So much of the political coverage we see today parallels what we find in a nightly sportscast. Who is up, who is down? Who is winning, who is losing? The latest polls, and the reaction to the standings. What are the expectations, and will the manager be fired if the team doesn’t win the fall classic?
Is it ESPN or CNN?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m guilty of it too. When our show Capitol Square moved from the Ohio News Network to WBNS the first thing we did was institute a segment where our political strategists had 15 seconds to discuss a topic. If they went over their time, they were dramatically cut off with a whistle.
It was an idea straight from Columbus sports greats Dom Tiberi and Beau Bishop!
In fact, I mention this topic in my book Front Row Seat at the Circus:
Covering campaign events always reminded me of this quote by journalist-turned-professor Dick Stout: “Hell, political reporters. Shit, they’re like sportswriters. The job’s a lot the same. It’s fun to do and the quality isn’t very high. Anybody can be a political reporter and a sportswriter. But you have to be exceptional to do it well. It really takes something to be a good one.”
By the way, I have spoken often with my friend Beau Bishop, an expert on everything sports, about the similarities of covering sports and politics. Think of the months leading up to the first primaries as preseason, the conventions as the All Star break, the presidential debates and late campaigning as the postseason. Then election night as the Super Bowl! There really is a lot of crossover between the two, but we’ll save that topic for another book.
Enjoy the NCAA National Championship tonight and the Wisconsin primary results tomorrow night!