gogogogogogogogogogo...(be nice)

When do you think Cinci will have a playoff win in...well, any sport?

do you suck like most sports writers?

Najorf...as a fan, I want to say that this HAS to be the year our Bungies make a run in the playoffs. Palmer is ready to make the leap to the next level of superstar, Chad is Chad, TJ is one of the most underrated receivers in the league...simply put, they are going to be dangerous and hard to stop.

HOWEVER..as a realist and a journalist, I'll tell you that there's NO WAY they'll win a playoff game with that - to put it nicely - porous defense. It will take a miracle and I'm not sure Marvin is capable of that kind of miracle.

As for the Reds...four to five years away at least. It's really a sad state of affairs at Great American Ball Park. They are too many pitchers away from a playoff caliber team.

Our best hope this year...well, there isn't one.

I had the same question.....

Suck as in..suck at life? NO

Suck as in..suck your Mom's teats? INDEED

What kind of sports writer are you? Do you write the high-school wrap-ups or are you a columnist? Do you aspire to be a big-time columnust someday?

What makes you worthy to start this post? Where are you published?

Why aren't you on ATH or PTI? Seriously. There are thousands of high school writers, and thousands of college writers. Why did JA Adande or Michael Wilbon make the jump from that to writing for a large circulation city paper to writing for ESPN to being on TV? Why didn't you do the same?

Will your tenure at 2p2 exceed that of blackjack777?

How will you survive on your salary? Are you just out of school?

Are you already an alky like most sportswriters? Or does that come with incessant late games and deadlines? One of my best friends used to be one in Virginia...he had serious drinking issues for years before he quit.

Quit his job, not drinking.

Seriously question, and try to be honest: Do you think you are bias towards teams from Cincinnati, or do you consider yourself to be completely objective?

In general terms, how much do entry level sports writers make? And as a follow up, do you think Amalie Benjamin is hot? And as a second follow up, do you think she would be into a hairy fat guy like me? Oh and as another follow up, if she's not making much money could you tell her I'll send her a fiver if she flashes her junk on NESN? kthanks.

Great question...here's the short summary:

Started as a stringer (answering office calls, office work, answering calls from high school coaches with game summaries)

Moved to a larger stringer role where my office duties increased and I was sent to cover high school football games and various sporting events that needed a small amount of coverage.

From there, whenst I showed I could write, and write well, I was given the role of a all-around coverage reporter. Here, my main responsibilities became covering a major local Division II program, covering lesser major league sporting events (IHL, Arena Football, Olympic Trials, etc), and training new stringers.

Also,at this time, I was given the responsibility several nights a week of doing the agate page in the paper. For those of you who don't know, this is teh page with odds, tv/radio listings, etc.

After this, I was granted a prestigious summer internship (keep in mind, during these years I was in college) where I was basically granted aa job for several months. Here, I covered MLB, NFL, NBA, WTA, ATP, PGA, LPGA and was assigned columnist duties as well. Got to write features and really get a comprehensive look at the industry from an insiders view.

So, in summary, I definitely wasn't a super sports writer or some established columnist. Basically, just a college kid who kicked ass in the industry as a freelancer for 5 years, got a taste for a summer of what it was like to be a staff writer and then, accordingly, said....sianora!

Keep the questions coming...

Perhaps I'm not worthy...but, I will say that I worked in the business for five years on various levels, from the bottom to the top.

I was published daily in a major market newspaper and many of my tomes were distributed to major east and west coast newspapers.

Thread is nonsense until you link to some of your work.

Dids,

If he posts actual articles, the whole thread will get sidetracked by nitty specifics and non-sequitors. If he says, "I was a weekly column in Cincy's biggest newspaper," I'll believe him and then he can get down to specific inside info.

Great question...to be fair, I backed out of the business, of my own accord, before these shows exploded in popularity. My take on those guys:

Basically, most sportswriters are - as a consequence of the job and the toll it takes - bitter, odd, cranky, no personality dorks. I know that sounds like I'm throwing a blanket generalization..but, it's true. More often than not, most guys in the industry for that long, resort to the above descriptor.

Those guys - Adande, Smith - are the following:

- Outstanding at their job
- Amazingly charismatic and eloquent
- Major market columnists who have major market money behind them.

While you're right, the field is overwhelmingly large..these guys are most definitely needles in a very big haystack.

I know I'm going to get killed for this..but who is Blackjack777?

Are you blackjack777, the worst sportswriter in the history of sportswriting?

I too would like a link to some of your work and then I may have a question for you.

I decided not to make sportswriting my life's work after working in the business for five plus years. Honestly, it's beyond ridiculous how little I got paid for the work I did..and how much most writers get paid for the work they do. I was stunned at how manipulated these guys are by their editors...really was a shock to me.

To me, it wasn't worth working my a** off for 10-15 years to get to a point where I could make 40k. I loved the work, but I didn't like the pay or what it did to my life.

Funny story, the first time I covered a MLB game, a well known MLB writer pulled me aside, took me to lunch in the press lounge and said, "GET OUT OF THIS BUSINESS IMMEDIATELY. HAVE FUN WHILE YOU'RE YOUNG, BUT DON'T DO THIS FOR A LIVING."

He proceeded to give me a laundry list of reasons why he didn't want me or any young person to get involved. It was pretty insightful and I - to this day - appreciate his taking the time to be honest wtih me. Everything he said, I eventually either saw or found out to be true in the work I did.

Seriously...you HAVE to be objective and I could draw that line. Not being able to not only effects your work, but your reputation. I never had a problem separating objectivity from homerdom.

MANY sportswriters can't...and they suffer for it eventually.

What do you do now.

Oooh please say waiter... please say waiter.....