensive forward in the world” – something that sports fans in Boston already know firsthand.

By far my favorite story about Patrice Bergeron starts way before he became a Bruin, and it’s key for the kids who think they just can’t do it, no matter what their Nike T-shirts tell them. It’s a story I read online, and if it isn’t true, please don’t tell me or my students. Sometimes, I say, you just have to wait it out. You need to study the game. You get that Long Comp prompt and you’ve got nothing? Just breathe. According to this story, Bergeron’s father took his son to a rink when he was about five to introduce him to Canada’s national sport. Bergy sat in the net and didn’t move – for two months. While his parents contemplated introducing young Patrice to a different sport, Bergeron was simply watching and absorbing, learning the ice, and, according to his dad, falling in love with the game. And when the boy finally got moving, he was one of the best skaters on the ice.

I have no idea if the story of Patrice Bergeron does my kids a bit of good, whether his basic humility and willingness to do what’s required, his stamina and ability to look at the whole ice and respond accordingly is a lesson to anyone but me. I am not really a sports fanatic, but ever since this New Jersey girl discovered Bobby Orr and fell in love with the Bruins, I have been searching for the next Bobby. In Patrice Bergeron, I think I’ve found him.

I have no idea if the story does my students any good, but I know what Patrice Bergeron has taught me. Bergeron’s stamina, work ethic, imagination, humility, and just plain ‘gumption’ reminds me that even in the midst of MCAS Madness, I have one and only one job. It’s up to me to keep skating as hard and fast as I can for my ‘team’ – the students in my classroom. It’s my job to find the open man, to make holes for the players who aren’t open, to feed my students the puck so that they can score, to cheer when they take their victory laps, to bump fists and get back to it. The ‘best all-around player in hockey’ offers some lessons that cannot be lost on teachers, either. And, you know, he’d make a pretty good Long Comp prompt.

Pamela Wheaton Shorr

It's an anxious time for "about to be grads", who very soon will leave the cocoon of school and venture out into the working world...You've spent four years, in some cases, and the prospects of having to get that first job is daunting.....But with a little research and some good advice it can be the start of a rewarding career ...

That advice was left to Jim Tortora of WGGB TV in Springfield and Craig Larson, the community sports editor of The Boston Globe during a recent visit to the Boston University Sports Journalism Series....During that visit, what became strikingly clear is that these students have very valuable skills needed by the new generation of journalism outlets they will apply to...the ability to shoot their own video, edit that video and turn out into a clear and concise video story, for example...The familiarity with social media technology, for another...But perhaps most shocking in all this, is the unwillingness of those (veterans) they are joining to "keep up"...they are,  frankly, jealous and scared of you...

Even news directors have had to adjust to the new day and age of judging talent...gone are the countless hours of inserting, viewing and ejecting tapes of all sizes and shapes ...Most want links to the candidates material but while some will debate what should be in that link, the philosophy is still the same...Says Tortora, "Keep me engaged for those first thirty seconds.  I think it's best early on to have, at least, a compilation on one link.  It's easier to get feedback (also)...

Larson, like Tortora, sees hundreds of resumes and reads almost as many clips when a job opens...He doesn't have time to read ten articles you've written but just as Tortora might shuttle through a video resume, Larson needs to be wowed right off the bat. "That first impression is so important.  Some first impressions you look at and their resume or their clips and you know.   That's it!  You're done!  Be prepared and be persistent."...

Finally, it's one thing to shoot for the stars (see our Newcomers seminar) but both Larson and Tortora offered students advice that has nothing to do with their skills but rather more with their attitude(s)...No less important..."Make sure you have a real understanding of what the opportunities are, an understanding of what you're abilities are and show that you are aggressive, said Tortora  (Show that) going into the business you have a passion, a desire for it"...Added Larson, "Know what you're taking on.  If you don't want to work weekends, you don't want to work Thanksgiving, Christmas, you're out of luck."

Those are skills they don't teach in school...Hopefully, I(we) have hit those home with sessions like this one.....