By Samantha Kleinman
NFL Player Engagement
“The editor’s pen is stronger than your ego,” Dick Maxwell, NFL Broadcasting Consultant, told 19 former players on the opening night of the 2014 Boot Camp: Sports Journalism & Communications, hosted at Bowling Green State University. With those words, the players were off and writing, ready for a week of learning, critique, red pen, and storytelling.
When you think about the number of times that these 19 players have been interviewed over the course of their football experiences, both in college and in the NFL, you might think that being on the other side of the interview would be easy for them. They found out quickly, however, that there’s a lot more that goes into a good interview than just asking a string of questions and jotting down the answers. One focus of the Boot Camp was on conducting stimulating press conferences, and the participants gained experience by interviewing two sports leaders in the greater Bowling Green/Toledo area.
When it comes to a press conference, where media members have limited time to gain information for stories, “ask your most important question first,” instructed Associated Press sportswriter Barry Wilner. Following that advice, new Bowling Green State University Football Head Coach Dino Babers walked into the room, and the players’ creative juices started flowing. They put on their media member hats and hit Coach Babers with what they felt were the most important questions leading into his first season at the helm of BGSU’s football program: How will he follow BGSU’s MAC Championship season? How will BGSU’s existing players fit into his “Falcon Fast” offense? How does BGSU quarterback Matt Johnson compare to 2014 second round Draft pick Jimmy Garoppolo, whom Babers coached at Eastern Illinois?
Through these and other questions, the players gained valuable information about Babers, his plans for the BGSU football program, and his overall philosophy about college athletics. Former NFL player and current CBS Sports broadcaster Solomon Wilcots encouraged the players to look beyond the surface of Babers’s answers and to identify the intangibles that they learned from the press conference. The players didn’t just learn about Babers’s coaching philosophy. They also learned that he is passionate, enthusiastic, a true “players’ coach,” and a movie buff.
Brimming with confidence in their newfound ability to conduct press conferences and ask hard-hitting questions, the players had absolutely no trouble interviewing their next subject – Joe Napoli, President and GM of the Toledo Mud Hens and the Toledo Walleyes. The players took a deep dive into Napoli’s role with the minor league baseball and hockey teams, gaining information about the teams’ financial structures, the athletes’ involvement in the community, and what it would take for Napoli to leave his seemingly idyllic job in Toledo. Idyllic is the perfect way to describe the players’ day at the ballpark where, following a stimulating press conference with Napoli and a brief rain delay, they cheered on fellow participant Peerless Price as he threw out the first pitch, enjoyed some top-notch stadium grub, watched a few innings of Triple A ball, and wrote with a sense of pride and confidence.
The Sports Journalism & Communications Boot Camp participants documented their experience at the ball park, what they learned over the course of the week, and their thoughts on current topics in sports on NFL Player Engagement’s blog. Visit www.nflpe.sportsblog.com to read their stories.