A bit more recognition for ‘Heavy Pressure’
By William M. Hartnett on Jun 9, 2007 in featured, sports, work
My one and so far only foray into sports writing, Heavy Pressure: NFL players struggle with weight game, last week placed second for enterprise reporting in the 2006 Florida Sports Writers Association contest. It previously received an honorable mention for project reporting in the 2006 Associated Press Sports Editors contest.
Not only is it nice to receive a bit of recognition in an unfamiliar field, it’s particularly nice to place in a contest in which I didn’t even know I had been entered. No, Heavy Pressure hasn’t actually won any contests, but I do have something that I know for a fact no one else in the world has: A 118,551-record SPSS file with the height, weight and name of every player in professional football history backed up on my iPod. Suck on that, sports hacks.
While Heavy Pressure’s contest results are due primarily to the excellent reporting and writing of my colleague Carlos Frias, the story wouldn’t have happened if I, a metro-based data geek, hadn’t wandered across the newsroom and pitched the idea to the sports department. Also, one of The Post’s cops reporters placed third in the FSWA contest for feature writing with her story about an amateur boxer. See what happens when everyone in the newsroom plays nice?
Mash your mouse right here to read more about Heavy Pressure: NFL players struggle with weight game.
