A Day In The Life Of A Professional Sportswriter

Growing up, I have always examined each newspaper I’ve encountered in search of the sports section; Henry Schuman, Tim Kawakami and Bruce Jenkins are but a few names that have inspired me throughout the years. When I was privileged with the opportunity to participate at the San Jose Sharks High School Sportswriters Day, I knew I had to go.

 The evening began as I approached HP Pavilion; I glanced around, quickly noticing a group of high school students equipped with notebook and pen. I was in the correct place. We each were issued press passes for the game, and then briskly ushered inside the stadium.

Our first stop was below the stadium for a quick meal in the press room, where we broke the ice over dinner. Our group of five high school journalists settled down in a room surrounded by professional journalists, photographers and announcers; the excitement was palpable among us. We promptly launched into discussion regarding our experiences with journalism at our respective schools, as well as our ambitions for the future.

Following dinner, we were given a tour of offices of Sharks employees before entering a conference room for what was to be the first of two interviews. We had the privilege of interviewing the Sharks beat reporter for the Mercury News, David Pollak. He started by telling his story of the journey he had in the newspaper industry before obtaining his current position. He talked of the daily grind of being a sports journalist, and the trials that come with it, such as little sleep. Pollak warned about the future of newspapers, and emphasized the downsizing of staffs, citing examples of the plight of newspapers nationwide.

“You have to figure out where you want to do your writing,” Pollak said. “The newspaper business is in a tough time right now, but there will always be a market for people who know how to tell a story.”

Next, we met with the executive vice president of business operations, Malcolm Bordelon, who discussed the business and public relations aspects of the Sharks. From advertising to season tickets, Bordelon talked tirelessly about his work with the Sharks. When I posed a question regarding dynamic ticket pricing, he immediately responded with an answer.

“Yes, I like it [dynamic ticket pricing],” Bordelon said. “It works, and I’ll tell you why.”

Bordelon launched the intricacies of the business behind a professional sports team, speaking for several minutes about dynamic ticket prices. When our interview came to a close due to the approaching game, he exclaimed that he needed more time to answer our questions. We all had wry smiles as we stood up and thanked him for sharing his experiences with us.

After our interviews, we began our trek up to the press box, four stories above us. Along the way, we saw what our guide called a Harry Potter-esque “room of requirement”, stocked with Harlem Globetrotter hoops and hundreds of folding chairs for concerts. We quickly were lead past the locker room where we heard players shouting before entering a tunnel rink-side, where we saw the arena filled by fans. If I thought that I had chills then, I was in for quite a shock when we took a flight of stairs up to the catwalks above the rink where the press box resided. As we made our way past Pollak and the rest of the reporters, we walked across a three-foot wide catwalk 100 feet above the ice, to where we would observe the game. We settled down on a platform where we watched the Sharks take on the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.

The experience was far from my typical procedure of attempting to simultaneously work with my fellow sports reporters at The Paly Voice while taking notes, tweeting, photographing and dealing with whatever comes up. I was still tweeting away, but felt uneasy without a beat to file. The pressure of publishing a story to beat out our brother publication at Paly, The Viking, was absent.

The Sharks would eventually end up victorious over the Blue Jackets, 2-1. Post game, we were led down in front of the locker room where we were able to interview Sharks defenseman Jason Demers and observe the press conference held by head coach Todd McLellan.

As the evening came to a close, I realized how privileged I was to have the opportunity to experience what a professional sportswriter does on a nightly basis. I know I speak for myself and the rest of the journalists that joined me when I thank the San Jose Sharks organization for giving us the opportunity to explore what has become one of our passions in a professional setting. I wouldn’t trade the experience I had for anything; it gave a sense of context to my interest in journalism and further inspired me to pursue my dreams.