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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Thursday, March 28, 2024

Aaron Leibowitz | The Fan

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I'm graduating soon, and lately I've been wondering whether I'm about to leave the Daily sports section to clean up my mess. I'll explain.

At the Daily, I've had opportunities to do legitimate journalism. I've interviewed players and coaches, sat in press boxes and taken bus rides to many of the NESCAC schools (go to Big G's Deli near Colby). I've written about national champions, marathon runners and game-winning shot-makers. I've interviewed Steve Tisch and Mike Aresco and Tony Massarotti.

I've also made people mad. I quoted an athlete dropping an F-bomb, which caused the Athletics Department to face-lift its media policy. I wrote a feature story on the football program, with quotes from players, coaches, administrators and alumni, that made people super mad.

Now, there are some in the Tisch Sports and Fitness Center who cringe when they hear my name. That's a bit sad, I suppose, but it's not the end of the world. I told a story that I felt was important for Tufts students to hear. I took a risk. I grew as a journalist - and, yes, I alienated some people. If you write, not everyone is going to like what you say. That goes with the territory.

What's more important to me is that, going forward, other aspiring sports journalists feel comfortable choosing Tufts over Northwestern or Syracuse or BU. Tufts - and the Daily in particular - has a remarkable track record of producing successful sportswriters. There are plenty of reasons, including our location near Boston and our journalist-friendly CMS program - not to mention the dedicated students who have somehow kept an independent, daily newspaper at a 5,000-student school afloat.

But Tufts' status as a great place to pursue sports journalism is not inevitable. In the NESCAC - where there are no PR teams acting as intermediaries between the press and the athletes, and where the only incentive to talk to the media is to get a little on-campus exposure - we rely heavily on the coaches and players. Without them, we can't get quotes. And without quotes, we're screwed. 

I learned that lesson the hard way this spring. I burned the wrong bridges, and let's just say I was very much without quotes.

On the one hand, ensuring that Tufts remains a space for serious sports journalism means continuing to pursue serious stories. Athletics at Tufts should be fun, but even a Div. III athletics department wields a great deal of money and power. Part of a journalist's job is to question those with money and power.

On the other hand, we shouldn't be grilling Tufts athletes. They're students. We should speak to them professionally, but also openly, as peers. Part of what makes sports writing at Tufts fun is that there are not 100-foot walls between us and the athletes. Leave the walls to the professionals and the Div. I programs.

Certainly, I'm not naive enough to think that anything I did in four years could shake the foundation of the Daily sports section. But I do think it's important to appreciate the way it has been, and to work hard to keep it that way - even if that means cleaning up a mess some other dumb sportswriter made.

Looking back, my decision to come here instead of going to journalism school should have been a no-brainer. Here, I'd find BEATs, American studies and the best people around.

And here I'd find the Daily, where I'd pour my heart into covering teams, pursuing stories and writing this column. Next year, and in the years that follow, I know others will carry the torch.

 

Aaron Leibowitz is a senior who is majoring in American studies. He can be reached at Aaron.Leibowitz@tufts.edu.