T.
Mr. Greeson - I am interested in getting into the sports media world and read your online column everyday. I would love to do what you do. Do you have any advice on getting in the business and what has changed the most since you started doing it?
Thanks -- and if you could include this in the mailbag and say its from T. that would be awesome.
T. -
Great question.
The first thing you have to do is ask your self how much you want to do this. Seriously, because the money starting out - and almost at every level other than the very top compared to other occupations - is pretty lean.
There's also the hours, meaning say good-bye to friends and family in regard to most nights and almost all in-season weekends.
If you answered those questions and still want in, well, the most important thing to do is practice your craft. If you want to be a writer, write something every day. If you want to be a broadcaster, turn the sound down and do play-by-play of the game you're watching. Same goes for radio.
Next, be a consumer, meaning if you want to write, read everyone you can get your hands on. Vary the styles, whether it's Mark Wiedmer, who is excellent at this craft, or Bill Simmons, who crafted his own spot more than anyone in this business since Grizzard possibly, or whomever you like is fine. But read them every day. (Grizzard's great advice on this was copy someone else's style until you find your own, and he openly admitted that he copied Furman Bisher as a young writer at the AJC.)
Find some way to get your foot in the door, whether you string high school football games or work the board on weekends at a radio station, or what have you. And always keep your clips, be them papers or tapes. You'll need those come interviewing time.
As for the change, well, in a macro sense, there was a time not that long ago that even the big leagues like the NFL or the SEC needed the media more than the media needed them. That worm has turned and it will never turn back. Ever.
It's one of the reasons we still enjoy covering high school football games - reporters and media members are appreciated at those events; at the others we're viewed as a nuisance or another headache that's part of a millionaire's job.
Since we started in 1997, the digital movements have been crazy and unpredictable, but those are well documented and a lot of times overstated. But whatever.
This latest one, though, may be the scariest new trend we've seen since, well, only Goodness knows. This is from our friends at Cynopsis media:
Bleacher Report inked a deal with University of Notre Dame football for an exclusive social content partnership throughout the season. The B/R social team will be embedded with the football program in South Bend and travel with the team to road games throughout the season to create custom content for the program's national fan base with access to practice, locker room, game day activities, home and away games, travel, academic classrooms and more via a weekly video feature, Facebook Live streams, shareable social packages and game day Snapchat takeovers.
Oh my. When we have select media outlets paying for premium access - that we all know will be controlled ultimately by the head football coach - well, that is scary on so many levels it's hard to put a specific point on it.
Better yet, T., go back to school and get a Human Resources degree and you can thank me in three years. Kidding. (Mostly.)
And thanks for reading.
FILE - This Sept. 16, 2013 file photo shows the ESPN logo prior to an NFL football game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers, in Cincinnati. ESPN. Disney's ESPN on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015 confirmed it is cutting about 300 jobs, or 4 percent of its staff, amid signs that the traditional cable bundle is less far-reaching than it once was. (AP Photo/David Kohl, File) From Stewwie
Let's see..cord-cutting, talent-dumping, overspending on broadcast rights, liberal agenda...yep, ESPN is headed downhill fast. I don't think they really know what they're doing. And I have to laugh when I see the ads for a SVP Sportscenter at midnight. Seriously...who in their right mind is going to stay up to watch that? Sportscenter was great for the 80s/90s and SVP is just an average talking head. No thanks.
Stewwie -
I know this is pretty hypothetical, but there are a couple of interesting talking points here.
As has been reported this week, ESPN lost another 4 million subscribers over the last year. At about $6 per month per subscriber, that's roughly a $288 million loss in revenue for the Worldwide Leader.
That's huge, and while they are retooling a lot of their shows - and they should be scrapping a lot of the others, as you mentioned - the cost-cutting may be the root of these overhauls.
As some have suggested for years around these parts, the sports money bubble looks as real as ever considering ESPN and now Nike have taken sizable hits this week alone. As for the SVP show, well, we really like him on the radio, and the SVP-Russilo show is/was way better than the Russilo/Kanell show.
But your point is fair, especially with the hilarity that is late night TV shows on the major networks. In fact, late night TV maybe the only genre that the major four networks are still consistently the best at on television.
The SportsCenter point is also an interesting one because there was a time in our life when we'd watch the 11 p.m. SC and then re-watch it in the morning. Now, in the age of immediacy and access, if you haven't seen it by 6 a.m., you likely not interested any more any way.
So ESPN is left with the painful paradox of what do people want from its sports provider. They want actual games and expert/entertaining opinion about those games. And those are the two most expensive entities at ESPN.
And while they overpaid for the broadcast rights, Fox and others are now overpaying for the experts/entertainers, and if we had to have one or the other, we'd take the games.
Here's betting the cutbacks at ESPN continue to roll, because there's absolutely nothing that can be done about the young generations and cord-cutting, which hammers ESPN more than every other cable network combined.
Captain Jim Henegar of the Chattanooga Fire Department uses a ladder truck to rescue Chris Statom, left, and Brandon Nihiser, employees of River City Sign and Neon, after a breakdown on the bucket truck they were using Tuesday, Mar. 31, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn. They were attempting to change lights on the 23rd Street Waffle House sign when a mechanical failure stranded them approximately 60 feet in the air, but they were rescued without injury.From Todd
Jay, for the mailbag. What is the best recovery meal, after say a night of way too many Co-colas.
Todd -
Excellent question Todd.
OK, the old-school college solution was chicken fingers and fries with the tangy sauce (call it Guthrie's sauce or Zax sauce or what have you). Make that a lot of sauce. Also, the Texas Toast is a must-have. The bread is key as a soaking device, and in truth an extra piece - one for the beginning and then a dessert bread if you will - is a real expert play. But that monster calorie infusion was only good if you had the college, or young adult, benefit of sleeping to around lunch.
If you are older - especially if you have tots - and accidentally get a Co-Cola or three too many, here are the best options.
If you are going out for breakfast, if you can get to the Waffle House, that's option one, because the salt infusion, especially with the hash browns is an excellent option. (Know this though, if you take the Waffle House angle, your next stop has to be back to the house because your are going to need access to, shall we say, the facilities.)
The second is a Hardee's biscuit - remember the bread theory from before - with your favorite meat option. (We go country fried steak, but that's a personal choice. Also, can we suggest you split the biscuit and go half biscuit, meat option, last half of biscuit. Sounds strange, sure, but trust us.)
The best two home remedies we have found are cheese grits - again, replacing the salt you have lost is key, and if you like grits you can use it as an extreme salt vehicle - and bacon.
That addresses the salt and grease factor which helps the replenish and the expediting processes.
Of course, you could go old-school and mix-up a bloody Mary. Or as Chet told us in "Weird Science" how about a nice, greasy pork sandwich served at the bottom of a dirty ashtray?
A man climbs on the Olympic rings near the basketball venue in the Olympic park on th eve before the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) From MocTastic
JG, so, mailbag question..should in future all athletes be required to stay in the villages or not participate? Thanks.
MT -
In theory, yes, we think they should all stay together, but that theory - especially in Rio - should be examined in both directions.
Shouldn't the U.S. Olympic committee, which makes hundreds of millions of dollars, be looking at better housing options than just the Olympic village?
Why can't all the athletes be given better accommodations as they go represent our country, especially over the next couple of weeks since roughly half of the Olympic villages have been finished.
Also, there's some validity to Stewwie's point about the USOC doing whatever they can to keep as many of the top hoops stars involved as possible.
In this photo taken May 3, 2016, Matt Male poses in Westerville, Ohio, with the green windbreaker and crystal vase he won by placing first in the professional putting's version of the Masters tournament. (AP Photo/Mitch Stacy From Paul
OK, I've been reading your stuff for a while now. I think you ranked the best trophies one time and gold medal was up there. Do you remember that Rushmore and if you could win a gold medal what sport would it be in?
Thanks.
Paul -
Great question Paul, and one that is very pertinent with the Olympics having their opening ceremonies tonight.
Our Rushmore of individual trophies are The Green Jacket, the Heisman, an Olympic gold medal and the Claret Jug. The heavyweight championship of the world would have been there at one time, but well, you know.
As for an Olympics event, well, that's interesting.
We'll start with an Olympic gold in basketball. First, in today's set-up being on the U.S. basketball team means you are making eight figures a year already. Plus, there's the whole accommodations thing we discussed above.
Next, we'll go the 100 meter dash. (And yes, at 6-4, 225 and white, we'd have a better chance of being elected president than winning that title.) Being called the fastest man on the planet would be pretty cool.
Then we'd likely go heavyweight boxing and then we'd likely go golf, but that's because of personal preference.
Side note: While winning any gold medal is cool and the fulfillment of a lifetime goal and thousands of hours of work, what would be the least impressive gold medal?
Say you went to someone's house and they have a gold medal hanging on the wall with a picture of them on the podium.
Then under it you read "rhythmic gymnastics" or "table tennis." In the 2020 Olympics, skateboarding and sport climbing will be added.
Still, would Equestrian Dressage be the least impressive, especially since they retired Ballroom Dancing a few years back?
FILE - In this Jan., 2015, file photo, NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith speaks during a news conference for the NFL Super Bowl XLIX football game in Phoenix. Smith retained his position as executive director of the NFL players' union in voting Sunday by 32 player representatives. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File) From several of you
What do you think about Saban's position on Maurice Smith?
Gang -
I think it's a terrible look for the best coach in the history of college football.
Simply terrible.
First and foremost, Smith has graduated from Alabama. He has fulfilled everyone's ultimate goal for the student-athlete by completing his degree. If the archaic NCAA rules want to encumber the powerless athletes while the all-powerful coaches and move from school to school at their leisure, well, that's another discussion.
But to limit the options of a kid who has graduated and wants to do something different somewhere different is petty. And wrong.
This is a terrible look for Saban on a multitude of levels. First, he and his program are hiding behind the fine print of an SEC rule that many schools - including Alabama in the case of Chris Black - have circumvented plenty of times.
Of course, the difference between Black and Smith for Saban is that Black was no longer viewed as being able to help the program and Smith would be a potential starter. That's not obiding by SEC rules; that's a self-serving move that is all part of Saban's process.
The optical truth here is that Alabama's position - and Saban's bull pulpit theatrics when asked about it all of two times Thursday night - are at best blurry and at worst double-visioned hypocritical.
Saban is the same guy who chastised the media last month at SEC media days for saying Cam Robinson should be suspended rather than punished internally. A big part of that diatribe from Saban was that he was trying to help Robinson.
So a kid who was arrested in Louisiana needs and gets Lord Saban's help, but a kid who has done everything right and graduated on time who wants a little help from Saban doesn't deserve it because of the fine print on an optional SEC rule? Oh, that makes a ton of sense.
Saban embraced the fine print of a technicality because Smith can help Alabama, just like he looked the other way this summer because Robinson is likely the most indispensable Tide offensive player.
One of the basics of the transfer rule for players within the conference is to avoid teams getting inside info about rival programs. And that makes sense in most cases, but it seems a little over the top here since Kirby Smart is the new Georgia coach. And since Smart spent almost a decade working under Saban, there's not anything Smith can bring that Smart already hasn't brought.
And this is not even broaching the subject about the allegations that Smith's locker was trashed and his personal items were thrown in the trash after news got out that he wanted to transfer.
Of course, Saban fielded all of two questions on this issue Thursday, avoiding the second one with a thrustful and bullying response to a reporter that included, "You want me to go all Belichick on you?"
What kind of example is that? Some one has a question, and if you don't like it you threaten them and bully them? Class move coach. Really.
So no one asked him about the story of Smith's locker, but nothing how things work, if there was any untruth to that report, here's a hearty belief that Saban would have assuredly addressed those inaccuracies.
That silence from Saban speaks louder than the threats and the glares and everything else.
Alabama is the class of college football, and Nick Saban may be the best coach ever to wear a headset.
And the program and its leader look like complete losers for how they handled this entire Maurice Smith affair.