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Jun 13 / King Kaufman

From Grantland: Life on the baseball beat, warts and all

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One of the first pieces published on Bill Simmons’ new site Grantland last week was Chris Jones’ meditation on returning to the baseball beat, “Back into the Belly of the Beast.”

One of the rewards for Bleacher Report writers who excel is the chance to get credentials and cover live sporting events. If you get that chance, your friends will say how lucky you are, getting to go to games for free, watch from a great seat and talk to the stars before and after.

As Jones recounts, though, it’s not always so sweet. He describes going to work for Canada’s National Post covering the Toronto Blue Jays. He writes that in his first encounter with a ballplayer, a naked Jose Canseco accused him of looking at his penis.

And it kinda went downhill from there. Jones lasted a couple of years on the beat, quitting at midseason, but has returned 10 years later to follow the American League East for Grantland. Those hoping to spend some time in clubhouses and locker rooms should take a look.

Jones’ experience isn’t universal, but I would guess anyone who’s ever spent time covering sports live has experienced some of the things he describes.

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  • Schottey

    My first locker room experience was the visitor’s locker room at a Minnesota Vikings preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys. After being rebuffed by Terrell Owens (big surprise) I waited by Tony Romo’s locker.

    When he came out of the shower, he was mobbed. My co-worker and I stood as he toweled off and got dressed, begging the reporters to leave him alone for just another minute. Once his pants were on, he pointed at the two of us and said, “Those two get the first two questions.”

    A few questions later, he had “no commented” about 5 Carrie Underwood questions in a row (they had just broken up IIRC.) and pointed at us again, saying: “those two get the next two questions while the rest of you think of something else to ask me about.” Once the rest of the press had dissipated, he thanked us and we chatted about his hometown football camp in Wisconsin (my wife is from the same small town.)

    When you get in the locker room, treat the athletes like people, you’ll get rewarded.

  • http://SoapBoxSportsByte Jesse Golomb

    I wrote a review of Grantland for SoapBoxSportsByte (and for B/R) that is indicative of just how impressive the website is. It’s quite the achievement, a distillation of today’s oversaturated media into today’s finest publication–digital or print, sports or not. The amount of talent attached to this project is incredible, from founder Bill Simmons to regular columnist Chuck Klosterman to contributors Dave Eggers, Malcolm Gladwell and Jones, among others. Here are my full thoughts, which I think put it in complete perspective.

    http://soapboxsportsbyte.blogspot.com/p/idyllic-grantland.html