Grant Kerr believes in luck. Being in the right place at the right time,
he says, is how he got to where he is today. He is a sportswriter with a national
paper. "Like most things in life, it's the timing of being available at the
right time....It's more good fortune than anything else," says Kerr.
Kerr is modest about what it takes to become a prominent writer. But he
did pay his dues and work hard to become a sportswriter. "I went down to a
local paper and applied, and was taken on as a part-timer. It got me 25 cents
a column inch. It wasn't very much, but it got my foot in the door anyway,"
he says.
Almost 40 years later, Kerr is a top-notch writer at the world's most important
sports events. From day to day, he doesn't know where in the world the big
stories will pop up.
Wherever they are, he has to be on the scene. "I like the fact that I get
up every morning and I don't know what I'm going to do. There are always so
many developments in the world of sports that you're never quite sure what
direction you're going in some days. But that's the excitement," says Kerr.
One day, in 1988, Kerr found himself at the Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
There, he covered the Ben Johnson affair. Kerr remembers what made this story
so unique. "One day you're writing the best story in the world and four days
later, you're still writing about it with a different twist. The issue, at
first, was winning. And four days later, it was drugs."
Ben Johnson tested positive for steroid use, and he was stripped of his
gold medal. At the time, many people were upset by the downfall of a sports
hero. But Kerr takes a different view. "You don't feel sorry for him because
life's all about choices. Some people make the right ones and a lot of them
don't," he says.
Sometimes, not knowing where in the world he'll be whisked off to next
can be stressful for Kerr. But even more stressful, he says, are tight deadlines.
"Working on deadlines -- I think that's probably the toughest part of this
business. At [my newpaper], we have our first deadlines at 2 on Fridays, 3
during the week. It's difficult and you've got to write stories that'll stand
up through the evening developments," he explains.
For the swinging single, the long hours and the unexpected travel may work
just fine. But for a guy with a family, says Kerr, it can be really hard.
"I think it's hard on your family. I really do -- because of the odd hours,"
says Kerr. "To be involved in it, you have to make that sacrifice and I'd
say, yeah, that hurts."
Sportswriter Lynn Zinser agrees that the odd hours can be rough. "In some
ways it's fun, because we get to go to games. But in other ways, we work harder
than any other section of the newspaper because almost all of our stuff happens
at night, which means we're writing on deadlines that a lot of news people
aren't. And we're working weekends because sports happen on weekends. Our
hours are much more difficult," says Zinser. "It's a lifestyle as much as
it is a job."
Zinser is not your standard sportswriter. Instead of talking about what
actually goes on at certain events, Zinser writes about what she thinks of
the events. Her opinion definitely matters. "I'm a columnist now, which makes
me unusual again. There are only a handful of women sports columnists. I write
opinion pieces. It's my job to set some perspective on things. I don't simply
write news," says Zinser.
Zinser's most memorable moment as a sportswriter occurred at the Olympics.
The year was 1996, and she had loved the Olympics ever since she was a little
kid. She remembers the event clearly. "When Michael Johnson broke the record
in the 200 meters,...that was probably the most exciting. It was just amazing!
I was looking at the clock and I thought it was broken because the time was
so amazing. It just didn't compute. I thought, 'He didn't just run that!'
because the previous world record had stood for 17 years."
Zinser says that a solid portfolio of writing is the only way to break
into this field. "It's the only [way] you can ever sell some place on hiring
you. Be able to show -- 'This is what I've done!' Your resume doesn't mean
that much. You need to show them you can write and get the job done. My advice
is to do as much writing, as many different kinds of writing [as possible],
and read a lot."