On Monday, April 8, James Wagner of The Washington Post came to Annandale during Atom Time to give students an insight to what it is like to be a professional sports reporter. He is one of two people whose job is to cover every move Washington’s beloved Nationals make.
Growing up, Wagner moved around with his parents and his brother in various places around the world about every two to three years. What connected him to the world of journalism was keeping up to date with what was happening in the U.S. as his family constantly moved around the world. He spent two years of his high school career at Lake Braddock Secondary School before he attended The University of Virginia.
Although he works for The Post now, he did not start his journalism career until he was in college. He worked for the Cavalier Daily, UVA’s school newspaper, for two years. During his sophomore year at UVA, he had his first internship with the Fayetteville Observer as a sports writer. Following that, his next internship was with the Louisville-Kentucky Courier Journal as a news reporter. His last internship was with the Wall Street Journal as a sports writer.
After college, he got a job with the Los Angeles Times, but only stayed there for eight months before he moved on to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune; another newspaper just outside the city of Los Angeles. He now reigns as the Washington Nationals reporter for The Post.
Previous to his current job at The Post he was a reporter for high school sports in the Washington area.
Every year, the Nationals play about 200+ games. Wagner and his partner cover all the home games together and switch off for each away game. The down side to this is that he travels for about nine months out of the year covering every move the National’s make. He travel everywhere from Miami, Atlanta, and even up to Philly to cover the National’s games.
Although traveling is tiring, one benefit is his close relationships with all the players: he spent pretty much every day for the past year with these athletes. He notes that it is good to keep good relationships with all of the players because he spends so much time with them. He also has an insight into each of the players personalities, noting that Laroche is the easiest for him to talk to, yet all the players are genuine when working with the press.
While he is reporting at the games, he is constantly updating The Washington Post’s online paper with important moments that happen during the game. Following the end of the game he has two minutes to submit the game summary to the paper so it can be published as fast as possible for all viewers. The job proves adrenaline inducing as well as being quite rewarding with everything that he has accomplished.
