It’s that time of year again. Training camp is upon us. A time of excitement, but also one of stress. Excitement as it means the football season is just a few weeks away. Stress, because we all hope our respective teams come through unscathed. The majority of reporting during this period is usually injury related, so when breaking news occurs, we hold our breath and hope our team gets lucky.

Training camp is not only a stressful time for fans, but also for reporters covering it. Jeremy Reisman is one of those reporters. Going into his thirteenth season covering the Detroit Lions for ‘Pride of Detroit’, he knows exactly what to expect from training camp.

“Training camp is my favourite time of the year”, says Reisman, “but it’s also the most overwhelming.” He then explains his demanding schedule. “They begin with a press conference from the head coach. Then you watch two hours of practice, taking furious notes. Add in 30-60 minutes of transcribing audio and you’re already at about 5 hours of work before even writing a single thing.”

Reisman will then take the information from that day to write up to four stories before going home. But that doesn’t mean his work is completed. “At home, I’ll likely work on more content the following morning. Potentially record a podcast or two, and then tend to my personal life”. Add to that having to curate the other content posted to Pride of Detroit, while also reviewing its social media output, and you have one loaded day.

But a busy schedule doesn’t do much to dissuade Reisman. Despite the workload, he says, “you have so much valuable information to give an audience that cannot get enough of that content. It’s thrilling”.

Reisman not only reports on the Detroit Lions, but he is admittedly a fully fledged fan. A trait that he believes adds to his site's content. “Part of the thing that makes our coverage unique is the fan perspective, which allows us to include some emotion in what we write, tweet and podcast about”. Even though he tries to remove any subjectivity from his reporting, Resiman states, “I don’t think true 100% objectivity exists in this business. In all the interviews you do, you develop relationships with players and coaches, and tend to find out people you like and vibe with. It’s important to try and remain as objective as possible, but I believe those biases are everywhere, not just with fans”.

Reisman considers his close ties to the team part of the reason for the continuing success for his website. “Part of the reason I think Pride of Detroit has been so successful is because we’ve earned the Lions’ trust by maintaining professionalism in professional settings and because we can turn on the fandom at the appropriate times, too”. 

Pride of Detroit's prominent position in the local media landscape allows them to work towards their biggest goal; creating a community. While they provide the Lions fanbase with the information they need, they also ensure fans have their own voice by involving them in call-in shows, mail bags and mock drafts. He believes, “that interpersonal relationship [between fans and reporters] is such an integral part of sports fandom. And I truly believe Detroit fans are some of the most passionate in the league”.

Reisman is of the opinion that reporting on one team is more beneficial than covering the entire league. “Personally, I think covering the entire NFL is almost a fool's errand. There’s too much to realistically know, and that means you have to speak about things you aren’t fully educated about”.

Speaking on topics you don’t fully understand is a practice that Reisman doesn’t consider correct. “Take any local fan, and you’ll see them complaining about the national coverage, because ‘they don’t know the team’. It’s unreasonable to expect someone who covers the NFL to know each [of the] 32 teams the way someone who focuses on one would know”.

He continues, “And to me, there are so many interesting storylines to be had on a single team. With rosters around 70 people in season, those are 70 individual stories to tell”.

You can find Jeremy Reisman’s reporting on Pride of Detroit, where you can follow his story of the Detroit Lions training camp as the team prepares for the upcoming season. A season which the people of Detroit hope can become a fairytale.