The Hot Corner
So what does a sports editor do when there are no sports?
That is a question I am still figuring out how to answer as we go along. These are weird times we are living in. The athletic world at almost every level has come to a complete stop.
The biggest hurdle for sports reporters is figuring out what to report on when there are no sports.
Sports is my living. My brain has always been wired to sports. Turning that wire off and trying to focus on other things is difficult for me.
Since the suspension, my focus here at The Snyder News has turned to helping the rest of the newsroom fill the paper twice a week, with or without sports.
I have also been putting a lot of time into our spring sports preview, which is set to be released in this weekend’s edition.
The time I would have spent writing game stories or editing game pictures is now spent laying out pages and working on the spring preview.
I am still doing my best to fill up the sports page, but without any local sports, my resources are sparse.
Another hurdle I’ve run into is what to do with all the free time I now have outside of work. I typically spent my mornings at the office and my evenings at practices or games, but with no practices or games, I’ve had to find other ways to fill that time.
Once I am done with my work at the paper for the day, I typically either go grab groceries or head home for the day. The time I used to spend out at practices of games, I now spend at the house.
I’m still getting my sports fix. MLB The Show 20 recently came out for Play Station 4 and I have been getting my baseball fix through that. I’ve always been a gamer, but have avoided violent games such as Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty.
Instead, I played sports games such as Madden, NCAA Football and 2K. My favorite is MLB The Show. The Show is Sony’s take on virtual baseball and the game is one of the only baseball video games on the market. If you ever get an itching for baseball while you’re stuck in your home, you could do a lot worse than MLB The Show.
I’ve also debated firing back up a weekly podcast I recorded with a good friend during my college days.
We named it “The 1203 Experience” after our apartment number, 1203. The name my idea and I thought it was witty at the time.
We obviously talked mostly sports, but we referred to the podcast as a ‘life experience podcast,’ meaning we talked about our non-sports, life experiences as well.
The 1203 has been silent since we both moved out and went our separate ways. Parker Rhea, my co-host and good friend, is now a teacher and podcast host in the Houston area and I am now the Sports Editor here in Snyder, making recording a weekly podcast together a challenge. When I floated the idea of firing it back up, I decided to do it myself, but keep the 1203 name. I haven’t released the first episode yet, but if you are interested in that, stay tuned.
Sports is an escape from life’s daily struggles for many people. Not having that escape is strange, but we will get through it. I don’t know when yet, but I am hopeful I am back at the baseball diamonds come May.
Fingers crossed.
Reed Graff is the sports editor for the Snyder Daily News. Comments about his column may be sent to sports@snyderdailynews.com