just don't be like cimini…he repeats the negatives every story…if i have to read about the not getting a corner, or how much he thinks coples stinks or about antonio allan moves from position to position ill kill myself
Connor, your effort here is unprecedented. I don't expect you to continue your eager idea of connecting directly with Jets fans, but I have never actually seen a beat writer do this, so hopefully this is a successful endeavor for you. However, asking message board fans to connect with you is going to yield mixed results, and this year it will yield results far more negative than you may have expected, even given the team's lack of success. A lot of people are bringing up Cimini and Mehta. Cimini was a decent beat writer, but did end up quoting almost nothing but anonymous sources prior to getting that ESPN job. Mehta was different, he was a pretty objective writer for NJ.com before he took Cimini's job, and sort of continued for a short while until the NYDN editors basically turned him into a raccoon digging for trash. And now, Mehta openly digs at the HC/FO people like he can get his own well-paid ESPN job shortly. The short route to success with this team is to go the tabloid route, without actually working for the NYPost, which is basically the NY version of the National Enquirer. Chances are that your editor is going to compare your hits with those of your competitors, and just writing human interest stories isn't going to satisfy them. Same with being objective about the Jets. You can probably look up stories in 2010 how Rex Ryan was being raked over the coals about a foot fetish story, and Jets fans were eating it up. Then, during the playoffs, Rex's Jets smacked the Patriots after that sad tabloid affair. What did Cimini, Mehta, and the rest of those assholes do? They sucked Ryan's dick. Just so they could trash him after losing the next week. You have entered a media market with zero integrity and zero accountability. If you are asking what you can do for Jets fans? Break the trend.
Just kill yourself. Now. Between the homers and the haters you'll never have a piece accepted by all.
Good luck Connor. The current local media (Mehta, Cimini, and a bunch of others) do essentially tabloid work. Now, since they all still have jobs, I assume there is a market for that, and since you guys do your jobs to pay the bills and all that, I am not going to hate you if you follow them down that path, and in fact, I can kinda understand it. But as a Jets fan, I can't stand 90% of their "work", because they write almost nothing whatsoever that has any substance, mostly it's just stuff you can hear from an average fan and rumors, very much of it being very negative. If you want to do something different, I would suggest that there might be (and I could be wrong), a demand in the area for a more substantive football reporting similar to what Pro Football Focus does but emphasizing Jets and/or other local teams. In other words, reporting where instead of criticizing coaches, GMs, players, etc day after day based on nothing but subjective personal feelings, you actually do research, learn football on a very in-depth level, and provide insightful analysis to the fans. I have no idea how many fans would be interesting in something like that, and whether it would be professionally sustainable/profitable, but there are some fans, including myself, who would love to see that.
Hey Connor, congratulations on your new post/job. As abysmul above has stated I have never seen a beat writer introduce himself to his readers/critics so I hope it works out well for you. Only advice would be for straight-talk. It seems we have a bunch of beat writers who either have an agenda, are miserable for the bad beat, let there editors dictate what's written, or are incompetent. Just because Jets fans are unlucky to be rooting for an inept franchise since '69 doesn't mean we are morons and don't know what the deal is. Have fun, don't take any of this too serious, and try to give us the facts without sugarcoating a poopsicle, because us Jets for the most part, know the deal and have been part of this often times miserable team for years.
If you write mean shit about the Jets, keep an eye out for a guy named Barcs. He's going to try to fuck you up.
Physical violence is against his youth postitive hip hop movement. Also, if he got arrested there wouldn't be anyone to feed his cats.
Is this a blog, a new site or a legit newspaper we are talking about? I remember you posted some cool photos from training camp. Same site? Edit: was that you who posted the photos?
This is a good point. If you can't name a source, don't report the information. Nobody gives a sh-t if you were the "first to report" and nothing irritates people more than hearing negative information from a completely unknown source. Get the story right (with on-the-record sources), or let one of the other idiots report it and annoy everyone.
This part resonated particularly with me, and the bold part especially. UK tabloid journalists (and I use the term either quite loosely or quite wrongly) are world class at this. I still feel privileged to get up to the minute Jets news, so just be fair, write the truth, and avoid controversy for it's own sake.
Learn from the best. Cimini and Mehta are the golden standard here. ------------------------------- Okay... on a serious note. Ask yourself what you want to achieve. If you want at least an ounce of journalism within your writing, then do the standard thing you've been taught to do; fact-checking, maintaining neutral tone, doing other homeworks, picking up various viewpoints, etc. If you are after the clicks, then know that Cimini and Mehta are doing that a lot better already; they are intellectual whores to put it nicely. If you are after clicks, know that you are selling yourself out like these two whores too. God be with you, if that's the route you take.
BOL, Connor. I'm sure these message boards give you somewhat of an idea of the wide range of opinions of Jets fans really around the world. From the ridiculous (not me) to the sublime (not me, either).
In the simplest possible terms; Information I DO want: Live Updates: Has it's time and place ( This is in both sections: twitter is great for announcements and to post a link to an article ) Depth chart rankings ( how they compare to others at the position ) Team Role/Position ( what is he being asked to do ) Strength/Weaknesses Positional Growth potential/forecast Weekly game plan breakdowns ( what did we want to do? did we do it? Were they who they thought we were? ) Related to point above; Game plan related questions in Post game/Press conferences ( I don't know about anyone else but I liked the few times Rex got out his coaching stick during the PCS ) Team transparency ( We usually only hear about extreme cases or turmoil, Most players don't open up to media anymore it seems ) Information I DO NOT WANT Live Updates: Has it's time and place ( Don't tweet about the same article 3 times with different content in the tweet to get more clicks. Don't live tweet press conference information, I would much rather have a real well thought out article afterwards, instead of firehose responses to unknown questions in 140chars ) The ButtFumble being brought up, ever again. enough. Information about Rex's ( or anyones ) Tattoos. Anonymous Sources Repeated pointed idiotic questions during post game conferences ( See: 100 questions about starting QB, If you reword the question slightly you're still going to get the same answer ) Over-sensationalism ( FireIdzikNow, Flying Banner, HotDogs on sideline, Pre-season stat breakdowns and burnings,.. Don't promote any of that shit. Leave that to the people that want to dump $$ into it ) TL;DR: Keep it about Football... we want to hear about the game; not about you ( no offense ), and not about the politics or bullshit.
