During last Tuesday’s session of Sports Writing, our class had the privilege of listening to two guest speakers: Howard Bryant and Marisa Ingemi. Both speakers described their experiences in providing unique perspectives on the sports they covered: Bryant offered his view as an African American, and Ingemi discussed her experience as a female reporter.
While I had read some of Bryant’s work and researched his background online, I didn’t fully appreciate the unique path he traveled to reach his current position. He began his journalism career in California, covering mainly business and technology in the Bay Area. He was very thankful for his time here because it introduced him to several respected and intimidating politicians and businessmen. This allowed him to get comfortable interacting with prominent people, especially asking them challenging questions. While Bryant was certainly interested in certain sports topics, he said that he wasn’t fully enamored with sports and simply had a strong enough interest to tolerate a career in sports journalism.
Bryant eventually returned to Boston and spent time working for the Boston Herald before moving to D.C. to work for the Washing Post. Meanwhile, he wrote several books on baseball and the perspective of black athletes. Bryant was eventually hired by ESPN. The most important lesson I took from Bryant’s journey was that you must gain experience in the field, grinding out stories and interviews, before people can respect and value your opinion as a columnist. He said that he knew he had to gain this experience before making the leap to writing columns or books that people would actually read.
I think this lesson is valuable and applicable to many situations in life. In my business classes, we learn about and critique business executives and the decisions they make. It’s easy to fall into a trap of thinking that you are qualified or knowledgable enough to lead a company or make highly impactful decisions. While outsiders, like myself, often provide unique viewpoints and correctly critique those in positions of power, it is important to keep in mind that people would find it hard to take leadership advice from someone like me, when I don’t have the experience necessary to be taken seriously. Similarly, in journalism, journalists like Bryant had to gain valuable experience as a reporter before having the proper background and skillset to transition to a columnist.
Unlike Bryant, Ingemi knew very early on in her life that she wanted to be a sports journalist. She discussed how she began working for SB Nation in her free time when she was 14. From there, she began to take any opportunity she could get her hands on, covering lacrosse, hockey, water polo, etc. She attributes her luck in finding a job at the Boston Herald to developing connections and experiences by covering any sport imaginable.
She also discussed some of the obstacles she’s experienced in her career as a female working in a predominantly male environment. She received much hate and criticism from online Barstool fans, although she simply reported the Bruins’ statement on partnering with the company for a Bruins playoff game. She also credited some of her success to her unique utilization of social media to connect with potential interviewees and to maintain an online following despite the company she’s working for.
My biggest takeaway from Ingemi’s talk was that there’s always an opportunity to cover and an article to be written. Even in her time in quarantine, she constantly researched new topics and brainstormed new ideas. She had a great ability to make even the most mundane topic into a eye-catching storyline. This provided me inspiration for the next time I’m writing or reading about something I don’t find particularly interesting.
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