John Boyle, our Husky writer, made a good point in his column Monday, about reporters trying to be neutral and unbiased as much as possible. John’s point was that it’s not always possible and he described — very well, I thought — the emotion surrounding the Jake Locker injury in Corvallis.
I know well how John felt. I covered the Huskies when Curtis Williams made a helmet-to-helmet hit at Stanford, resulting in his paralysis from the neck down, and ultimately his death. I don’t think I’ll ever get over that. I remember the cold shiver I got when I didn’t see him move and the silence of the stadium. I’ve covered many stories that tugged at my heart. I would argue that the best stories are the ones in which a writer can insert a certain amount of emotion. Everyone has feelings — with the possible exception of bank loan officers and WIAA officials.
I want to expand on bias and lack of same among reporters. It happens on a number of occasions and for many different reasons.
I’ll let you in on a little secret. None of us is completely unbiased. I, along with all of my colleagues from other papers, got pretty jacked up in 2000 at covering Washington in the Rose Bowl. We get pretty jacked at the prospect of covering any bowl game. I’ve been to Hawaii and gotten paid for it, just because I covered the 1998 Aloha Bowl. Hey, somebody has to do it. I’ve done two Holiday Bowls, which, as you know is in San Diego. I’ve heard guys complain about going to El Paso for the Sun Bowl, but I had a great time, hiking in the mountains, eating incredible BBQ and Tex-Mex and covering the game. I think it’s a great town. I’ve been fortunate to cover baseball playoffs, the NBA Finals, the Super Bowl, the Goodwill Games and other really cool stuff. I’ve loved all of it.
So in that respect, you do root for the team you cover, even if it’s for selfish reasons. I hope John gets that feeling someday. You work your heiney off in the days leading up to the game and the game itself, but to me, it’s the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
Same with the Super Bowl. Didn’t bother me (much) that we were in Detroit instead of Orlando. It’s the dream of most sportswriters to cover the big stuff. And it doesn’t get much bigger than the Super Bowl.
I’ve found myself rooting for certain players. We interview them and develop a rapport with most of them. I used to hope UW running back Willie Hurst did well because he was a nice guy and I’d wanted him to do well. I remember he broke his collarbone his senior year, but came back in time to score a TD in the Rose Bowl. Same with Cam Cleeland, whom I covered when he went to Sedro-Woolley High School. Good guy. By the same token, if an athlete acts like a jerk to us, we wish a fumble on him, or at least I do. I don’t want to mention any names (brianbosworth), but there have been some who haven’t been fun to be around.
Don’t get the impression, though, that we’re cheerleaders in the press box. Cheering in the press box is discouraged. It’s a work area. I’ve been around only three who abused that, and they were radio people. It was pretty embarrassing when they were practically mugging each other one time when Washington beat UCLA in football, leading out-of-town media types to ask me who the hell they were. Morons.
So if any sportswriter says he’s completely unemotional in his work, call bullfeathers on him. Most of the time, it’s true. But we’re only human.
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