“They’re just people like you and me”…We hear that all the time when trying to explain how to interview, how to get close to an athlete…But what that doesn’t take into account is that, often times, there’s a a jealousy, maybe even an envy going on, in that these same athletes can swish a basket from twenty feet, throw a ninety five mile an hour fastball or put a puck through a goaltender’s legs with amazing accuracy…Reporters figured out at some point they couldn’t do that anymore and did the next best thing, they saw a way to stay around the game, sports journalism…<\/p>\n
The athlete\/media relationship is one of the cornerstones to learning how to survive in world of sports journalism…Face it, you need them more than they need you…And sometimes that gets in the way…<\/p>\n
At a recent Boston University Sports Journalism Seminar, Ian Thomsen<\/a> of NBA.Com and Boston Celtics first year player Jaylen Brown<\/a>\u00a0came at the topic from different sides….<\/p>\n Brown was accompanied to the seminar by veteran Media Relations expert Jeff Twiss, Vice President of Media Services for the Celtics and while we’ll deal with that media relations \u00a0subject later in the semester, Twiss told the students “This is their office, their setting, be aware of that”…Imagine players, writers, bloggers coming into your dorm, your apartment, your classroom, \u00a0sticking iphones, recorders and video cameras into your face(s) to find out why you didn’t do so well on that last quiz!…you’d probably get cranky too if it happened every day before AND after the quiz…”<\/em><\/em>Gee Jordan, how do you think you’re gonna do on this big test in ten minutes, did ya study, do you know your stuff?”….Followed after by, “Jordan, what were you thinking when you answered that question five (wrong)?…What’s it gonna take to do better next time?”…And “talk about question 12″…Let me go ask Coach (Shorr) or some of your teammates!!…<\/p>\n Then Jordan gets to read all about it on every social media site known to human kind…But if he’s lucky he adopts an attitude like Brown, “I don’t want to let it bring me down” he answered when asked if he reads what people write and say…Thomsen has seen his share of the other side however, having been pulled aside by athletes who don’t like what he said, even though, often times, it comes secondhand, “Sometimes I agree with them”…A good approach not always accepted among the media…<\/p>\n While getting the information is the goal here, it’s just as important to remember where you are and what you’re doing…Thomsen readily acknowledges that he learns so much from “these guys” and that listening is a formula for success…Brown, who just happens to be younger than every student in the class, has an engaging perspective on the process….”I definitely think there’s a line (about what you can ask)…but sports and real life are separate”…Reporters are going to push but Brown counters with “It’s up to the person (the athlete) to determine where that line is”…<\/p>\n That’s pretty much what it is in a nutshell….And if you think about it, life is pretty much like that as well…Be aggressive but be respectful…Do your homework (literally) and never settle…..<\/p>\n Next week: Beat Reporting with Zach Cox<\/a> of NESN and Brian Robb<\/a> from CBS Boston<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “They’re just people like you and me”…We hear that all the time when trying to explain how to interview, how to get close to an athlete…But what that doesn’t take into account is that, often times, there’s a a jealousy, maybe even an envy going on, in that these same athletes can swish a basket […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":901,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":387,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385\/revisions\/387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}