Go For It Regardless Of The Path

Finally getting out of the New York traffic, Michael Scotto was able to make it back to where his office is located to give me a call.  As he made his way to his office, he greeted some of his associates and apologized to me for calling later than planned.  He finally made it to his office, and was ready to discuss the love he has for the sport of basketball, the path he chose to get to the career he has now, and why he loves what he does as a career.

Michael Scotto, a writer for The RealGM and The Hoops Report, grew up with basketball being a huge aspect of his life.

"Well the thing that I've enjoyed the most is first of all I've always played basketball when I was younger.  I've played it through Hofstra, I played in rec league.  Basketball has always just been a part of my life, and the best part of my career now is going to games."  

A graduate from Hofstra University, Scotto was able to apply the skills he developed in his journalism and avid editing classes to become a versatile journalist in the sports industry.  Scotto has experience in various aspects of media including: television, radio, blogs, online and print journalism, social media, production, anchoring, and avid editing.   

He has worked in the very competitive New York market his whole career.  According to Scotto, He characterizes the path he took to get where he's at as a bit radical, and the path not many people would take.  

"I don’t know if a lot of people would tell you to go my route but I went my route anyway.  I was able to get some interviews on my demo reel with Carmelo Anthony during post games, Jeremy Lin during Linsanity; I had one with John Wall"

The best part Scotto loves about his job is being able to go to the games.  He has found the experience of being able to connect one on one with some of the professional athletes and gather a sense of who they are, to be very uplifting. 

"It's just nice being able to go and talk to these professional athletes one on one and really get a sense of who they are.  To the general public some people may think of one guy as he's not a nice guys, he's arrogant, he's all about the money and it's not like that.  Or it can be the opposite, you may think he's a good guy and then you talk to them a couple times in the locker room well maybe this guy is just doing this for the money and it’s just a facade.  That's been one thing that’s really opened my eyes, and been an enlightening and enriching experience."

He enjoys what he does tremendously, and is grateful to be able to take the love he has had for basketball since he was young and make it part of his career.

Before Scotto hung up the phone to end the interview, he shared a bit of advice:

"Everyone has their own path.  No one will tell you the exact same way that they have broken into the industry.  Some will take a few years, some will take a decade.  It truly depends.  But the best advice, if you really want to do this and you know in your heart that’s what you want to do, then go for it full force."

Listen To The Interview Here:

Interview With Michael Scotto:

BJ: What are some of the challenges you face with writing in the New York market?

MS: It's extremely competitive like no other market.  I’m convinced that a lot of people in New York could go to place like a mid-market maybe in Atlanta or Indiana and be a star there.  But the saying goes if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.  My belief was I didn't want spend the core years of my life in my twenties outside of New York trying to come back here, if I was able to make enough money to sustain myself, I can do the online internet stuff and you know kind of have a day job in a sense where I go to NBC and I edit and still be with my family my girlfriend, make a life of myself here.  A lot of people will tell you and a lot of my friends some went to Texas and have gotten great experience as an anchor and reporter.  But in doing the path that I did which was kind of radical, I don’t know if a lot of people would tell you to go my route but I went my route anyway.  I was able to get some interviews on my demo reel with Carmelo Anthony during post games, Jeremy Lin during Linsanity; I had one with John Wall.  These things wouldn't have been possible if I was in Idaho or something like that.  There’s a bunch of different ways to do it, you just have to think of what’s best for you.  If you like to be away from your family especially coming out of college and ultimately always knowing where you want to be and what’s going to get you there.

BJ: Would you say you have any limitations to what you write? Are you able to write whatever you wish and have an open opinion?

MS: I'm allowed to write whatever I want.  However I've noticed when like how Joe Ganner would try to do witty lines, my editors would air it on the side of collections.  It's nothing like controversial, but I know like The RealGM is very analytic base they kind of want you to stick with what’s in the report.  It wasn't too much of my personality in my writing and felt that, not that it bothered me I could get around that obviously, but I like I was limited in that regard where I couldn't have made either a witty joke or sentence. I think that’s part of writing.  I want that, that my personality and that’s what would be a way to draw a reader in.  If you’re just writing plain stats, it gets lost in the shuffle.  To me that was the only real limitation that I had from most places.

BJ: Have you ever had to decide if your writing piece was unethical before publishing it?

MS: No, nothing I reported, if anything I would talk to my editor and we would go over.  I really didn't right "All Sources" or anything like that.  Let’s say when Mike D'antoni left the Knicks, I would write the final days of D'Antoni and how it transpired and things like that.  SO it was kind of a facts base, my opinions it was either inferred or supported by the facts.  That was okay; it wasn't really an issue or anything like that.  Nothing controversial.  I would say one thing for a young writer, some people want to write controversial things to get their name out there and that’s a pro and a con because you'll learn if you write certain things that are controversial you may get your name out there but if you try to report something first, you may be the first person but if you're wrong or inaccurate that will follow you especially early on when you're a youngster trying to build credibility and sources like that.

BJ: What would you say you most enjoy about your career, and what advice would you give to someone who's trying to break into that industry?

MS: Well the thing that I've enjoyed the most is first of all I've always played basketball when I was younger.  I've played it through Hofstra, I played in rec league.  I don’t know if you would know Charles Jenkins but he's another guy I hung out with.  Basketball has always just been a part of my life, and the best part of my career now is going to games, when you're younger and your parents have to pay for tickets now I’m blessed to get a press credential to go in.  Obviously you have to conduct yourself in a professional manner, it's just nice being able to go and talk to these professional athletes one on one and really get a sense of who they are.  To the general public some people may think of one guy as he's not a nice guys, he's arrogant, he's all about the money and it's not like that.  Or it can be the opposite, you may think he's a good guy and then you talk to them a couple times in the locker room well maybe this guy is just doing this for the money and it’s just a facade.  That's been one thing that’s really opened my eyes, and been an enlightening and enriching experience and as far as the advice portion of that question that I would say to people.  Everyone has their own path.  No one will tell you the exact same way that they have broken into the industry.  Some will take a few years, some will take a decade.  It truly depends.  If you're in this for money, then it's not the career path for you.  No one will tell you they make a ton of money unless they hit it big time like on ESPN and they've been doing it for 20 years.  And even places like ESPN and all those other places you may not necessarily make as much as you think that’s all I can say about that just from talk to people in the industry. But the best advice, if you really want to do this and you know in your heart that’s what you want to do, then go for it full force.  But I also think don’t ever make work your sole life.  You can hang out with your friends, if you're able to do that, you'll find that everything you do in life such as you're work and hanging with friends, your significant other, family, it'll be a more enriched experience.

BJ: Great! Thank you for taking the time out to do this for me!