Beat it
I think it's safe to say that interns are never really assigned to true "beat" reporting, but rather "jack-of-all-trade" assignments (i.e.: boomerangs and briefs). Over the past few weeks though, that's begun to change and I'm loving it.
Last week, I was handed a press release from USA Basketball noting the players invited to its 19-and-under team trials in Dallas. That release helped spawn this story. That story led me to press row at SMU's Moody Coliseum last night for this scrimmage. All of the sudden, a miniature beat is on the horizon.
I'll be featuring another American team competing at the Global Games for an advance on Thursday, as well as covering the final on Saturday.
Over the last two weeks, I've bounced from golf to streetball to Wimbledon, but for the next week or so, I'm planting my flag at the Global Games. This development of familiarity and rapport with the teams you cover for a beat is the exact reason I'm trying to work my way into this business.
And yes, this blog was a thinly veiled attempt to provide several self-promoting links. To be fair, though, I sit across from SportsDay blog czar Tim MacMahon, so anyone familiar with his work knows I'm picking this up by osmosis.