[外電] A Candid Interview With Sekou Smith
A Candid Interview With Sekou Smith
by Micah Hart
Sekou Smith has covered the Atlanta Hawks for the Atlanta Journal
Constitution since midway through the 2004-05 season after
covering the Indiana Pacers for the Indianapolis Star. Normally
the one asking the questions, we thought it would be interesting
to turn the tables for a change and talk to Smith about his job
and what it's like covering a professional sports team. We sat
down in the Hawks media lounge after practice one day at Philips
Arena and covered a variety of topics, including the future of
his industry, whether it's better to cover a good team or a bad
team, and if, as a sportswriter, its still possible to be a fan.
Micah Hart: What kind of a name is "Sekou" anyway?
Sekou Smith: It’s a family name. I think my dad was probably
going through a 70’s or afro-centric like phase. It’s his
roots anyway.
MH: Does it mean anything?
SS: It means, “learned”. I also heard it means several things
depending upon one’s culture. I’m trying to put my own spin on
it too.
MH: Did people make fun of it a lot?
SS: I had an eighth grade teacher named Ms. Molder, who called
me something different every day of the year. It’s just one of
those things that happens a lot. The good thing about the NBA is
that it’s repetitive and everybody gets familiar with one another
so you learn how to pronounce each other’s name. But with radio
stations, they call me to be on and just butcher it. I don’t
think I’ve ever heard Coach Woodson call me by my name.
MH: What does he call you?
SS: Steve. You know when somebody just decides to call you by a
certain name and they stick with it forever? It's fine with me
because we have a good relationship so I‘m not trying to call
him out or anything. Even with Coach Ballard or Billy (Knight)
standing right there, I still don’t think he calls me the right
name. I think it’s a trigger in people’s heads sometimes. And
the scary thing is that I’ve learned to become ultra-cautious
about mispronouncing others' names. I always want to make sure I
am pronouncing a person’s name the right way. I’m always
getting my name sauteed the wrong way, which is part of the
burden of having a unique name.
MH: How did you get into sports writing?
SS: Well, it’s a weird story that started when I was in college
at Jackson State in Jackson, Mississippi. My first year I was a
history and English major, and had plans on going to law school,
you know, doing something productive (laughing). Then I met Eric
Stringfellow, who is the public editor at the Clarion Ledger (the
newspaper in Jackson) and a very well known journalist not only
in Mississippi but parts beyond that. He was a professor at the
time, so I took an introductory journalism class because I had a
passing interest in the subject.
MH: Had you done it in high school at all?
SS: No, I had never done anything in high school. I did it
because it's college, and it's the time when you try different
electives and things. I was like, "I'll try this." I was sitting
in the auditorium one day and Eric happened to be the guest
speaker at the time. I thought it was fascinating, the stories
he was telling about his life and his career as a reporter. He
asked if there was anyone interested in this mentorship program
at the local newspaper, so I decided to check it out.
There was an editor there, Dewey English, who they paired me up
with at the time. This was like in the spring of my freshman year.
They allowed me to come down and shadow him for a few days. I
spent some time with him just talking about the profession and
seeing the newsroom for the first time. I came back in the fall
of my sophomore year, and they told me there was a job opening
covering high school sports at the paper.
They brought me and two other guys down to the paper, and they
sat us down in front of a computer and told us to type a story.
We had to write a story as if we were covering a game on a Friday
night. We all did it, and after that they asked me to go out and
cover a game next week, so I did.
It started literally by total accident from there. I think I
covered a Millsaps’ College game my first time. It was sweet.
I’ll never forget they had this kid Kelvin Gladney, who was
supposed to be some record-breaking running back. Millsaps is
this tiny school tucked right in the city. I wanted to get a feel
for it , so I went to watch a practice game first. That was where
I met Todd Kelly, who is a long-time high school writer and is
now one of my best friends on the planet. I met him that night
and found out we had all these common interests -- college
football and recruiting to name a few. We both hit it off and
from there it spiraled out of control. I think I was working
30-40 hours a week by the end of that year.
MH: Did it feel like work?
SS: No. That’s how it hooks you. I was actually using the paper
as free Internet access! I could come down there, print anything
I want, I basically had full run of the place. They gave me a
badge to get in and out, and I just came down there to surf the
web whenever I wanted.
At that time, a lot of the reporters at the paper didn’t know
what a Mac was or really how to use the Internet. So for me,
it was hilarious - I could go down there and do whatever I wanted.
I would read the wire all day, something I’d never done before,
and I would use that to get comfortable with the idea of the
business. But through all that I still didn’t change my major
and continued to keep my course load in terms of school. I still
had plans to go to law school or at least graduate school and
teaching at the collegiate level or something. I just wasn’t
sure.
MH: Do you still think about that?
SS: No. I kind of decided against it after a few years. My last
year in college the sports editor at the paper offered me a job
before I graduated. Mike Knobler, who is actually the Georgia
Tech writer for the AJC now, was the sports editor in Jackson at
the time. So I thought about it and it just made sense. Mike told
me that I could do what I was doing now but be a full-time
employee. I couldn't ask for a better first job because I was
already familiar with the people I already worked with at the
time. And I had a chance to make it formal.
My first year, I did preps for nine months, and then Rusty
Hampton left for Lexington to cover Kentucky. His Mississippi
State beat opened up, and Mike took a chance on me. He chose a
young guy with little experience compared to other candidates
he could have picked. And the rest is history. That was the
greatest thing that ever happened to me, that I was given the
chance. I missed their Final Four run in 1996, but the three
years I covered Mississippi State's football team were three
of the best years in the program’s existence. It was a great
time to do it.
I was learning from some of the best beat writers around, guys
like Knobler, Hampton, and Rick Cleveland, who is on of the best
writers I’ve ever known. The SEC Conference is covered like no
other in terms of college sports. I was learning on the job while
I was in college and I then had a chance to get immersed right
into it out of school. A lot of times I was the youngest guy in
the press box by far. The travel was very interesting, and I got
to see close up the lifestyle that journalists live. It was weird
because when I was starting out, I used to be the only person
getting off the plane who didn’t have anybody to meet me.
MH: Chuck Klosterman (a writer for ESPN and Spin Magazine) said
that sports writers hate to talk about sports because that’s all
that anyone wants to talk to them about. Do you agree with that?
SS: Yes. But you inevitably do it all the time. When I met my
wife in college, I learned that she was the least sports-oriented
human being I’d ever met. She had never played organized sports
and she wasn’t a big fan of it either. I was ecstatic because
here is a person that’s not going to ask me about the game. And
still to this day that’s one thing I really appreciate about
her. Unfortunately I have a sports-crazy family, which being
around them all these years has kind of forced her to watch and
at least be a casual fan.
MH: How do you deal with fans that always come up and ask for
your opinion?
SS: That’s the good part about covering a pro team that I
noticed is different than covering a college. I was either in
Starksville or Oxford, Mississippi, everyday. Everywhere you
went people wanted to talk about it. In contrast, covering a
pro team in Atlanta where there so much stuff going on, it’s
easy to blend in with the fabric here. People just don’t want
to bombard you about it. The e-mail and other stuff are intense,
but that’s what being a fan is all about. Their passion for
sports is even more than yours might be in some cases.
MH: In your profession can you still be a fan?
SS: Not really. I root for Michigan football team and that’s
the only sporting team I care about at any level or in any way.
I have nieces and nephews, and even my son is on a soccer team
and I’ll root for him. But even then I don’t like to make much
noise at those events because you see what all goes into the
sports. You understand what kind of sacrifices the players and
coaches make. You realize how much everybody has invested in
terms of time and energy. The psyche it takes to be involved
makes it hard for you to root after you have some of the stuff
torn away. I am Michigan football fan until I die and my parents
make fun of me until this day about it. They wonder how I can
take it so serious - if Michigan loses, I am having a rough
weekend. But I grew up with that as my passion. Michigan football
is the extent of my passion because I don’t root for NBA or NFL
teams. I used to when I was growing up, but all of that has come
and gone.
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