NFL MEDIA -- CYNICAL AND JADED

[Hammock Parties]

Haha, this is great. Suck it, old fart!

http://www.sbnation.com/2010/2/26/13...ne-recap-diary

Reflecting on how remarkably intense this all is, I try to strike up a conversation with the media member stationed next to me, a newspaper reporter from a metropolitan daily in Florida. Can you imagine, I ask, if each of us had to go through something like this to land our jobs?

He shrugs indifferently, a reaction I initially attribute to his veteran experience, but soon begin to think representative of something very different. There are over 200 members of the media in attendance, and the more of them I interact with, the more I sense a pervasive cynicism. For every perfectly pleasant, engaging person I meet, there are two jaded, disinterested souls going through the motions. Many seem cranky, generally, and many others quickly become so when they find out I'm covering the event as a part-time blogger.

"Doesn't your paper ask you to blog these days?" I ask one writer who seems particularly disgusted with my presence.

"You bet your ass they do," he hisses in reply. "But if it weren't for jokers like you, they'd still appreciate my filing three stories per week, instead of asking me to write a blog three times a day."

This isn't to say that everyone I meet is this way, but more than enough are that I understand why new media continues to grow and thrive as it is. The gatekeeper status previously enjoyed by established media made sports journalism an enjoyable, privileged position; and now, any old schmuck with a computer and Internet connection can do the job. Unsurprisingly, many do it better, and equally unsurprising, among the old guard the change breeds resentment.

"Really?" I ask, prodding for explanation. "Because my only regret is that I can't explore sports with as much depth as I could if I just had enough time to write about everything I want to write about."

"And that's the trouble with you young people," is his reply.

And that pretty much says it all.

An NFL employee announces that Pittsburgh Steelers Director of Football Operations Kevin Colbert is about to begin speaking. A huge fan and student of what Colbert's been able to do to achieve sustained success in Pittsburgh through the Draft, I excitedly spring from my seat to go listen. The newspaper reporter barely flinches, except to frown his disapproval at my enthusiasm. After positioning myself near the stage where Colbert's to speak, I steal a glance back and see the reporter hasn't followed. He's reading a novel.