We spend plenty of time discussing IU basketball here, but there’s a whole world of hoops just beyond these borders. To help us get a national perspective — as well as discuss media and, OK, the Hoosiers too — we exchanged some lighthearted and interesting emails with ESPN.com’s Pat Forde.
Forde is one of ESPN.com’s more talented and consistently entertaining writers. He covers college football and basketball for the .com, and is a former columnist at the Louisville Courier-Journal. Our questions are in bold.
Inside The Hall: You left the Louisville Courier-Journal after 17 years in 2004 to join ESPN.com. What was the transition like moving to the most widely read sports Web site in the country? What are the pluses and the minuses of working at a newspaper versus a Web site?
Pat Forde: The transition has been great. It was hard to leave behind a lot of friends and emotional capital invested in the newspaper, and the newspaper business. It was the only place I’d ever worked as an adult. And even after moving on I’ve come to have even greater respect for some of the people there and the care given given to every story.
But if I complain about my current job, shoot me. I work for the industry leader in sports coverage, where they never think small, and never plead poverty as an excuse for not doing the job right. The impact of ESPN is amazing and was brought home to me my first fall on the job, when we broke the news that Urban Meyer had said yes to Florida. Within minutes I was on Dan Patrick’s radio show and a satellite truck was on its way to my house to do live TV for most of the rest of the day. When ESPN mobilizes to cover breaking news, it’s something to see.
As for pluses and minuses: The greatest advantages to ESPN.com are the lack of limitations. Deadlines and space are never problems, so we can cover events and issues in much greater detail than newspapers. Especially night games. Our travel budget is robust, so we go places where newspapers no longer go to report stories. The only minuses for me is the increased travel, which can be difficult with a wife and three kids. I miss a lot of stuff.
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