Covering Sports, 2018 PDF

7 Covering Sports Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. In the classic baseball film Bull Durham, catcher Crash Davis sits on the team bus with rising star pitcher Nuke LaLoosh, and tells him, “It’s time to work on your interview. Learn your clichés. You have to study them...

7 Covering Sports Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. In the classic baseball film Bull Durham, catcher Crash Davis sits on the team bus with rising star pitcher Nuke LaLoosh, and tells him, “It’s time to work on your interview. Learn your clichés. You have to study them, you have to have to know them. They are your friends.” His instruction begins: “We’ve got to play them one game at a time.” LaLoosh repeats and then comments, “It’s kind of boring.” “Of course, it’s boring,” Davis replies. “That’s the point. Write it down.” Davis offers more quotes: “I’m just happy to be here. I hope I can help the ball club. “I just want to give it my best shot and, the Good Lord willing, things will work out.” (Shelton, 1988) Sports are the ultimate reality show, with high stakes, buildup of tensions and excitement, and definitive winners and losers. They can also be filled with clichéd moments like the scene from Bull Durham. But the high emotions that make sports such powerful storytelling, combined with the restrictive nature of the sports industry, can make interviews some of the best, and some of the most challenging. “When you’re playing well it’s great to have cameras in front of your face, it’s real easy to be excited about what you do,” says former Major League pitcher Dan Plesac, now a broadcaster with the MLB Network. “But when you stink or have that game that’s the bad side of it, when you have to talk about what went wrong, that’s a much tougher interview” (personal interview, 2017). Sports interviews are often heavily managed affairs that take place in their own specialized environments, including: • Press conferences: A favorite information dissemination tool for teams from college to the pros. There is often a regularly scheduled session with coaches and players at set times after practice, and the leagues set Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. Covering Sports 93 Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. Figure 7.1 Interviewing athletes can be exciting and extraordinarily challenging, due to the constraints placed on reporters by teams. Source: Nicole Kraft • • requirements for post-game press access. This allows large quantities of reporters to ask questions of a single person (or a few people) at one point in time. Questions are asked (and answers received) in a group setting, with reporters in an audience and sources at a podium or behind a table. Media relations personnel determine who asks questions (and in what order), and stop the session after a given period of time. Scrum: A rugby term describing a formation of players that starts play. In sports, it is the crowd of journalists that gather around a player during media availability or post-game locker-room comments. It’s almost like a mini, less formal press conference, in that as each person’s question and the subsequent answer is open to the crowd, but you are closer to a subject and often media relations personnel are not managing the interaction. One-On-One: Individual interviews with players or coaches, often scheduled through media relations departments or sports information directors. They will coordinate the time and length of the interview and may even sit in, depending on the team, player and circumstance. Tom Withers, a sports writer with the Associated Press in Cleveland, admits the management of locker rooms has become “insufferable,” and Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. 94 Covering Sports Figure 7.2 The scrum, unique to sports, gathers numerous reporters around a single subject for “media availability.” Source: Nicole Kraft Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. says media relations have instead become “player protection.” It takes building relationships to get around those controls: It takes patience and understanding of subject. What you have seen reflected in March Madness is how emotions have such become a huge part of the interview process. That’s why there is a 10-minute cooling off period after a game. People let their hearts get attached to games—fans, players and journalists. (Tom Withers, personal interview, 2018) Successful sports interviewing means working within the given parameters and maximizing the opportunities provided. Before you head out to the stadium or field, it’s important to understand some key aspects of sports reporting and the rules by which we cover teams. Check Your Fandom at the Door “Coach, I have this girlfriend who is a huge Iowa fan, and I would make major points with her if you could sign this” (Petchesk, 2013). Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. Covering Sports 95 So begins one of the most uncomfortable videos ever viewed by journalism students, as Ed Littler, sports director at News 5 in Nebraska, asked Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz for an autograph during 2011 Big Ten media days. Littler is now legendary in sports media classes for this interchange, which overstepped the bounds of reporter and sports figure. When you enter sports reporting, you are no longer a fan, and you can’t act like one. Rule No. 1 of sports writing is, “There is no cheering in the press box,” and rule No. 2 is there is no public displays of affection for those you cover—be they individuals or teams. That does not mean you ask only professional and business-minded questions. Remember that this is a conversation, and athletes are people, too. You can ask how was their day, or congratulate them on a good game. But your goal remains to get information for readers in a fair and objective manner. Do Your Homework Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. Do your research on whomever you’re going to interview, because if you don’t make that athlete or that coach feel comfortable, you’re not going to get anything back. “There’s nothing worse than going and interviewing someone and you’re not prepared because he senses it right away, and then you sense that he’s uncomfortable, and then you have no chance of going anywhere with the interview,” says Dan Plesac. Figure 7.3 Dan Plesac says waiting on players and coaches for interviews can be frustrating, but it is part of the sports writing game. Source: Dan Plesac Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. 96 Covering Sports He cited the example of interviewing a starting forward on a men’s college basketball team: Know the guy’s name, know what high school he went to, know the position he plays, instead of going, “I notice your last game you scored 18 points, were you surprised?” And the guy is going to look at you and go, “Hell no! I scored 25 from the game before and 36 games before that.” (Dan Plesac, personal interview, 2017) Being prepared can be as simple as an internet search, says Alison Lukan of The Athletic. “Google their name, look at the headlines,” she says. “These are proud athletes. They have worked their butts off to get to where they are, and I think it’s a very easy way to start to build a rapport by acknowledging that you know something about them. Feed their ego” (personal interview, 2018). Homework also helps reporters separate themselves from the pack, whether it is asking a truly unique question in a press conference or finding an original angle to a game story. “No two games are ever the same,” says Withers: When you go tonight you might see LeBron score 65 or Kevin Love get hurt again. The more you are prepared, the more likely you are to see the story when it unfolds and see what makes it stand a part. In the 24/7 news cycle, you have to look for that emotional component. Two days are never the same. (Tom Withers, personal interview, 2018) Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. Your Knowledge Is Not that Important Every sports writer has heard someone at a press conference ask a question like: “So coach, why did you move out of the 2–3 defense midway through the first half?” To which the coach may reply, “What are you talking about?” Or there may be the question that takes 30 seconds to state, meandering through the reporter’s vast array of knowledge. Before you ask such questions, stop yourself, says Withers: Take a step back and realize you are not an expert. You may have played basketball in high school. Maybe you have watched every NFL game over five years. What you know and think is not really important. Your question needs to get your sources to say what they know and think. (Tom Withers, personal interview, 2018) Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. Covering Sports 97 Appearance Most sports writers I know dress comfortably but professionally, straddling business casual. The obvious dress code for a sports interview is no jerseys or spirit wear—for or against the team you are visiting. When I cover a Columbus Blue Jackets NHL game I don’t even wear blue. Yet during the NBA playoffs—and hours before the NFL draft—Joe Vardon of Cleveland. com wore a Tim Couch Cleveland Browns jersey to a Cavaliers media session. The response from LeBron James: “I can’t take you seriously wearing that” (Davies, 2018). Plesac was not surprised by the response, as he says players actually judge reporters by how they dress and how they present themselves to players: If you walk up to a player and your dress sloppy and you look sloppy, first of all that player or that coach, they are not going to take you seriously from the beginning. They’re going to look at you as like some local guy that’s here, that doesn’t know what he’s supposed to be doing and you’re just asking some random questions. Box 7.1 Vardon Explains His Jersey Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. After viewing the photo of Joe Vardon in his Browns jersey, Ohio State journalism student Zach Varda reached out to ask his motivation, and what were the rules around such a public display of fandom. He shared with this emailed response from Vardon: You cannot wear any gear of the team you are covering or a team in the league (conference, division, level) you are covering for a game or practice, or really anywhere outside of your home (pajamas are OK). I actually have bad dreams about that, going to like an Indians game to cover it or something and I’m wearing an Indians t-shirt. What I did with wearing a Browns-Tim Couch jersey to a Cavs morning workout was way, way, way different. People wear sports gear to practice all the time, so long as it is not of the team they cover. In my particular case, I was wearing the Couch jersey because it was the day before the NFL draft, and I was making satirical commentary on the Browns’ bad drafting of quarterbacks, given that they were about to take one No. 1. Here’s the truth: whatever you’ve been told about this—keep doing it. You’re young and you’re just starting out, you’re looking for a way in and a way to be noticed. Don’t let your clothes be the thing that gets you passed over for a job. If you’re me, and you’ve Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. 98 Covering Sports covered presidential elections for the Columbus Dispatch, and you’ve spent the last four years chronicling one of the most recognizable athletes in the world, and you’ve had this long career in a tough business, you can let your hair down a little when you’re going to a morning practice toward the end of a nine-month season (I covered my 100th game this season on Tuesday). By the time you reach the point where I am in your career, your readers and the subjects you cover will know you are fair and impartial by your writing and the questions you ask them. They’ll fear you and respect you. And they’ll laugh when you wear a silly Browns jersey (that night—for the game—I was dressed to the 9s, full suit, pocket square, tie bar, polished shoes). Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. Source: Joe Vardon, email response to Zach Varda, May 18, 2018 (reprinted with permission) Figure 7.4 Press conferences allow reporters to have access to key sources like Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, but time and type of questions are limited. Source: Nicole Kraft Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. Covering Sports 99 Sports Is on Player Time If you work in sports, you will likely alternate between chasing and waiting on coaches and players. I once drove for 2½ hours to Cleveland to interview a player visiting with the Los Angeles Dodgers, for a magazine article. I was told to arrive at 4 p.m. for a pre-game sit down —and sit I did. From 4 p.m. until 6. Then I was told his pre-game ritual had begun, and he was no longer available. “Sometimes it’s really hard to swallow that you have an appointment lined up with the women’s soccer coach at Ohio State, and it’s going to be at 7:30 in the morning and you get there at 7:30 and she doesn’t get there till 9, you have to accept that you are on their schedule,” Plesac says. “You’re wanting their time, and they don’t necessarily look at your time being as important as their time. That’s the hardest thing to swallow, and you can’t question it because you need them more than they need you” (personal interview, 2017). Box 7.2 Reporting on Player Time Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. Dan Plesac says interviewing athletes can be both challenging and frustrating. He related this experience from one interview quest: I was doing a report on a team, and I needed one last guy. The PR department told me he would be ready at 8:30 a.m. At 8:30 I’m ready, and I see him coming out, and he sees me and he tells me “I got to go do some early work. I’ll be back in like half hour.” OK. I know they are on the field at 10 a.m., and once the work out starts at 10, I’m not getting him, because he’ll be on the field from 10 until the game at 1. What happens is he slips by and gets on to the field, and now I’m not going to get him until about 12:45. I have about a 15minute window, because we start taping the show at 1 p.m. It’s hard not to get angry and when I see him coming off the field, and I’m like, “I need to get you for two minutes,” and they give you the role of the eyes. You feel taken back a little bit. You almost want to say, “Hey, I don’t want to kiss your ass to do this.” You can’t say that. So then when he walks over, and he kind of he’s like not into it at all. And there’s nothing worse than interviewing somebody who is completely non-engaged. I started with, “Tell me about your off season—you guys made a lot of changes,” and I get this response: “Yeah we did.” So I’m like, “You’ve have four terrific years in a row—what does a guy like you do in the off season to prepare? Any kind of different prep?” Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. 100 Covering Sports “Nope same.” One word answer, right? I say “Did you do anything different this reason? More weight lifting?” And his response was, “What are you saying, I’m not in shape?” I know now it’s going nowhere. You can’t make something out of nothing. Every one of these soundbites suck, and they are not going to use any of it. So then I just said, “Well listen, a lot of people pick you guys to win the Central Division. How do you feel about it?” That kind of perked him up and he was like, “You know every year we always think we’re going to have a good team, and this year’s the same way. We made some changes.” Finally. Something I can use. Source: Dan Plesac, personal interview, 2017 Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. Be Adaptable Tom Withers was at a Cavaliers press conference before the 2017/18 season, not long after an emotionally charged trade that sent Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics. It also happened to be the same day LeBron James tweeted to President Donald Trump regarding the “revocation” of an invitation for NBA champion Golden State Warriors to visit the White House. James’s tweet read: “U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain’t going! So therefore ain’t no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!” (James, 2017). Withers, the senior Cavs writer, is honored with the first question at the team’s media gatherings, and he planned to ask about that tweet. But James cut him off. “Tom,” he said. “I know you want to talk about a lot of subjects. Stay on one before we move on.” Withers then invited James to talk about what he wanted to talk about. Withers recalls: He talked about Kyrie. You can’t get yourself locked into one thing. You have to be adaptable—change on the fly and respond to wherever the subject takes you. I had gone through seven or eight things I wanted to address, and I had them ready in my head wherever he wasn’t going to take it. (Tom Withers, personal interview, 2018) Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. Covering Sports 101 Don’t Kill the Rally Sports interview challenges are not always the fault of the team or player. The rigidity of new or inexperienced reporters can blind them to the challenges in their question or interview style, such as the “rally-killer” question. According to Tom Withers: Young journalists often . . . have blinders on. They don’t understand how the flow of the interview is going. We will get a subject going on a game or an injury, and then someone asks a question from left field. It stops the whole interview in its track. You have to be perceptive of what’s happening around you and what’s being discussed. (Tom Withers, personal interview, 2018) Withers also mentioned the interviewer who goes on and on (and on) to prove their own knowledge, instead of letting their subject do the talking. Dan Plesac admits that when he started broadcasting, he’d often find his questions rambling, to the detriment of his audience: Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. The hardest thing for me to do when I got into broadcasting was ask a direct question. Like if I was interviewing [a coach], I’d take five minutes to go over the Indiana football game from last week. I would start to say, “Hey, you had kind of a little bit of a struggle, close game at the fourth quarter and I know it was a one-touchdown game going into the fourth quarter. Were you surprised?” You’re trying to let [the coach] know that you know what you are talking about. But in reality, he knows that. Instead of going on with a long-winded question about the Indiana game, it’s better to be short and say, “The Indiana game was a struggle. Why do you think that was the case?” And let him talk. Because the viewer at home and the person listening on the radio, they don’t want to hear you. (Dan Plesac, personal interview, 2017) Learning to Look and Listen Listening may appear to be a lost art, especially in sports interviews, but Withers says it is among the most important skills for a reporter to develop: With all due respect to the broadcast folks, a lot of [broadcast] is monologues with questions. It’s not about you. It’s about not hearing yourself and instead hearing what people are saying. You may go into interview questions you may want to ask but be open to hearing what people are saying. And be open to new line of questioning, even a new story. (Tom Withers, personal interview, 2018) Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. 102 Covering Sports Alison Lukan recalls a press conference where the press pool thought a hockey player was going to be scratched from the game, but the coach confirmed he would, in fact, be on the ice: “This person just kept continuing with their line of questioning like the player wouldn’t be in the game,” Lukan says. “I feel like there are people who aren’t engaged in a whole discussion in a scrum or a press conference” (personal interview, 2018). Tom Withers advocates capturing how questions are answered, in addition to the words expressed, to take the reader places he or she can’t go: Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. Talk about in the locker room when someone kicked the trash can. Or the tears streaming down cheeks of sophomore guard who missed the game-winning jumper. Or swallowing hard before answering a question. Or an eye roll. All these little things create a narrative to draw people in. We get to see how people feel in some of the most raw, emotional times they have as athletes. Try and convey that in the story. (Tom Withers, personal interview, 2018) Figure 7.5 Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella gives some post press conference time to Tom Reed of The Athletic. Source: Nicole Kraft Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. Covering Sports 103 Avoid the Pack Whether it’s sports, politics or covering a fire, look for ways to separate from the media masses and get your own materials. Jeff Pearlman recalls being the No. 2 baseball writer at Sports Illustrated behind Tom Verducci, and he would always watch how the more legendary baseball writer worked the clubhouse: Let’s say it was the Yankees back in the late’ 90s. The clubhouse would open and all the reporters would flock to Derek Jeter. Verducci would hover around, and he would talk to the pitching coach, and he would talk to the backup catcher, and he would talk to the middle reliever. He’d find little things no one else was even looking for because they’re all listening to Derek Jeter spew off his clichés from that night. That’s really what makes great writing. It’s finding the obscure, finding the small. (Jeff Pearlman, personal interview, 2017) It’s All about Relationships A benefit of breaking off from the pack is the ability to dig a bit deeper with sources and establish relationships. Tom Withers explains: Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. As LeBron is talking, I go to Kevin Love and strike up a conversation. I lived in California for four years. He’s a California kid. That gave us a connection. We talked about what we are watching on Netflix. If have the luxury of some time, we can get to know people on a different level than a journalist and an athlete. (Tom Withers, personal interview, 2018) Bill Finley, who has covered sports for the New York Times, says mainstream athletes are often so managed by publicist they are almost on “autopilot”: It’s very hard to get good stuff out of them. The general reporter in the clubhouse or the locker room before a game or after a game is fortunate to just get a lot of clichés. The “we’ll take it one game at a time” type of thing. The people that would tend to get something out of those premier athletes a less type athletes are the people that know them best—who have built up relationships with them over the years. (Bill Finley, personal interview, 2014) Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. 104 Covering Sports Let Players Talk The fact so many sports reporters were sports fans first can get in the way of good interview techniques. Too often, reporters will say to a player who just hit a home run, “It was the ninth inning, the bases were loaded, the pitch before that was a slider, then you fouled off a 2–2 fastball, so you were you sitting on the pitch.” News consumers don’t necessarily want the set up—they want to know what it feels like to hit a walk-off home-run, says Dan Plesac: Try, “What does it feel like when you are rounding first and you know it’s a walk off?” What the people want at home they want a natural reaction out of player. They want to see a player get excited, they want to see a player laugh. You want to try to get more out of the guys so the fans feel like they know more than they did from just watching on TV. (Dan Plesac, personal interview, 2017) Don’t Get Discouraged Accept that sometimes you are not going to catch that athlete or coach on the best day, and it’s likely not you. Try and be empathetic and understanding. It will go a long way toward building a relationship. The “Talk About” Curse Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. According to a 2015 article in Grantland, Marcus Mariota had six in one press conference before the 2015 National Championship. After winning that National Championship, Urban Meyer got four (Curtis, 2015). They are “Talk about. . .” questions. An example from a 2014 interview with Rory McIlroy: Q: Could you talk about going into this year, there was a run of first time major champions, but this year all three of you guys have had major championships before. Just talk about how experience seems to pay more of a dividend this year. McIlroy: It has, yeah. I mean, starting off with the Masters and Bubba, obviously, having won at Augusta before. He seems to have got that place figured out pretty well. (Elbin, 2014) The “talk about” question is a sports reporting stable, and one most reporters who hear it wish would fade, along with “walk us through,” and “how big was it when . . .”. Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. Covering Sports 105 Figure 7.6 Steve Fox says his least favorite question in sports writing is “talk about . . .” He says if you want to know how someone feels about something, just ask them. Source: Steve Fox Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. “The ‘talk about question’ is the worst,” says Steve Fox, a longtime sports writer who teaches at University of Massachusetts. “If you want to know how someone feels about something, just ask them specifically how they feel” (personal interview, 2018). It’s Better to Ask No Question than a Stupid One The examples of press conference questions that would have better been left unasked seems endless. In the 2016 NCAA tournament, the 12th-seeded Yale Bulldogs beat the No. 5 Baylor Bears 79-75, and Baylor senior Taurean Prince was left to face the media and this question: “How did Yale outrebound Baylor?” Prince wasted no time in offering his response: “Um, you go up and grab the ball of the rim when it comes off, and you grab it with two hands, and you come down with it, and that’s considered a rebound. So, they got more of those than we did” (NBC Sports, 2016). And that was far from the worst question ever asked. Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. 106 Covering Sports After the Los Angeles Clippers lost Game 5 of the 2016 NBA playoffs at home to the Utah Jazz, they were next headed for game six in Utah. Before they left, the Los Angeles Clipper’s Chris Paul faced the media and this question: “Will the Clippers be back here Sunday playing a game 7?” Paul furrows his brow in confusion and replies, “What?” The reporter continues: “Your feeling about—your level of confidence that you’ll be back here again.” Paul finally replies, “What you think? I’m on the team. What you want me to say? No, it’s over? That’s what you want to hear? Yes. Come on, man. You’ve been doing this long enough. Seriously, right?” (Joseph, 2017). How about the reporter who asked San Antonio coach Greg Popovich after the Spurs Game 5 blowout of the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2014 Western Conference Finals, “Five games, five blowouts. To us who don’t really know the game, how do you explain that? Popovich responds after a pause, “You’re serious? You really think I can explain that?” (Freeman, 2014). Kristaps Porzingis was short but sweet when faced with this question after the New York Knicks 2017 win over Indiana: “You’re down 19 to the Pacers, you’re down 11 heading into the fourth tonight in this game. Is there ever a point in which you don’t think you can come back, and what’s your mindset?” His reply: “No” (Curtis, 2017). Make the Calls Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. Athlete time is often of short supple, says Jeff Pearlman. He says a profile on some wide receiver at a university might net him only 10 minutes of face-to-face interview time, so that means his interviewing is just beginning: I’m finding who his friends are on campus, and I’m talking to them. Another thing is call his high school coach, find high school friends. If he has a Facebook page find his friends on Facebook, reach out to them. Be like, “I’m doing this profile on this guy; can I talk to you?” Social media has made my job and yours a million times easier because there’s so much out there. High school coaches always have stories, and they always like talking. You talk to the high school coach and you say, “Hey, is there anyone from your team you’d recommend me talking to?” They’re like, “Yeah, his best friend was Jimmy the wide receiver who’s now a sophomore at Bucknell. Here’s his number, give him a call.” You basically build this amazing story around [the player]. (Jeff Pearlman, personal interview, 2017) Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. Covering Sports 107 Don’t Take No for an Answer In the course of managing player time, media relations personnel and sports information staff at universities may limit access to players. Don’t be discouraged, says Jeff Pearlman, as there are often ways to reach athletes directly, in person and through social media accounts like Twitter and Instagram: I’m going to find the guy and I’m going to go talk to him. If he’s a college student in the cafeteria one day I’m going to be like, “Hey, I really want to write this profile on you. Is there any way I can talk to you?” If you interview his friends and coaches, go back to him and you’re like, “Look, I interviewed your high school coach, I interviewed your peewee coach, I interviewed your cousin Jim. I interviewed your best friend from high school. I really want to make this profile good. Can I please talk to you for a few extra minutes?” (Jeff Pearlman, personal interview, 2017) Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. References Curtis, B. (2015). The Worst Question in Sports: What We Talk About When We Say “Talk About.” January 22. Retrieved from http://grantland.com/the-trian gle/sports-media-press-conferences-nba-nfl-mlb-nhl-lebron-james-billbelichick/ Curtis, C. (2017). Kristaps Porzingis Had the Best Postgame Response. November 8. Retrieved June 18, 2018, from www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ftw/2017/ 11/08/kristaps-porzingis-had-the-best-postgame-response-to-question-aboutknicks-comeback-win/107461726/ Davies, S. (2018). LeBron James Sends Best Wishes to Cleveland Browns in NFL Draft. April 25. Retrieved June 20, 2018, from https://lebronwire.usatoday. com/2018/04/25/lebron-james-wishes-best-to-cleveland-browns-future-no-1pick-in-nfl-draft/ Elbin, K. (2014). 2014 PGA Championship Interview With: Rory McIlroy. August 4. Retrieved June 20, 2018, from www.pga.com/pgachampionship/interviews/ tuesday/2014-pga-championship-rory-mcilroy. Freeman, E. (2014). Gregg Popovich Won’t Answer Reporter’s Question after Game 5 Win. May 14. Retrieved June 18, 2018, from https://sports.yahoo.com/ gregg-popovich-won-t-answer-reporter-s-question-after-game-5-win—video045051212.html?y20=1. James, L. (2017). Tweet: U bum @StephenCurry30 Already Said He Ain’t Going! So Therefore Ain’t No Invite. Going to White House Was a Great Honor until You Showed Up! September 23. Retrieved June 20, 2018, from https://twitter. com/kingjames/status/911610455877021697?lang=en. Joseph, A. (2017). Chris Paul Couldn’t Hold Back His Disbelief at a Reporter’s Ridiculous Question. April 26. Retrieved June 20, 2018, from https://ftw.usato day.com/2017/04/chris-paul-press-conference-question-reporter-clippers-vsjazz-nba-playoffs. Kraft, N. (2018). Always get the name of the dog : A guide to media interviewing. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from fullerton on 2023-11-06 17:39:37. 108 Covering Sports Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. NBC Sports. (2016). Baylor’s Taurean Prince Explains What a Rebound Is to Reporter. 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