So you want to be a sportswriter?
A lot of young folks do. My inbox is flooded with e-mails from young writers looking to break into the business, and I am happy to announce that Michael Scotto will be joining SheridanHoops.com as our new Knicks/Nets columnist, replacing the dearly departed Moke Hamilton of HoopsWorld.com.
I have been covering the NBA for 21 years now (first game covered was Bucks-Knicks at Madison Square Garden), and there are few people who have been as good at their job as Jason Quick of the Oregonian.
But Quick has had enough.
After 13 years covering the Trail Blazers, I’m officially stepping away to cover the Oregon football program for The Oregonian
— Jason Quick (@jwquick) August 20, 2013
This can be a brutal business, and the demands of covering a team in this 24/7 news cycle, which will be with us forever, are incredibly taxing.
Quick gave an interview to Ben Golliver of Blazers Edge, an excerpt of which is below. But a clickthrough is highly recommended — even for those who have no desire to enter the journalism field — to get an appreciation of what NBA writers have to deal with in performing their daily duties.
Quick: “I think it had become stale to me a little bit in a way. I think I just lost faith in a lot of the NBA. I’ve seen a lot of bull—-. From putting your heart and soul into a player and believing him when he talks about kissing his kids at night and all that, then you write that, and the next road trip you see him with somebody that’s not his wife, basically getting it on. That’s disheartening to me. There’s a lot of times where you hear a bunch of bull—- from these guys, it’s hard to believe anything.
“There was a time when I really, really enjoyed this beat. 2008-2009, around the time they had the 13-game winning streak [in 2007] and the year after that, that was by far the most fun I ever had at my job. There was a closeness with the team, a drive I had, a vision. But I think what made that special was a bunch of guys on their rookie contracts. I’ve seen how money changes players, changes their attitudes, so I think over time it eroded the goodwill that I had, pursuing stories because you want to believe what you’re writing, you know? There’s just too many instances where I would buy into it and down the road realize it was all bull—.”
Good luck with the Ducks, Jason. You will be missed on the beat.