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 Alumni:
J.B. Morris,
Senior Editor, ESPN The Magazine
1. Though you work in the magazine world, what’s your perspective on the new media?
There’s good reason every print publication also has an online presence—the Internet provides a timeliness and flexibility that no other media can match. But a need for the printed page will be here for a long time. It’s ingrained in us from birth, from how we learn to read: parents still read books to their children at bedtime, and those kids still thrill with turning the page by themselves someday. There’s something familiar and comfortable about reading off the page. So, even as technology makes on-line content as portable as printed material, I don’t think the advances will spell the end of newspapers or magazines. If past is precedent, the rise of one form of media doesn’t necessarily mean the death of another. After all, movies survived in the face of broadcast television and broadcast television survived the advent of cable and cable is standing up to ... well, the Internet.
2. What is the most important thing you took from your Penn State education that helps you in your job today?
I took a lot of fiction writing and poetry courses that really helped me think creatively and write with purpose.
3. What was it like working as a media representative on the 2007 selection committee for the Doak Walker Award?
Not as exciting as it sounds. At least the Heisman Committee gives out T-shirts and lets me keep my paper ballot! For the Doak, I was given a broad list of candidates and was asked to give my top five, or so. Rodney Kinlaw just missed my list.
4. You were an English major at Penn State. Did you ever think of pursuing something outside of sports journalism?
No. My father, John, was sports information director at Penn State in the 1970s, so I grew up around a lot of sportswriters. It was impossible not wanting to get into the business after listening to writers like Bill Lyon, Ken Denlinger, Gordon White and Dan Jenkins tell stories in my living room.
5. How did you come to work for ESPN The Magazine?
I was working as a writer/reporter at Sports Illustrated when a former colleague of mine, Chad Millman, called up and told me The Mag was looking for a college football editor. As luck would have it, I interviewed with former Daily Collegian sports editor Chris Raymond. He was willing to overlook that I spent my four years at Penn State working in the sports information office.
6. What would be your response if someone asserted that you work in the “toy department” of news media?
I wouldn’t totally disagree because I have so much fun doing what I do. But I would point out that our best stories deal with issues and ills inherent to our society. I really believe that our games are a reflection of our lives—just much more interesting.
7. How important is it to you to participate in panel discussions on your field, such as the one you participated in at Penn State last year on “Covering the Big Game”?
I enjoyed hearing how other outlets covered an event and about the challenges they face. Working at a magazine that comes out every two weeks, I approach the game very differently than a beat writer or television analyst. We have to work ahead of the curve, treating each edition like a preview issue. Otherwise, by the time The Mag arrives in mailboxes, our game story would be a week old. That panel really illustrated that a writer’s perspective needs to change according to the audience and how that audience will receive the story.
8. What is the best part about your job?
Even my worst days at the office are spent discussing sports. That, and free pizza on Thursdays.
9. Do you have a favorite college football story that’s appeared in ESPN the Magazine?
It’s hard to pick one story, because what I like most about our work is the freedom to be creative in our coverage. Just in the past year or so we’ve done a great variety of stories. We sent a writer up into the trees to talk to protestors outside of Cal’s Memorial Stadium. We chronicled Oklahoma’s 6’8”, 350-pound offensive tackle Phil Loadholt by beginning each paragraph with “Phil Loadholt is so big …”. We told the story of WVU fullback Owen Schmitt in the form of a graphic novel. Please don’t make me choose.
10. What advice would you give to young people with career aspirations in journalism, specifically sports journalism?
Write early, write often. Seek out criticism. Be pleasantly persistent. And, when interviewing a subject, uncomfortable silence is your friend.
11. What other sports publications do you read?
I still read Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News. I’ll buy any college football preview in existence, even though I know they’re all bunk. Fight On State (Sorry, BWI). NASCAR Scene. But I tend to read more non-sports magazines. Subscribe to Mental Floss—now!
12. Do you talk sports with your wife?
No, not more than how recent events will affect my workload. And, to be fair, she doesn’t talk to me about hospice care.
13. Who are the most important people you work with? Who do you rely on, on the job?
Hands down, the most important people I work with are the writers. They’re the ones going out there and chasing down stories, talking to people who don’t want to be bothered and then making sense of it all. It takes courage to create. Especially when you put your byline on a piece that you know might rankle folks.
14. How do you prepare for big events, like the BCS bowls?
We have one shot to preview an event, so we try to come up with an angle that can cover both teams. The tricky part with the BCS bowl is scheduling our coverage so we’re doing teams that matter at the end of the season but not the teams we’ll have to feature in the BCS preview.
15. Name one person in sports journalism you look up to.
Sandy Padwe. Can you please steal him from Columbia’s J-school?
16. What’s the biggest appeal in working for a sports magazine instead of some other type of media?
I get time to think about how we want to cover the season instead of worrying about the day-to-day footrace of keeping up with a team. I also get a chance to work with a wide range of writers who all seem to approach their stories very differently.
17. What are some of your duties as college football editor?
I’m basically a sports manager—I assign stories, line edit and work with the photo and art departments. But my favorite role is talking with the writers and developing their stories as they’re out in the field or back at the computer keyboard.
18. Are you a Penn State football fan?
I root for a good story more than anything. But if there are no professional implications, I’ll still pull for Penn State. It’s hard to grow up how and where I did and not be a fan to some extent.
19. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Still trying to come up with answers.
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