I have been a member of Bleacher Report for about five months now, according to my profile page.
This site has been instrumental in me hopefully finding a career in sports journalism, and other young writers are taking advantage of it, too.
About two months ago, I brought to the limelight four young writers who had been making noise on B/R.
Most of them are still writing strong and and two of them are on or near the top writers list for the site as a whole.
After giving time for more young talent to join the website, I am ready to introduce three more great young writers whom I enjoy reading and as they begin to make noise of their own.
Max has been a contributing member to B/R for about three months and has 27 articles and 20 fans to show for it.
He writes most of his articles about the NFL (20), mainly regarding his beloved Patriots (nine).
He may only be 15, but he brings good journalism that is worthy of being on the major networks that he has grown tired of.
And no, he isn't Robbert Loggia, although the resemblance is uncanny.
Being just 14, TJ is trying to prove to everyone that he is better than any 40-year-old blogging about their favorite team.
And in just two months, he's contributed 23 articles that have combined to garner him 12 fans.
His bread-and-butter to this point has been the NBA, about which he has written 17 articles. He also gave the MVP candidates their due, writing seven stories each for Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul.
He may be new to writing, but this is just the beginning of a possible career.
The most established of the writers on this list, Yu has written 96 articles and has 24 fans through the last eight months of being a member of B/R.
He is 17 years old and is mostly a soccer (futbol) fan.
As of right now, he is the third-ranked writer on the World Football section, and 17th on whole site rankings.
He has played soccer in high school, and follows pretty much all soccer leagues. He also enjoys watching the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs and the NFL's Miami Dolphins.
He plans to head to the University of Alberta next year, and hopefully he will still contribute to this site the way he has for nearly a year now.
If you feel that you should be on this list, leave a comment to let everybody know what you are doing, and you may be featured in the next Best of the Young Writers.
I'm Joe W.
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4 months ago
Worthy of the major netwroks eh? That's high praise indeed, no matter what new depth ESPN's tabloid reporting has sunken them to. Then again, I'd rather watch Sex and The City without popcorn or a nap halfway through (If you're reading this Greg Adams, I'm sorry for your loss, stay strong.) then work for ESPN, unless of course they actually start reporting on sports again instead of this capitol hill crapolah. Thanks again for putting me in this.
from 4 months ago
I took two bathroom breaks, ate a LOT of Milk Duds, ran to Starbucks and grabbed a coffee, walked into "Iron Man" for about five minutes...and barely got through Sex in the City's opening credits.
It was a long, painful ride through the streets of New York.
And nice article, Joe. This is a talented group of young writers.
4 months ago
I hate to be a downer, but the fact Fox Sports is taking B/R articles (meaning unpaid authors) is a small part of the beginning of the decline of sports journalism jobs around the country.
I work for one of the five-biggest papers in the Metro Boston area, and us and other papers in our area were bought out by a company called GateHouse that owns several papers in your home state of Illinois.
What they're doing is trying to phase out writers in every section, including sports, and have papers in the same general area all share the same overlapping coverage, which significantly affects pro sports.
I'm a recent journalism grad, and I'm already looking for jobs outside of newspapers as the journalism jobs I can get pay very little. If you want to pursue journalism, I say go for it if you enjoy it, cuz I did, but be warned that the situation isn't a good one. Be open to other things in college. Fortunately, a journalism degree is versatile and is more fun than majoring in English.
I think there will always be a need for high school and youth sports media coverage, so it's not totally bleak, as high school coverage is very rewarding, but even that is subject to being hurt by corporations and the fact people don't subscribe to papers as much anymore.
Just looking out for you and anyone else your age with the same aspirations. It can be a lot of fun, and if you have the passion you'll eventually find something, but keep this in mind.
4 months ago
Unfortunately, newspapers are dying. Some bloggers will rejoice at this, and while it may not hurt coverage of pro and major college sports, locally, I've seen a decline in high school and small college coverage.
It will be interesting to see what the independent media will accomplish.
On the other hand the Big Ten has its own network, there are a variety of college sports channels, FOX has a regional broadcast strategy in place...so maybe there will be broadcast opportunities and blogs to go with all those formats. I actually used to read a guy's blog who has quit his personal blog and moved on to blog for an online mag.
Eventually, the successful websites will need to pay for their bloggers because they're going to need the quality that keeps people coming back (advertisers tend to want that). And that's why I think B/R is a great place for a young writer. You get experience writing about sports, you get critiqued, you sort of get used to the pace of writing consistently--which, some people eventually realize they don't like.
Great comment, Tim.
from 4 months ago
Yeah, I'm with you on that, Greg. B/R is a very good chance to get a feel for things, especially with the exposure, comments and open-source editing system.
Still, you don't get the full experience without having to cover an event, get quotes from 2-4 relevant people, then travel back, transcribe and write it all up on time. Or write something negative that rubs an AD/coach/player/parent the wrong way and then have to talk to that person several times again.
(Funny story: We had a parent freak out threatening to come down to our office because we called his daughter, a softball pitcher, a "hard-luck loser," since she pitched well in defeat. All he could understand was "loser," apparently. Suffice to say our young softball writer was spooked.)
As you say about bloggers, I do hope the internet continues to bring in revenue for media companies. I wouldn't be surprised if web-only reporting and/or blogs became more common as part-time jobs to supplement income, but the roadblock is that this site proves people will do it for free, and many media-types will take that despite any rawness. My current paper has unpaid "community bloggers" who post about local folk music, etc., for example.
We'll see. There's an obvious thirst for media coverage of things, it's just the internet makes it so there's plenty out there to drink for free.
from 4 months ago
I agree with what you have to say about covering games, Tim. But most people covering major sports don't write the game summary these days--they've got the AP for that. They're busy banging out a column (which is challenging in it's own right). I think that's what is probably where media going to make cuts first.
I mean after awhile, with a dozen cameras rolling video and audio, how many newspaper guys do you need with a little handheld recorder?
I think B/R and most sports blogs actually thrive on not having access. The thinking is that not having access actually allows for more objectivity. Most bloggers complain that certain athletes get a "free pass" from certain media members because they're nice, will give a good quote, etc.
I'm not really sure where I stand. Thanks to modern technology and the saturation of sports on TV, I can watch a game and feel I have a pretty good handle on it (especially when I mute Packer!).
I still say follow the money. If sports websites and blogs begin pulling in big ad revenues, writers will eventually get paid. Somebody will take them to court if they don't.
Even reality show TV writers have rights these days.
And with B/R being an open source network, they would be above the fray there. But there are other sites out there (and think we all know what I'm talking about) who demand content from people volunteering their time, there's advertising on those sites and I think that's going to end up in litigation at some point.
As you can tell, I come at this more as a writer (I freelance a little) than as a hardcore sports journalist.
4 months ago
No love for a 19-year-old who has been here for one month? Dang, Big Joe!
from 4 months ago
You are just a little over the age limit Ben, trust me, you'd be there.
from 4 months ago
Thank you, sir. I hope I'm somewhat respected on BR fronts.
4 months ago
Like Benjamin, I hope I'm somewhat respected on BR fronts as well. Only been here for about a month, and I'd like to see more comments heading my way.
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