Jarid Denney on Target field during Pre-game with his press pass.

My goal is to one day be a reporter. I am undecided on what field I really want to devote myself to, so talking to professionals in my potential career field has offered me insight and helped narrow my choices. Jarrid Denney is the sports reporter for the Minnesota Twins, and he was kind enough to talk to me on a really fun hour and a half phone call. He’s a really rad guy.

Jarrid is currently writing for the Major League Baseball team the Minnesota Twins, but when I asked him if that was his favorite team he told me he’s a Yankees fan. Apparently when you apply to be a reporter you apply to the entire MLB. From there the MLB will sort you into a team that has availability, so it’s no guarantee that you will actually write for the team(s) you love.

I asked Jarrid what his most memorable moment as a sports reporter was and he told me it was when he was with U of O’s The Emerald. He was assigned to cover the college basketball Final Four. Anyone who knows their sports knows that the Final Four event is college basketball’s Super Bowl. Even then, he said he covered the Olympic trials and was able to meet world renowned athletes. U of O has given him a lot of good times but when I asked if the most valuable part of his resume was from The Emerald  he surprisingly said ‘no’.

The Torch newspaper at LCC is where Jarrid started his career path and he says he owes a lot of credit to the paper. When he left The Emerald for the MLB he started working for the Diamondbacks. “They said (the employer for the Diamondbacks) they were more impressed by me starting at the Torch” he said. “It showed them I was willing to go through the dirty work.” I just started working for the Torch and after hearing this I honestly am looking forward to what is to come.

Now, I know it can’t all be great so i asked what the hardest parts to overcome as a reporter are. I was just hoping to find out what kind of obstacles to look out for and stay on top of. Well, like all writers the stability seems to be the hardest part. Jarrid told me that his time with the Twins is about up and now he will be on the job search again. There’s always jobs to be had he says. Sometimes he’s happy  getting paid for smaller stories like high school sports of lower division college games but he’s always looking for opportunity for a sold salary. A lot of work in this field he tells me is done in paid internships that are amazing for resumes but are very temporary. So the hardest part is finding a job that you can settle down in and not shift every couple years.

My talk with Jarrid has me extremely hyped up to pursue  a career in journalism. He surely didn’t sugar coat some of the darker sides of the profession but offered so much knowledge of experiences he has had. Jarrid was extremely kind and even offered to help edit some of my article for the Torch and I intend to take him up on that!