Knox Bardeen: Writer for Bleacher Report

Last Friday (Nov. 1), my sports reporting class had yet another great guest speaker. This time, the speaker was Knox Bardeen.

Bardeen is a reporter for Bleacher Report and Comcast Sports South. He also works in Atlanta sports radio on 790 The Zone and recently co-wrote the book 100 Things Falcons Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die with Ray Glier.

Bardeen didn’t get his career started the traditional way by studying journalism in college. Instead, he was discovered as a fantasy baseball blogger. After about a year of blogging, Bardeen was recruited by an editor at Fanball. After a year at Fanball, he was approached by an editor at AOL’s FanHouse. From there, Bardeen was able to branch out and cover MLB, NFL, college basketball and tennis in addition to fantasy baseball and football. In 2009, he was asked to cover the Atlanta Falcons training camp and has been covering the team from Flowery Branch as CBS Sports’ Rapid Reports Correspondent ever since. His job at CBS Sports eventually landed him a position covering the entire NFC South for Bleacher Report.

Bardeen gave our class many different tips on how to be successful in the business. He told us to be very active on Twitter, to read every day, and to write every day. Bardeen encouraged each of us to take advantage of any opportunities we may have to meet other people in the business. He advised us to learn to identify storylines, to explore internships, and to know how to interview without being star-struck.

Bardeen’s biggest advice, however, was to learn how to do everything. He emphasized the importance of remaining valuable to a company by being able to complete a variety of tasks. As a sports reporter, Bardeen considers his ability to write, report on radio, report on television, operate cameras, and edit footage a great advantage for himself in his career.

I think Bardeen gave our class excellent advice. Journalism is heading in a direction of multiplatform reporting, where writers are expected to juggle multiple responsibilities. Having a wide range of skills will definitely make me more marketable as I look for a job and more valuable to employers throughout my career.