The Steffiverse

The men's tennis coach resigned last Friday, and I pounced on that immediately. Because from watching that team all year-long, I had already picked up on the fact that there was something very wrong. And a couple of the players actually told me what was wrong. Off the record of course. But the fact that they trusted me enough to tell me was an honor in itself.

Anyway, I spent all of today— 11am to 5:30 p.m.— at the Emerald trying to track down all the information I needed to write the story. I ended up talking to four players. The coach never returned my calls.

Thomas, one of the four players, had spoken to me on the phone the night before. But yesterday he texted me and asked me not to use everything he'd told me because he didn't want to get too involved.

While writing the story, I was well aware of the fact that this is the very first time that I've found myself in a situation where I'm holding the reputations of other people in my hands. I was well aware of the fact that if I mishandled the story, there would be some angry people, and I'd probably lose the trust of some of the players like Thomas. Trust that I'd spent an entire season cultivating.

So I wrote the thing, and I think I did a fair job.

I'd told Thomas that I'd call him when I was done to check if he was okay taking accountability for the quotes that I put in. I didn't manage to do that because I was running behind on deadline, but when I got home, I called him, and told him what I'd written.

He thought it was fair too. Then he told me exactly why he hadn't wanted to get too involved in the matter. And he thanked me for taking his wishes into consideration when writing the story.

I told him it was no problem, and that as far as I was concerned, reporting is a partnership between the source and the reporter. If he doesn't talk, I can't write.

"Well somehow you got me to talk," he said, implying that he hadn't really wanted to. And I believe that. This season has been pretty hard on him. And he was really reluctant to comment when I first called him. But somehow I got him to open up.

And so here's what I've realized about myself from this whole incident. I seem to possess this rare ability to make people feel at ease around me, that results in them somehow wanting to open up to me. I know cultivating relationships with your subjects is frowned upon in this business, but somehow I think it's worked to my advantage so far, and can work to the reporter's advantage as long as you don't cross that line between trust and actual friendship.

I think forming a relationship with your subject can be important— especially for a sports reporter covering a beat all season-long. Because with that relationship comes trust. They trust that you're not out to get them, and that you'll be fair in your coverage. A lot of people have this impression that journalists are all just muck-rakers, that we're all just ruthless animals who will do anything to get the story. Once you manage to gain the trust of someone and show them that you're not out to fuck them over, but that you're just trying to do your job in the fairest way possible, they will cooperate with you.

Somehow, Thomas opened up to me even when he didn't want to. Somehow he decided to give me that interview. I'm glad I didn't betray his trust today.

If I get the sports reporter position that I applied and interviewed for, I'll be covering stuff like soccer and basketball next year— more high-profile sports in which the athletes are trained to talk to the media. I wonder if I'll still be able to form relationships with those athletes as easily as I did with the tennis team this year? We'll see. At any rate, it's just going to be another learning experience.

Played in the annual basketball game between the Emerald sports staff and the sports media people tonight. It was fun, and it was nice to get to know the boys a little better outside of work.