08-16-2009
BLC EXCLUSIVE: Q & A WITH THE STAR'S SAM MELLINGER
It seems like only yesterday interesting bylined sports stories began appearing in the Kansas City Star written by Sam Mellinger, a young upstart sportswriter at the area's largest newspaper. That was nine years ago and Mellinger is still going strong with unique takes on the games and people he covers.
He candidly (and humorously) answered a series of questions posed to him:
How long have you been at the Star?
Nine years, actually, and damn that makes me feel old.
What did you do before joining the Star?
Had fun/worked in college. Kansas, if you must know.
How did you get into sports writing?
I'm one of those nerds who knew exactly what he wanted to do by the age of 14 or 15 -- basically, as soon as I got past the fireman/astronaut phase. The first day I had my driver's license, I was at my local paper, typing obits and news briefs and whatever else nobody wanted to do.
Well, that's probably not true. The first day, I was probably trying to show off to some girl that I could drive. But the second day, that's when I was at the paper. Eventually, I talked the sports editor into letting me cover Legion baseball, I think it was, and shortly after that they even started paying me.
Sports writing had me hooked from the beginning. Majored in journalism at college, where I continued to work for the (Lawrence) Journal-World and (Topeka Capital) Cap-Journal, had an internship at the Cincy Enquirer that looking back was absolutely crucial in getting hired at the Star, and have been doing this ever since.
It's a job with downsides, like anything else, but it's all I've ever wanted to do and hopefully I've done a good job of always remembering how lucky I am to be able to do this and actually get someone to give me money for it every few weeks.
What exactly is your beat at the Star?
Baseball, primarily, and I'm particularly grateful for Bob Dutton, our ass-kicking beat writer who does all the day- to-day stuff on the Royals, leaving me free to work on features and trend stories and that kind of thing. I have no interest in doing Bob's job, and he has no interest in doing my job, so we (hopefully) make a pretty good team.
Who is the most interesting person you have met?
Might be a guy named Mark Crooks, a four-time cancer survivor who wrote a book on near-death experiences and was on the cutting edge of health and exercise before quitting his job as a professor to become a carpenter and handyman because he liked working with his hands instead of behind a desk.
Mark swam from KC to St Louis, jumped off the Paseo Bridge, and drove a station wagon into a lake, all in the name of research. Funny story about that, too. He was hooked up to some heart monitors to research how the body reacts to near-death experiences and after the "experiment" forgot to take it off. The data showed his heart rate was higher later that night arguing with his girlfriend over what movie to go to than it was when he was stuck in a station wagon at the bottom of a lake.
One of the best parts of the job is the people you meet, many of whom I try to steal a little part of their character to be a better or more productive person. Art Stewart -- the Royals scout who's been doing this more than 50 years but remains as enthusiastic as ever -- is one of the first names that come to mind.
Who was the biggest jerk/disappointment?
You know what's weird? Lots of times it seems like the biggest egos are connected to the people who least deserve them. I was once blown off by a mediocre high school tennis player after waiting an hour or so. His coach came over, shaking his head, telling me, "he's not talking today."
I can't think of too many ginormous jerks, hopefully because I really try to let that stuff wash off, never taking it personally. With rare exceptions, people are never telling YOU to eff off; they're telling the newspaper reporter to eff off.
Last year during spring training, I introduced myself to Alberto Callaspo, who looked at my offered handshake, mumbled something, turned around and flipped open his cell phone. That, I actually thought was funny.
What do you consider the best story you have written?
Oh. I hate stuff like this. I'm not very good at thinking my stories are all that good, and certainly not good at articulating it if I do. One of the first that comes to mind is something a did a few years back on a high school kid from Emporia who died in a car wreck.
That was an excruciating story to do for obvious reasons, but the feedback was amazing, including hearing that the story helped in some small way with the grieving process. That's a pretty gratifying thing to hear.
What's your favorite sport to cover?
Anything but the high school state track meet. I'm kidding. Kind of.
I have the most experience with baseball, obviously, so it's probably a little biased for me to talk about how the access and statistics and personalities and open culture make for a great sport to write about-- although all that's true.
My favorite sport(s) to watch, outside of work purposes, have always been college football and basketball.
Really, any sport can be a blast to cover if you have the right idea and angle and all that.
Do you plan on staying in the newspaper business?
Well, you're asking me this in the wake of hearing about furloughs at the paper, which is tough. Anyway, I love newspapers, always have, always will, and I mean that especially for the Star which is much more to me than the place I work.
I'll keep working here as long as they'll have me, as long as I'm happy, and as long as it's the best place for me.
Has sport journalism changed over the years? Good or bad?
I'm not sure I'm the best qualified person on this, but here goes anyway. Of course it's changed. Everything's changed. Everything's changing. It's probably dishonest to say that sports journalism has changed for the better or changed for the worse. It's changed for the both.
There's probably as much or more great sports journalism going on right now as ever before, but there's also probably more terrible stuff out there than ever before. Thems the times, you know?
I do think it's a terrific time to be a fan, where I can watch live baseball games on my phone, or look up the break on Zack Greinke's slider on a moment's notice. Hopefully that extends to making it a terrific time to be a sports journalist. Readership has never been higher, that's for sure, and that's a good place to start.
There's no direct answer to your question in that paragraph, but that's because I don't think there's a direct answer to give. It's probably more perspective, personal situation, world view, stuff like that.
From my point of view -- as long as I have a job I enjoy -- it's a terrific time to be a sports journalist.
Do you feel that sports teams are trying to “manage” the media more today?
Oh, probably. This isn't a new thing as much as it's an evolving thing. It's worse the more a team feels like they don't need a particular media outlet, which is probably just human nature. The bigger and more influential the media outlet, the less a team can "manage," to use your word. But in the end, I'm not sure it matters.
They can't control what we do, just like we can't control what they do, so you try to reach a compromise somewhere in the middle.
I've been screamed at plenty, deservedly and otherwise. Worrying about that stuff doesn't do much good. As long as you're accountable and fair (with criticism and praise), that's all you can do.
Have athletes changed?
I probably haven't been around long enough to really answer this one. There are some genuine assholes in sports, and some genuinely good people. Just like there are some genuine assholes who work at Target, and some genuinely good people.
I guess I'm reminded of the line from Tony Severino, the Rockhurst football coach, who says that in all his years the kids are still the same, it's just everything around them is different.
Any books in your future?
Maybe. I don't know. If I squint real hard, I can imagine myself writing a book, and would love to go through the challenge and all that, but right now just don't feel ready or equipped with the right idea or anything.
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