ICM002: Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant and Pat Fitzgerald. Writing about the NBA and College Athletics With Mark Perlman [Podcast]
What’s it like to cover the NBA? Is Derrick Rose portrayed fairly by the media? Are pro athletes more or less thoughtful than college athletes?
These are questions posed to Mark Perlman, this week’s guest of the Inside Chicago Media podcast. Mark is a sports writer for the Associated Press. He has covered the NBA and the Bulls for over a decade. He also writes about Northwestern University.
In this episode, we discuss:
• Covering the NBA. A typical day in the life of an NBA reporter.
• Interviewing Kobe Bryant. The Lakers great recently announced his retirement. Mark had a one-on-one with Kobe.
• The saga of Derrick Rose. Once thought to be the next Michael Jordan, Rose is now often a punch line in Chicago. Mark shares his experiences dealing with Rose and whether or not he is fairly portrayed by the Chicago media.
• Use of social media. How does Mark uses social media tools such as Twitter to do his job.
• Life with Fitz. The colorful Northwestern football coach is synonymous with the university. What it’s really like to cover Pat Fitzgerald.
• College sports culture. Starting with an attempt by Northwestern football players to unionize, and most recently with Missouri football players threatening to boycott, there’s been quite a few stories involving college athletes lately that delve into culture. How should the media cover these stories? We discuss.
• Advice for young writers. Mark is also an instructor at Columbia College in Chicago. He gives tips for aspiring reporters and shares an example of one resourceful student who went Paris to cover the recent terrorist attacks.
You can find Mark on Twitter at @markdavidperlma.
