Jeff Pearlman chatted about the mundane interviews that happen throughout a baseball season. Pearlman had the following to say at his blog:

I couldn’t take it. I could. Not. Take. It.

I enjoyed the games and dug the travel and loved the banter with my fellow sports writers. But after roughly five years on the beat, I could not stomach any more cliches and meaningless blather. Literally, I would hear such nonsense coming from players and managers (”Well, you just have to play hard and hope for the best.”) and exit the clubhouse in disgust. I was especially annoyed by many of my peers (mostly those in TV and radio), who fed into the mind numbings by tossing out unambiguously lame questions, then nodding along to the equally lame answers. For most of my colleagues, a love for the sport was enough to keep the car running. Tom Verducci, SI’s unparalleled baseball scribe, lived for the intricacies of the action. So did guys like Ty Kepner, Bob Nightengale, Ken Rosenthal, etc.

But not me.

I love baseball, but my passion is reporting and writing. So I left—never to return to the magazine pages.

I’m only bringing this up, by the way, because I was just watching a bit of Joe Girardi’s post-game press conference on ESPN News, thinking, “Thank goodness I’m not there.”

Thank goodness.

I don’t have the experience of post game interviews like Pearlman, but in my short time covering mostly minor league baseball I have to concur with Pearlman’s assessment. You all know I am not a journalism, communications, or radio major. I have a bachelor degree in marketing and masters in business administration. I have been lucky enough to put myself in a position where I telecommute, manage people, and have enough autonomy where I can live out my passion for baseball independently. Since I am an outside observer I believe it gives me some unbiased insight into the industry.

When it comes to interviewing athletes or coaches there are very few great ones. As a matter of fact the “deer in the headlight” look is more the norm than the exception in the clubhouse. When someone does have the courage to ask a question it normally is off the cookie cutter journalism school variety and met with a clichéd response. I don’t think it’s all the reporters fault, but more an indictment of what the clubhouse culture has become. Take the post game sideline interviews by Ken Rosenthal of FOX. His interviews are essential “how do you feel” type questions. What the heck did you expect A-Rod say after he tied the game and helped his team win in 13? It doesn’t feel good?

Sideline reporting actually is a rung below the mundane dialogue during press conferences. Normally it’s reserved for eye candy (Erin Andrews), but there are other times, like Rosenthal during the playoffs, where networks try to use it for substance. All questions, for the most part, will be answered with rehearsed cliché’s, references to God, and perhaps a pie in the face. Its two minutes of the reporter, athlete, and viewer’s life that we can never get back. Perhaps stupid answers deserve stupid questions. Maybe I am wrong to expect more from a reporter than an athlete.

There are some exceptions of course. Kevin Burkhardt of SNY is probably the best in the business. He actually asks engaging questions that may elicit an intelligent response. Of course we are talking about modern professional athletes so the odds are 75% against a decent answer. For every Jose Reyes interview there is a Nelson Figueroa that gave some thoughtful responses during the season finale. As a matter of fact there may be Burkhardt, and then everyone else, when it comes to excellence with this type of reporting.

If FOX can’t use some intelligence with the start times of their telecasts then perhaps they could comply with my request to scrap the sideline interview. I rather see another ad, maybe it will be something I can use, instead of another silly canned quote. By now I think we know you have to “take it one game at a time, give it your all, and give thanks to the good Lord.”

Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Jeff Pearlman, Ken Rosenthal, Kevin Burkhardt, Nelson Figueroa, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Sideline Interview