Big-Time Sports Stories in a Small-Time City

By Matthew Cooper
Special to chipsquinn.org

Posted: Aug. 6, 2008

Matthew Cooper

Before I was interviewed for my internship, I could not envision myself in a city as small as Jackson, Tenn., population 59,643.

Compare that to the population of my hometown of Oakland, Calif.: 399,484. Or my college city of Washington, D.C.: 572,059.

Most of my non-journalist friends thought I was out of my mind for “moving to the country.”

But I wanted the opportunity to cover sports, and my internship at the Sun would be my first go-around. I was confident that the experience would provide a great background and starting point for a successful career in journalism.

Adjusting to working in a new newsroom was a task in itself. Just weeks removed from college courses, I had to take on the responsibilities of a full-time sports writer on my first day on the job.

Jackson wasn’t quite the mini-D.C. I hoped it would be. I was adjusting to a slower-paced city, and it was harder than I anticipated. Nightlife, concerts and other entertainment were almost non-existent. The biggest attraction was a 24-hour Wal-mart.

Even with the general friendliness of most of the residents, it took a while to get used to common Southern words such as “hither, yonder and supper.”

I was appalled that the story that got the biggest headline during my first week was about a high school kid who brought an unloaded gun into his school. At a major newspaper, it would be a struggle to get such a story on Page 1 below the fold. But in Jackson, it caused an outrage in the school system and stirred up the city.

Once I settled into my work environment, I realized that the extra sensations of a big city no longer mattered. My job was to cover sports, and the game rules and boundaries hadn’t changed.

Sure, the nearest professional sports team was only 80 miles away, but the Sun didn’t cover the games (plus, the Memphis Grizzlies and their losing ways aren’t exactly a proud mark of excellence for the state of Tennessee).

My main focus was high school and NAIA college basketball. I soon found that these games attracted a big following – gyms would fill to capacity when the teams played. Sometimes even a reporter couldn’t find a seat in the gym. High school sports were the highlight of conversation on sports talk radio.

I made sure my game coverage included the feeling of that gymnasium. I witnessed a buzzer-beating shot to knock the defending state champions out of the playoffs, and the game generated as much excitement as a Celtics-Lakers thriller. A girl carted off the court with a head-collision injury was enough motivation for her team to charge to an incredible victory over an undefeated opponent.

These moments – and I the scribe who captured them for the community -- made my job fun and worth going to every day.

I also had opportunities to report on how sporting teams responded in the face of destruction. The campus of Union University literally was ripped apart after a tornado tore through Jackson in February. I wrote stories about the undefeated women’s basketball team, which was a source of inspiration for the university. I also worked on a story about Union’s championship golf team, playing for a teammate who was severely injured during the tornado.

In Jackson, I found a new respect for sports competition and reporting.

I saw that sports is a powerful rallying tool of a community, no matter how small, how big.

Journalists such as I are born to cover sports.

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