Interview with Bud
Collins
Interview by Jenna Glatzer
For almost fifty years, Bud Collins has been one of America's premier
sports journalists, best known for his tennis commentary on NBC and his sports
column in the Boston Globe. A winner of the Red Smith award, he is the author of
several books, including a memoir, My Life with the Pros.
In 1994, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He is
the editor of this year's edition of The Best American
Sports Writing.
How did you get your start as a sports writer?
Having been the sports editor (which meant filling eight columns, making up the
page and writing heads) of a small-town weekly, The Berea (Ohio)
Enterprise, at $5 a week, and writing for my college newspaper, I got lucky.
Needing cash to help pay my way at Boston University grad school, I landed a
copyboy job on the since-entombed Boston Herald. I sought a degree in --
of all things! -- public relations. But after a year, the sports editor of
the Herald asked me if I'd like to join his staff. Would I? It was
just what I wanted, combined with my falling for Boston and lack of desire to
return to Ohio. I was single. Sixty bucks a week was wonderful.
Aside from subject matter, how does sportswriting
differ from other forms of journalism?
You have a little more leeway, more fun writing sports than most other news.
After all, it is the paper's toy department, and people usually read sports for
enjoyment as well as the results. Although, at times, subject matter can
be very serious, it isn't genuine life-and-death.
In the introduction to The Best American Sports
Writing 2001, you start off with a story of a Boston Red Sox manager who
dunked your face in beef Stroganoff. Is the relationship between
sportswriters and athletes/coaches/managers usually hostile?
Overt hostility between athletes and reporters is rare, but the situation can be
a very adversarial one. Generally athletes feel that writers don't really
understand their sport, and endanger the athlete's livelihood with unfavorable
reports. Naturally reporters feel that athletes don't understand their
business, the responsibilities of both to the public -- and that the
reporter has a job to do, too, which is not being a cheerleader.
You also say that the climate was different years ago;
that athletes and writers actually liked each other. Why did things
change? Did sportswriting get more personal? More critical?
At one time there was probably more camaraderie among reporters and athletes.
Neither side was making much money-- reporters sometimes more. But now, so many
professional athletes are millionaires. Having decided feelings of
entitlement after being fawned over in high school and college, they take
themselves extremely seriously, and can be very difficult to deal with.
Tell us about the logistics-- what are deadlines like?
How do you write game stories and get them in so quickly?
Deadlines of daily newspapers hang heavier than ever since night events
predominate. You often have to write a lead while the game continues, and
keep subbing to make the editions, with one eye on the game, the other on your
typing. You're under the gun, as the saying goes. If you're
not fast in pounding out stories that make sense, another form of journalism
with more lenient deadlines may be the way to go.
What makes a sportswriter great?
A great sportswriter needs to be accurate, keep in touch with sources of
information and set it all down clearly and with a light touch. A sense of humor
is invaluable.
There are still relatively few female sportswriters.
How are they seen in this industry? Has their plight improved?
Female sportswriters are no longer an oddity. The pioneers determinedly
overcame considerable humiliation and contempt, particularly from players,
managers and coaches. They fought and worked hard to gain acceptance that
they have now. Handling all sports, male or female, women are frequently
stars of their pages, several -- not enough yet-- as columnists.
What advice do you have for writers who would like
to break into sportswriting?
Advice to newcomers. Learn Spanish, helpful in communicating comfortably
with the growing number of Hispanic athletes. Study business/finance and
some law. Writing sports is much more than covering games.
Do you get a choice in what games/events you cover, or
is your travel schedule the publication's call?
Sometimes you can pick your spots-- assignments, the location. Usually
it's up to the boss.
Are there any rules, spoken or unspoken, about how
personal you can get about the athletes you cover?
How personal you get on a story depends on your grit, the sports editor's
tolerance, and the newspaper's libel lawyers.
You mention that in Italy, the rules of appropriateness
are very different, and the sportswriters and commentators delve into scandals,
sex, etc.-- things that would never be acceptable in the U.S. How does
American sportswriting compare to coverage in other countries?
Sports pages in the U.S. vary widely. For the most part, the larger the
city, the better the page. Unfortunately, American papers are currently in
the clutches of political correctness gestapos. You can't have as
much fun writing. In contrast are London papers, written for and savored
by adults.
What are some of the worst mistakes inexperienced
sportswriters make?
Worst mistakes: failing to get all sides of a story, blowing a deadline,
showing up late, getting names wrong, writing boringly, banging into the
publisher's car while DUI.
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