Jeff Bernstein served as ECAC-SIDA President in 2010-11. He began working in the profession in 1982 as the Sports Information Director at Hunter College In 1988, he moved to Manhattan College as the Director of Sports Media Relations and has been in his current position as Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information at New York University since 1999.
Courtesy of
ECAC-SIDA (Eastern College Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors Association)
When you’ve been around the business for as many years (31) as I have, you see so many changes. Some good. Some not so good. Some that help ease your load and some that pile on to it.
While I’d be the first to admit that keeping up with all of this is a challenge and sometimes a futile pursuit, I try to keep everything in perspective. So many of the improvements have made an SID’s life better, such as computerized stats vs. hand stats, e-mail vs. regular mail (I think you youngins’ call it Snail Mail), and PhotoShop vs. no shop at all.
However, lost in this social media craze of texts, Twitter, Tumbler, Instagram, Facebook, etc., is the one thing that has made this profession better than all the rest….the PERSONAL TOUCH.
I know that “pining” for the old days is not a popular sentiment (at least to those in only their first or second decade in the business), but personal relationships and personal contacts are what have (and what should) make our profession special. Those are the items upon which this great field was built
It’s hard to believe that people use their phone implements for everything other then making phone calls these days. Texting? Sure. E-mailing? Absolutely. Getting directions? Of course. Checking out scores? Naturally. Googling? For sure. Making phone calls? Well….maybe…sometimes.
I still enjoy nothing better then speaking to a colleague about an upcoming game, a recently-concluded game, their family, my family, their life, my life, changes in the business, transactions throughout the profession, etc, etc. Just can’t do that in 140 characters, at least not if you want to do it the right way.
Communicating with someone by actually SPEAKING to them is becoming a lost art. I continue to be amazed how my student workers, when asked to contact someone somewhere, their last inclination is to use the telephone. To my absolute horror and bewilderment, some of them do not know how to use a phone that is sitting on a desk. That is a sad commentary, no matter how much “progress” we have made.
Some of the reasons for non-telephone use are “it takes too long”, “I need a quick answer”, “texting is more efficient”, “I can text/e-mail multiple people at once. Can’t do that on the phone.”
Not sure if those are explanations or excuses. If we lose the incentive to build up our one-on-one relationships, why will someone go the extra mile when we’re in need? Why would someone spend that extra hour in the office to get us a boxscore? Why will someone come over to our building to help stat a game when they have their own work to do?
While I feel that the people in our business are the nicest, most generous, most selfless people in the world, EVERYONE needs a pat on the back now and then. Everyone needs a THANK YOU once in a while. Everyone can use a “hello” from time to time. It doesn’t take long and it does a world of good. It puts smiles on people’s faces and it doesn’t cost a cent.
Of course, I’m not that dense and naïve to think that all of these social media outlets are not helpful to our jobs. They certainly are. What I’m suggesting is that we don’t forget about the personal relationship aspects of our profession. By all means, use everything within your power to do your job to the best of your ability, but don’t forget about the simpler, kinder, gentler ways of doing it, as well.
So, next time you write that e-mail or text, or you post something on Facebook or to Twitter, consider actually TALKING to that person or people. Better yet, meet up with them somewhere if that’s possible. Those interactions will go a long way to building a SPECIAL relationship, one that will endure longer then a post or a 140-charcater crammed-in message.
Phone calls may be old fashioned, but they’re still alive and kickin’. Make use of it before that dinosaur (and that form of communication) is no longer available to us.
That will really be a sad day………….