The biggest dilemma any sports writer can go through nowadays — besides facing the chopping block — is figuring out whether or not he or she should draft the local star on their fantasy sports team.
Hell, figuring out if the writer even wants to put some money in a fantasy sports league in the first place is a situation in need of conflict resolution.
I’ve discovered very simply that it’s easy to bypass the ethical boundaries of the job at hand when you’re somewhat distant from the subjects in which you “fantasize.” But the worry that folks like myself, beat writers and others in the industry should have is considering when the fun ends and when the price of playing the games affect the way the sport is covered.
The honorable answer is that journalists, particularly those in sports, should hold themselves to high standards and forego the urges of taking part in the office Super Bowl pool, March Madness brackets and withhold from gambling on the sports books— especially when it comes to teams which the writer may cover.
From my standpoint, not playing is killing the golden goose and that just sounds crazy to me. I’m having way too much fun playing fantasy football, picking the over-under on the Super Bowl and putting my two cents (literally) on who’ll win the NCAA championship. This year, I’ve expanded to fantasy baseball and I’m planning on taking all of my friends money. What other way can a sports writer make extra dough in these tough times?
But my conscience eats at me.
I twittered during my fantasy baseball draft how I drafted Tim Lincecum fourth overall, No. 1 on my team. Lincecum, the defending National League Cy Young winner and the San Francisco Giants opening day starter, is more than deserving of the generous draft position. But he’s also a guy I’m more than likely going to write about 15 to 20 times this year. And if I’m not going to be writing about him specifically, I’m going to be diving into the great and terrible underbelly of the Giants clubhouse. It’ll be magnificent. And it’ll be a quandary.
Herein lies the dilemma: Am I rooting for Cy Young Tim, or am I providing commentary on the Giants? As I noted before, distance is a factor. I’m not writing 162 gamers on the team, therefore I have no issue that a Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle might, but the worry is that it may affect what little I will write about the team and even the pitcher.
After consulting with the Society of Professional Journalists ethics committee, there are lines that need to be drawn in the sand. The first starts with transparency. Readers should know who a writer is betting on, whether it’s on the hometown team or against it. I think you would want to know if I dropped a grand against the Sacramento Kings. Even if it were the smartest bet in the world, I wouldn’t be surprised if it offended our readership. It would be best to not go down that path.
The fuzzy area is how the betting and fandom trickles down to the pools, particularly fantasy sports. As a sports writer, do you root for Manny Ramirez because you have him as your left fielder? When the Dodgers play the Giants, do you secretly wish he homers off of the hapless Barry Zito? Do you feel guilty collecting the money, knowing you didn’t take any Giants or A’s on your team? Do you feel like a cheerleader, knowing you have five Giants or A’s on your squad? (I’ve got three.)
Andy Scholtz of SPJ’s ethics committee told me in short, there needed to be a separation of church and state, although there’s wiggle room depending on position and proximity to the coverage.
“Can you separate your rooting interests from your profession,” Scholtz asked. “A columnist is paid to have opinions. You want to let people know if you have a particular interest.”
My interests are simple: Go Giants; go 49ers; go Warriors. Any questions?
I work in the belief that being a fan makes me a better sports writer and that influence will undoubtedly make me a more interested and gracious person to cover our professional sports teams. It undoubtedly keeps me sane.
Whether I make money off of it in the extracurricular, is just icing on the cake.
This column originally appeared in The Union.
I am stunned at this column. Who gives a shit that you are in a FB league? But that you picked a pitcher with your first draft selection shows you shouldn’t be covering baseball.
Apparently not you. Whatever suits your fancy.
Well, let’s further muddy the issue: Since you, like me, work at a smaller paper, there’s less of a line between reporter and columnist since you do both.
Your paper already has the expectation for you to write a story on the Giants and then write columns later, probably talking about the Giants occasionally.
I would say it requires a serious self-examination of your personality. In short: Do you play fantasy sports lightheartedly, not really giving much of a crap if you win and lose? Or are you the kind that needs to drink away sorrows because your SP winds up having a day that gives him an ERA that resembles an SAT score?
If you’re the former, I think it’s relatively safe that you can draw yourself away enough to be able to play fantasy baseball and give the Giants a fair crack. If it’s the latter, you probably shouldn’t.
Alternatively, you can set ground rules for your participation. When I was a government reporter, I didn’t vote on ballot measure or races I had covered extensively. But that doesn’t mean I avoided voting entirely. Maybe you just need to set a rule of not having any Giants or A’s on your fantasy team. Might make it harder to win a title, but you still get the enjoyment of playing while avoiding major conflicts.
Anonymous makes a good point … if you drafted any pitcher with the 4th overall pick in a fantasy draft, you’re not going to be taking anyone’s money.
Taking Lincecum that high makes you look like a little bit of a homer. Fact is, I’d trust a gambler’s take on the local team long before I’d trust a homer’s take.
Two bad starts and I already look like a homer? Thank you, Tim Lincecum.
Robert,
I think half participation would be a half-assed approach at setting up real guidelines. If a newspaper really wanted to be able to set guidelines down on a reporter/columnist, they’d have to cut out the gray areas, if for anything to avoid backlash. How do you discern who can and who cannot, when there’s exceptions to every rule?
I wasn’t talking about setting up guidelines. I’m talking about your own, personal approach.
Oh, and guys, Zuri’s made another post showing his fantasy team. Rip him a new one over there.
I get the reasoning behind it (I’m a journalist), but taking a look at this diatribe from the public’s point of view, I have only one comment: This is silly.
I agree with Robert, especially with the use of the word “muddy.” This has lots of angles. And yeah, it depends on the person. I wouldn’t worry about fantasy sports in any way, unless you were betting significant amounts of money on it. And even then, you could potentially still write fair stories. The majority of sports writers have their rooting interests. I even think a guy like Grant Napear is “fair and balanced” in his coverage of the Kings, and his paycheck is signed by the Maloofs. He’s optimistic, he clearly favors the Kings, but he’s fair in his praise and his criticism. It’s sports, it’s entertainment, and I wouldn’t worry about it too much. It’s good to be conscious and aware of all of this though.
P.S. I consider myself in the Grant Napear category. I am 100 percent biased toward Gridley, Biggs and Live Oak, but I still think I’m able to write fair stories. Optimistic stories, but still accurate. I even bet on Live Oak once! And had to pay Mando $15! Damn you Hamilton City Braves!
First off, Tim you should have known better than to bet against the Braves, with Lohse, aka The Horse, and with that solid D. By the way, that 15 bucks was well spent — on booze.
Secondly, Zuri, you will forever be known to me as the guy who took a pitcher first round. I don’t care if he gives you 15 wins, you don’t take a pitcher first pick — bias or not. Yeah, you’re SF’s boy, born and raised, and yes, he won the Cy Young, but Cmon, Zo… With Manny (yeah I know he’s a dodger), Ryan Howard, Padroira, and so many other great hitters, whom will for sure get you more fantasy points throughout the season, it was a dumb choice.
Bottom line: Zur, you’re a dope writer, this was a good column, and your issue was a fresh one (one I think more writers should touch on), but stick to the writing, because as far as fantasy goes, you should not be bias when it comes to your picking. And this year for our league, you’re done, son.