My trip to the Philadelphia Sportswriters Association Banquet was educational.
If you watched this week’s edition of Hall Monitor, you probably noticed that I wasn’t there, at least not on the live broadcast.
That’s because I spent some time on my husband Chris’s side of the world. He’s on the Board of Governors for the Philadelphia Sportswriters Association, and they had their annual banquet on Wednesday night at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
This year’s honorees included the Little League team out of Media, Pennsylvania as the Team of the Year, boxer Jaron Ennis as the Pro Athlete of the Year and Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola as Humanitarian of the Year…and before you ask, no. The Arizona Diamondbacks did not nominate him for this award.
Keith Pompey, Philadelphia 76ers beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, was given the organization’s Stan Hochman award for Excellence in Journalism. Also, Jeremiah Trotter Jr., a linebacker from Clemson who just happens to be the son of the last decent linebacker to play for the Philadelphia Eagles, was given the Amateur Athlete of the Year. His father accepted the award for his son, who is preparing for the NFL Draft.
(If someone could point this out to Eagles GM Howie Roseman, that would be great. If what’s required for the team to have a good linebacker is for him to be named Jeremiah Trotter, there’s one available. You probably won’t even have to look too far for a jersey for him.)
Other honorees included the 1973-74 Philadelphia Flyers and former Eagle Vince Papale and for some reason, the sportswriters gave Papale the Living Legend award.
I’ll leave that there.
It was a nice evening that included a great speech from Phillies Manager Rob Thomson and what passes for comedy from Joe Conklin.
But one of the things that struck me when I walked into the ballroom, other than the fact that Jeremiah Trotter looks like he could probably still play if he wanted to, was the makeup of the room.
Were it not for the college students and some of our friends in attendance, Chris and I would have been among the youngest people in the room. And if it weren’t for us, Pompey’s family, and some of the athletes, we’d have been the only people of color.
One of things that’s always driven me a little crazy when I read the city’s sports pages and listen to sports talk radio is just how, well, White it is.
Considering I cover politics, one of the least diverse areas of news coverage whether local or national, that’s saying a lot.
Including Pompey, Chris, who works for the Philadelphia Sunday Sun and WURD in addition to being a Hall Monitor contributor, the Philadelphia Tribune’s O.J. Spivey, the Daily News’s Marcus Hayes, 6ABC’s Ducis Rogers and CBS 3’s Don Bell, there might be 30 people of color covering your favorite teams here in Philadelphia. If you add sports talk radio to the mix, Chris and 97.5 The Fanatic’s Tyrone Johnson are the only two show hosts of color that I know of who didn’t play for the Eagles before hitting the booth.
When it comes to women, well, there’s Fox-29’s Breland Moore, and Phily Sport’s Renee Washington. I haven’t seen 6ABC’s Jamie Apody in a while.
It’s really kind of sad. And, like the lack of diversity in reporting overall, it kind of reflects in the coverage.
So, it kind of gave me an idea. One that I hope Chris takes up.
For Larry, Lance, and I to bring you Hall Monitor every week took a leap of faith and more than a little luck. We’re committed to it and to the things we cover that no one else does. Our goal is to grow Hall Monitor into something that allows us to hire people to work with us, hire interns to pass our knowledge on to, and to continue to ask the kinds of questions of our city government that others might not think to ask.
I’d like to see a Hall Monitor for sports. Something that tells the stories of athletes in places where the only reason why the playing field isn’t uneven is because it doesn’t exist. The things that athletes are doing that give back to Philadelphia in ways that don’t necessarily warrant a press release.
The stories beyond the X’s and O’s.
Chris does this to an extent on his show, but I’d love to see him do it full-time. Maybe, I can talk him into it. Watch this space.
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