Interview with Donato DiRenzo

Growing up in the shadow of the Carrier Dome, it should come as no surprise that sports played a formative role in Donato DiRenzo’s life. He’s always bled Orange (the sign of a true fan: your favorite player is Preston Shumpert); his dad coached him every year in Little League; and as a homeschooled kid, sports were a way to connect with the kids around him.

But he never considered sports to be a viable career option — until, that is, he had some time to think. He took a year off after graduating to take stock of where he wanted to go, a decision that led him to Newhouse.

“I was going to teach, I was thinking about law school,” DiRenzo said. “So taking that year off, it kind of came to me: I always listened to sports talk radio, and it was kind of like, “Hey, you know, I’ve always liked to write, I’ve always liked sports, why can’t I parlay that into a career?”

As much as he loves the games themselves, DiRenzo says he’s interested the most by the stories behind the competition. His dream job five years from now? Simply being on a beat.

“I like watching the games and things like that, but I also really like getting to know more of the little details,” he said. “More of the stories behind certain players or just storylines in general — rivalries, things of that nature that kind of go beyond just the game that’s played on the court or on the field.”

What role did sports play when you were growing up? What did sports mean to you as a kid?

Growing up, I got into sports at a young age. My dad didn’t push it on me, but he got me involved with Little League. He was always the coach of my Little League baseball, my basketball team, stuff like that. So that definitely got me into it at a young age, and then I just kind of fell in love with it from there.

Why were sports something you fell in love with?

I definitely always liked the active nature of it — I liked being outdoors, doing things like that. And then on top of that, the social aspect of it — I was homeschooled as a young child, so it got me out there to meet other kids my own age and things like that. So it was a combination of those factors.

At what point did you decide that this was a career you wanted to pursue? Why sportswriting?

Actually that came to me fairly recently, to be honest. I’ve always been interested in sports from a young age, and I’ve always followed college and professional sports fairly closely, but it wasn’t until actually after I graduated undergrad and I took a year off and really thought about what I wanted to do with my life that it kind of came to me. I was going to teach, I was thinking about law school — for a combination of factors, I didn’t go that route — and I’ve always liked to write. So taking that year off, it kind of came to me: I always listened to sports talk radio, and it was kind of like, “Hey, you know, I’ve always liked to write, I’ve always liked sports, why can’t I parlay that into a career?” And I applied to Newhouse, and here I am.

What’s your dream job? Where do you see yourself ideally in ten years?

My dream job right now, within five years even, ‘cause I’m not sure after that, to start out anyway I’d really like to cover a beat, cover a team — college, pro, whatever level — and just start out kind of doing that, getting to be into a locker room, getting to know players and things like that. I feel like that would be a good way to start and really learn the business. Obviously I’d move on from there, but I just feel like that’d be something, that’s something I’ve always wanted to do, just to be able to better get to know players and stories behind them and things like that.

What’s the part that you enjoy most about sportswriting or sports reporting?

I like that aspect of it. I like watching the games and things like that, but I also really like getting to know more of the little details, more of the stories behind certain players or just storylines in general — rivalries, things of that nature that kind of go beyond just the game that’s played on the court or on the field, but obviously I enjoy that too.

Why do you think reporting about and writing about sports is important in a larger sense?

Besides the fact of just how huge of a business it is — obviously it commands a lot of dollars, I think that’s obviously important or else none of us would have jobs or potential jobs. But I also think it gives people kind of an outlet. In their everyday lives, a lot of people have 9 to 5 jobs and they kind of want to come home and be able to watch sports, take their mind of things, and if they have people who are writing good columns, good stories about it to follow along it makes it more than just “turn on the TV, and watch a sport” — it kind of brings them into the whole world of the team or of the player. So I think just in the larger aspect I think it’s definitely a thing that a lot of people enjoy having in their lives.