Tag: hittingthesweetspot by Bob Skelley Page 1 of 186

Spring training for writers

By Bob Skelley

On March 11, 2018

In Opinion

I’m getting into baseball’s spring training season for reasons largely other than baseball.

I’m imagining what it would have been like if I could have had spring training for some of the jobs I’ve had.

Baseball’s spring training is done in warm places like Arizona and south Florida.

I’ve lived in places that had actual winter weather so the appeal of 4-6 weeks in warm environs is real.

Spring training baseball games are an opportunity for seasoned players to work out the kinks while affording younger players a chance to showcase their skillsets. It’s also a time when baseball managers are typically as boring as Bill Belichick when it comes to in-game interviews.

“What happened there, skip?”

“I’m not going to get into that right now, let’s just leave it at that.”

“Back to you, Jim!”

If I was sitting under a palm tree during my own version of spring training and shaking off the winter writing rust, I’d like to think my agent-posing-as-manager would be more forthcoming regarding my progress.

“Where do you think Bob is right now in the process, Al?”

“Well, Bob is obviously feeling his way through word flows right now, Jim. He’s coming along just fine, though. I really believe he’ll be ready to go on opening day.”

For sure!

I think my spring training would help me hone the new verbs I’ve been working on since I last wrote a week ago.

Additionally, I believe the camaraderie of working alongside other writers while we pound the keys on our chromebooks during morning stretching exercises, would be highly beneficial.

Fans

Without fans, there would be no baseball. So, I think it would be only fair that if we did not have writing and blogging fans, there would be no bloggers and writers. Spring training for writers should feature attendance by fans. It should be worked out.

How could you engage fans?

I would suggest broadcasting the screens of the individual writers on a jumbotron live in a south Florida parking lot to an audience of fans. The attendees of the spring training writing “games” could see how the writers shape and hone their digital masterpieces. Fans would have a chance to cheer correct usage of adverbs and bear eyewitness to the home runs of writing: the crafting of the headline.

A good headline clears the bases so to speak. It can also make all the difference in whether or not a person transitions from seeing the headline to reading the story. Now if you ask me, that’s really something worth cheering.

Baseball is very statistic driven. Stats are part of baseball’s appeal and lore.

While some bloggers are prolific and produce pieces daily, most are on a less busy schedule. I know I am.

If you are already writing every day, I would not think that spring training would be for you.

Spring training is for writers like me who produce columns on roughly a weekly basis.

There are times when I need to write every day for weeks on end. Spring training would give me some “doubleheader” scenarios where I’d have to write two stories in a row. This would enable me to build my endurance and confidence for being able to write effectively and regularly. Fans would enjoy watching me cuss as I felt deadlines approaching, too.

Until there is actually spring training for writers I will continue to just enjoy spring training for baseball players.

While some would say writers who cover spring training baseball games are already engaging in a writing spring training of their own, I for one, will dream of the day when the games are about the writers and not the baseball players.

After all, some writers “play” in upwards of 365 “games” a year.

Where is the spring training for them?