Field Guide to Covering Sports. Joe Gisondi

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      Ron Higgins had rarely left a press box during a football game in his 20 years of reporting. This time, though, he knew he had no choice. Craig Zeigler, a tight end for Ole Miss, lay on the football field, his leg broken in two spots and twisted in a grotesque position after being leg-whipped by a Vanderbilt player. Teammate Eli Manning said later he could not look at his friend.

      Zeigler, Higgins knew, was a beloved teammate who had worked through numerous injuries to earn his starting spot. So after the senior was carted from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Higgins walked out of the press box, headed to Baptist Hospital—North Mississippi, spoke with Zeigler and his father before the surgery, and wrote a column that prompted Vanderbilt’s chancellor to call in praise and the Football Writers Association of America to award first place in a national competition.

      “Think outside the box,” says Higgins, now a columnist for New Orleans’ Times-Picayune. “Think differently. Columns are not just about good writing.”

      Columnists also need to bring readers to places fans rarely, if ever, see, which often includes locker rooms, practice sessions, and team road trips. “I’m a big believer that the greatest advantage we have is our access,” says the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Mike Sielski, named the nation’s top columnist in 2015 by Associated Press Sports Editors. “We have to use it. Only so many of us have access to these people. In your columns, you have to ground what you do in your reporting, the freshness of your take. You need to give people something they won’t find in a box score, Twitter or ESPN.”¹

      Columnists are reporters with an opinion. The best columnists are also keen observers, precise writers, and excellent storytellers. Frequently, we forget that readers love stories. But that is difficult to do in 15 to 20 inches or 500 to 800 words.

      A good sports columnist offers fresh, meaningful insights and cultural criticism, analyzes games in considerably more depth than the average fan, covers ignored sports, addresses sensitive issues—and, at different times, afflicts and comforts us. In addition, a sports columnist offers strong opinions sharpened by facts in a suitable tone and style. Don’t write a column if you are only mildly interested in the topic—be as passionate as your readers, the fan(atics) who follow these players and teams.

      sports insider

      A columnist is important, primarily I think, as a guidepost for readers and consumers of news. With the proliferation of media in the 21st century, not only does everyone have an opinion, but most people have a vessel through which to make it public: a blog, social media, talk radio, and so forth. The value of a columnist lies in his or her ability to combine excellent writing with insight that can come only from reporting well. It lies in an unspoken pact he or she makes with readers: I have done my homework. I know what’s really going on here. And my informed opinion, I hope, will help you understand this issue/person/situation better.