Even Dream Jobs Suck, Sometimes...

 If you ask a kid if they want to be a writer when they grow up, chances are, they'll say, "naw." They probably want to do something more cool, like be a fireman, cop, or professional sports athlete. But, as that kid grows and either his personality or his body fails him in achieving--especially that professional athlete--goal, that same kid just might consider being a writer...

That is, if they can be a sports reporter.

That is a dream job.

At least, for a lot of grown-up kids, it is.

Years ago, I had the opportunity to call myself a "Sports Journalist." I wrote several articles for the Davis County Clipper. I covered local high school sports and I actually loved it. Reporting on local high school sports consists mostly of putting in as many high school student's names as possible. "Rex Sorensen tipped Max Hefner's desperation 4th-down Hail Mary pass to secure the win for Viewmont, thus guaranteeing the Vikings another winning season." Rex, his friends, and most importantly, his parents (who pay the subscription bill for The Clipper...) geek out that Rex's talents were forever preserved in print--doesn't matter the paper's size or circulation, it's IN THE PAPER!

So, when I heard of layoffs from one of the state's largest newspapers, it hurt. I felt terrible for those reporters and their families. I also thought about all those kids who would have done anything to be a sports reporter. Who wouldn't want to watch sports all day and get paid to write about it? But it isn't all "fun and games. To be successful, you've got to be part writer/part arm-chair quarterback/part bartender/therapist. The reason sports reporters are some of the best reporters in a paper is because of competition, and lack of paying gigs for those services.

I don't know these reporters personally, but I've read their work. I'll bet they were once those kids who looked on reporting on sports as a dream job, and when they got the gig, was one of the best days of their lives. Even though catching "red-eye" flights, doing interviews in blizzards, crazy deadlines, angry fans and readers, cheap motel rooms and bad food made the job tough at times, they kept doing it because they loved it.

I wish them all well. I'm glad some of those kids got to live out their dreams with a dream job...even though--as these great writers will tell you--the best of jobs can suck at times.

Interesting Place To Put A Skeleton...

My wife and I were walking through our local grocery store last week when I spotted a skeleton near the entrance. It was one of many they had set up for the Halloween season. Whoever set it up, placed the boney figure next to the newspaper stand.

That struck me as funny.

But at the same time, not really.

There was a time when I seriously considered pursuing a career in journalism. My first degree's in Communications and, back in the late 1980s, the printed page was where a majority of people got their news. I even worked as a reporter for a local newspaper twice, once in the mid-1990s, and again a few years later. I was a sports reporter for the Davis County Clipper and I loved it. I covered Woods Cross High School football and basketball, as well as Viewmont High School volleyball, soccer, and baseball. I was paid practically nothing--not that the small paper could pay that much--but I didn't mind. It was fun and, to the parents of the high school players, important.

Boy, have times changed.

One thing I remembered about the Davis County Clipper was its size--it was always so much smaller than the larger Salt Lake Tribune or Deseret News. Now, those two papers--the biggest papers in my state--are smaller today than what the Clipper was back then. I have friends who work, and have worked, as reporters. Some of them still do, most do not.

It's been a brutal time for print journalism.

And I don't know if it's going to get any better.

The skeleton extending its arm to the few remaining copies of the daily news represented to me what has happened to the industry in the past thirty years. I haven't studied the matter; I don't have facts and figures to back up my opinion, and I have no idea what's going to happen. Will papers disappear all together? Will people pay for news content on-line that they've always gotten for free? I'd hate for the skeleton to become prophetic as it cast a shadow of doom over the papers, but I'm not seeing a lot of options.

I suppose time will tell.