I once told a professor at CSUN that I wanted to write for the San Antonio Express-News because I loved the Spurs, the basketball franchise of the city.
"I would never hire you," she said.
The reasoning behind her blunt reply was understandable. A sports reporter needs to leave his "bias" (a word the professor hated for some reason) where the heart is. At home. This professor, who eventually became my mentor, challenged my ability to achieve impartiality if I ever received the chance to write for the darn Spurs.
"That's your opinion, (I disagree)," I shot back.
The whole deal with me getting into journalism was that "love," the one for sports. I figured that, in picking a career, I better made it something that would make me want to get up every morning to go to work. Sports have always turned on the light in my head whenever I'm going through an in-cruise-mode, dull day. Easy pick for me.
It's been over two years since my mentor and I had that lovely exchange. I have since reported for the L.A. Daily News and the Daily Sundial, visited numerous fields and arenas (from the alma mater's Matadome to the Lakers' home, the Staples Center), and proved to myself I can do anything I challenge myself to do. When the CSUN men's basketball team was in a six-game losing streak, I know some of the players took what I wrote a bit personal. They couldn't say anything, however, because anything I've ever reported has always been backed up by facts. When they turned things around and it was time to give them props, I was there doing so, always with the truth.
It wasn't easy ripping CSUN. When a reporter talks to so many of these players in an almost-daily basis, he can't help but feel for them. But just like players and coaches' jobs are to win games, a reporter's is to ... well, report. Accurately. That professor implied I couldn't deal with personal feelings, and I proved her wrong ... but I would never throw that in her face. She helped steer me in the right direction that day. I know that, when she said that, she was doing more than just questioning me.
Now, somebody hire me. =)
2 Comments
6/8/2009 05:18:22 pm
Looks like we are along the same lines here Zo. Who is this professor you speak of?
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Alonso Tacanga
6/8/2009 05:27:21 pm
Bowen. Know her?
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Alonso Tacanga
Love sports. Love writing. CategoriesArchives
March 2016
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