Day 1: What does a Sports Reporter actually do?

After many weeks of anticipation, I finally had the chance to shadow a San Francisco Giants sports reporter. I arrived at 3pm, 4 hours before the game and retrieved my media credentials, this pass allowed me to have access to the press box, club house, the dugout and the field.  Many of the reporters there have a set schedule of what needs to be accomplished before the game even begins. 

The view of the field from the press box

• Promptly at 4, all of the reporters report to the Clubhouse to listen to manager, Bruce Bochy speak about the game and the line up for the day. 
• Next, at 4:30 the reporters have a follow up Q&A session with Bochy in the team dugout, and there the reporters are able ask questions directly to Bochy and the others players that are on the field warming up. 
• After, they have retrieved all of the information that they need, they head back up to the press box to begin transcribing the interviews in order to begin writing story 1 of 3 for the night. 
• Around 6, after the reporters have hopefully finished their articles, they head to the dinning hall because as I learned they like to miss as little of the game as possible.

Also during this time, a staff member in the press box passes out a stat sheet for both teams, which includes their lineups as well as the bullpen that is available for the night. Also they provide the reporters with a scoring card for the game, which makes it easier to keep track of various stats throughout the game. One very interesting piece of information that I learned is that, after every play challenge made by the managers, reporters have to write a short piece about that in addition to their other stories.  After the game has concluded, the reporters make their way down to the clubhouse in order to add quotes from the players to the stories they have written throughout the game.