Aaron Mansfield

Shams Charania， the College Senior Breaking NBA News in Class.

沙姆斯·查拉尼亞，一個(gè)是在課堂里爆料NBA新聞的大四學(xué)生。

Shams Charania breaks NBA trades on the shuttle between his colleges campuses. He tweets signings in class. Not-always-understanding professors watch as he steps out to take the occasional phone call from an important source.

沙姆斯·查拉尼亞坐在往返大學(xué)校區(qū)的大巴里爆料NBA的交易消息。上課時(shí)，他在推特上發(fā)布簽約信息。一臉狀況外的教授偶爾看到他走出教室，接聽(tīng)一個(gè)重要消息源的電話。

Charania， a senior at Loyola University Chicago who turned 22 in April， is one of the most prolific NBA news breakers today.

作為今年四月剛剛過(guò)完22歲生日的芝加哥洛約拉大學(xué)大四學(xué)生，查拉尼亞如今已經(jīng)成為NBA最能爆料的記者之一。

Announcing his hiring in December， Yahoo！ called him a“wunderkind.” ESPNs Ramona Shelburne has nicknamed him “Doogie Howser.” Adrian Wojnarowski， Charanias boss at The Vertical， Yahoo！s basketball site， says hes the “best young basketball reporter on the planet.”

去年12月宣布聘用他時(shí)，雅虎網(wǎng)站稱他為“天才”。ESPN的拉莫娜·謝爾伯恩給他起了個(gè)Doogie Howser①的綽號(hào)。查拉尼亞在雅虎籃球網(wǎng)站The Vertical的老板亞德里安·沃齊納斯基說(shuō)他是“地球上最優(yōu)秀的年輕籃球記者”。

“When I went into it， I didnt want anyone to know how old I was，”Charania says. “Its easy to mask how old you are if you approach things the right way.”

“當(dāng)我進(jìn)入這一行時(shí)，我不想讓別人知道我有多大。”查拉尼亞說(shuō)，“如果用正確的方法做事，想偽裝年齡就很容易了?！?/p>

With news-breaking spearheaded by Wojnarowski and his new understudy， The Vertical has flexed in the first free agency since the site launched in January. They beat ESPNs television coverage to every draft pick. They were first to the news of Dwyane Wade and Al Horford and， were it not for the nature of The Players Tribune， probably wouldve had Kevin Durant， too.

在沃齊納斯基和他的新預(yù)備隊(duì)員的帶領(lǐng)下，1月成立的The Vertical在成立后的第一個(gè)自由球員市場(chǎng)上展示了自己的實(shí)力。選秀時(shí)，他們爆料每一個(gè)順位新秀人選的速度都比ESPN的電視直播快。他們是第一個(gè)爆料德維恩·韋德和艾爾·霍福德新聞的網(wǎng)站。如果不是因?yàn)椤扒騿T論壇”，凱文·杜蘭特的決定也很可能由他們第一個(gè)爆出。

If you hadnt seen Charanias name before this summer， you almost certainly have by now. His follower count has jumped from about 33，000 to 73，000 since June 20 because Shams （rhymes with “Woj bombs”②） has been all over some major deals.

就算今年夏天之前沒(méi)聽(tīng)過(guò)查拉尼亞的名字，幾乎可以肯定，現(xiàn)在的你已經(jīng)知道他了。6月20日后，他的推特粉絲數(shù)從33000人飆升到73000人，因?yàn)镾hams（和Woj式炸彈押韻）爆料了很多重大新聞。

He broke Dwight Howard to the Hawks， DeMar DeRozan re-signing with the Raptors， Luol Deng to the Lakers and Jamal Crawford re-signing with the Clippers. ？Consider this free agency period his coming-out party.

他是最先爆出德懷特·霍華德去老鷹、德瑪爾·德羅贊與猛龍續(xù)約、盧爾·鄧簽約湖人和賈馬爾·克勞福德續(xù)約快船的人。我們不妨把這次自由球員市場(chǎng)看作他揚(yáng)名立萬(wàn)的派對(duì)。

But Charania has never worked or interned for a newspaper. He doesnt have a fancy degree. He didnt start with any industry connections. So how did this happen？

不過(guò)沙姆斯從未在任何一家報(bào)紙工作或?qū)嵙?xí)過(guò)，他也沒(méi)有知名大學(xué)的文憑，最開(kāi)始時(shí)，他在籃球圈沒(méi)有任何關(guān)系網(wǎng)。所以這一切是怎么發(fā)生的呢？

How did he go from one of a million NBA-obsessed teenagers to 22-year-old media phenom？

他是如何從數(shù)百萬(wàn)癡迷NBA的青少年中脫穎而出、成為一個(gè)22歲的媒體大咖呢？

Charania has quietly built a network of sources over four years of fulltime reporting. Glued to his phone， he sends hundreds of texts and emails each day. Even when hes not looking for news， he regularly checks in with his sources—players， agents， and team executives.

在四年全職報(bào)道NBA的過(guò)程中，查拉尼亞悄悄建立起了一個(gè)消息源網(wǎng)絡(luò)。他寸步不離自己的手機(jī)，每天都會(huì)發(fā)送數(shù)百條短信和電子郵件。即便不為了獲取新聞，他也會(huì)定期和自己的消息源聯(lián)系——這些消息源包括球員、經(jīng)紀(jì)人和球隊(duì)管理人員。

“Obviously there are people who just dont know，” he says. “Why are you always on your phone？ Why are you always texting？ Get a life.I love that aspect （of always being on the phone）. I dont even consider it work because I would be doing it anyway. I would be scrolling RealGM or HoopsHype.”

“顯然有人理解不了。”他說(shuō)，“為什么你總在看手機(jī)？為什么你總在發(fā)短信？做點(diǎn)有意義的事吧。我喜歡那樣（總是看手機(jī)）。我甚至不覺(jué)得那是工作，因?yàn)槲曳凑彩且词謾C(jī)的。我要么在看RealGM要么在看HoopsHype?！?/p>

Agents and players have connected with his humble， trustworthy nature. Though he wont reveal much about how he has built his rolodex， Charania says going to games and meeting people in person has been critical to making connections.

經(jīng)紀(jì)人和球員喜歡他謙遜、值得信賴的性格。盡管他不會(huì)透露構(gòu)建關(guān)系網(wǎng)的方法，但查拉尼亞說(shuō)，去看比賽、和別人面對(duì)面交流是建立聯(lián)系的關(guān)鍵。

He started small， breaking international， D-League， and 10-day contract news. One relationship led to another.

他先從小新聞做起，從國(guó)際籃球、發(fā)展聯(lián)盟和十天短合同這些消息做起。一個(gè)關(guān)系幫助他結(jié)識(shí)到下一個(gè)關(guān)系。

His career started at 18. As a high school senior writing for his school paper， he reached out to ChicagoNOW， a subsidiary of the Chicago Tribune. They allowed him to write daily Chicago Bulls recaps.

他的職業(yè)生涯開(kāi)始于18歲。作為校報(bào)的資深寫(xiě)手，他聯(lián)系到了《芝加哥論壇報(bào)》下屬的ChicagoNOW，他們?cè)试S查拉尼亞撰寫(xiě)芝加哥公牛的每日簡(jiǎn)訊。

“At that point youre just looking for any platform，” says Charania. “It could be a viewership of like 100 people， but as long as youre getting the reps in， thats what it was about to me.”

“那個(gè)時(shí)候就是尋找任何平臺(tái)?！辈槔醽喺f(shuō)，“可能看文章的也就100人，但只要名聲打出去就行了，我就是這樣想的?！?img src="https://cimg.fx361.com/images/2021/08/01/qkimagesklanklan201608klan20160813-2-l.jpg"/>

Using his clips from ChicagoNOW， Charania contacted RealGM， a basketball site he and his friends followed religiously. Chris Reina， RealGMs executive editor， allowed him to write wire news and analysis. Impressed by Charanias work ethic and professionalism， Reina offered him a full-time， salaried reporting job less than a year later.

利用ChicagoNOW的經(jīng)歷，查拉尼亞聯(lián)系了RealGM這家被他和他的朋友視作信仰的籃球網(wǎng)站。RealGM的執(zhí)行主編克里斯·雷納讓他撰寫(xiě)通訊和分析。被查拉尼亞的職業(yè)精神和專業(yè)素質(zhì)打動(dòng)，不到一年后，雷納為他提供了一份全職、帶薪的報(bào)道工作。

“He was very clear from the start what he wanted his career to look like，” Reina says. “At that age， he wanted to be a basketball reporter， and he was using Wojnarowski as a model for how to do it.”

“從一開(kāi)始他就很明確自己想要什么樣的職業(yè)生涯?！崩准{說(shuō)，“那個(gè)年紀(jì)他就想做籃球記者了，而且他把沃齊納斯基看作榜樣?！?/p>

Charania says Wojnarowski is “the blueprint to sports journalism， period.”

查拉尼亞說(shuō)，沃齊納斯基是“體育新聞的藍(lán)圖，沒(méi)有爭(zhēng)議”。

The Bulls gave him a credential， but revoked it when they discovered he was 19. The team had a policy against giving press passes to college students.

公牛給了他一個(gè)采訪證，但是在發(fā)現(xiàn)他只有19歲時(shí)又取消了他的采訪資格。公牛的政策是不給在校大學(xué)生發(fā)放媒體證件。

Charania found another solution： he started driving 90 minutes each way to cover the Milwaukee Bucks， a smaller-market team with less media demand. Hed hang around after press scrums and try to grab a player for a one-on-one conversation.

查拉尼亞找到了另一個(gè)解決辦法：他單程開(kāi)車90分鐘，去報(bào)道密爾沃基雄鹿隊(duì)，這是一個(gè)小球市球隊(duì)，采訪要求不多。他會(huì)在媒體群訪結(jié)束后留下，試圖對(duì)球員進(jìn)行一對(duì)一采訪。

It was also in Milwaukee that Charania met some of his journalism idols. He introduced himself to Wojnarowski and Lee Jenkins， among others. Wojnarowski， who recalls introducing himself to Bob Ryan as a recent college grad at the 1994 NBA Draft， took a liking to the driven 19-year-old.

也就是在密爾沃基，查拉尼亞見(jiàn)到了幾個(gè)他的新聞偶像。他向沃齊納斯基和李·詹金斯等人做了自我介紹?；叵肫?994年NBA選秀時(shí)作為剛從大學(xué)畢業(yè)的人向鮑勃·萊恩自我介紹的沃齊納斯基，在這個(gè)動(dòng)力十足的19歲孩子身上看到了自己的影子。

“You could tell right away he was very serious-minded about it and obviously far ahead of his years in how he was carrying himself and what he was investing into it，” says Wojnarowski.

“你馬上就能看出，他是很認(rèn)真地對(duì)待這件事，而且明顯表現(xiàn)得非常成熟。”沃齊納斯基說(shuō)。

Charanias big moment with RealGM came in 2014， when he broke the news of Luol Deng being traded from Chicago to Cleveland. Many veteran NBA reporters were hounding the story， but Charania got it first.

查拉尼亞在RealGM的重大時(shí)刻出現(xiàn)在2014年，那時(shí)他爆出了盧爾·鄧被公牛交易到騎士的消息。很多老派NBA記者都在打探這個(gè)消息，但第一個(gè)爆料的卻是他。

Hes made the occasional minor error， sure—for example， reporting Tony Wroten and the Knicks were finalizing a three-year deal when Wroten ended up signing for two years—but his record of accuracy is impressive.

當(dāng)然，有時(shí)候他也會(huì)犯很小的錯(cuò)誤。比如，他報(bào)道稱托尼·羅滕和尼克斯達(dá)成三年合同，而羅滕實(shí)際只簽約兩年。不過(guò)他爆料的準(zhǔn)確性已經(jīng)相當(dāng)優(yōu)秀了。

“I think a lot of reporters throw stuff against the wall based on thirddegree information， whereas everything he was getting was directly from the source—the actual player， agent， or team，” says Reina. “Its not a guy from the Celtics saying something about the Spurs.”

“我覺(jué)得很多記者都是通過(guò)第三方信息爆料，而他報(bào)道的所有消息都是直接來(lái)自于真正的球員、經(jīng)紀(jì)人或球隊(duì)?！崩准{說(shuō)，“而不是什么凱爾特人的人說(shuō)馬刺會(huì)怎么樣?！?/p>

In the time it took for Charania and Reina to catch up over lunch in San Francisco last month， Charania broke two pieces of news： David West declining his player option and Ian Clark being listed inactive for Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

上個(gè)月在舊金山，和雷納見(jiàn)面吃午飯敘舊的工夫，查拉尼亞就發(fā)出了兩條新聞：大衛(wèi)·韋斯特拒絕了球員選項(xiàng)，伊安·克拉克在總決賽第五場(chǎng)的狀態(tài)被確定為“不激活”。

Less is demanded of him during the school year. Though he stays on full-time salary， Wojnarowski says the job is secondary to schoolwork. Charania is majoring in communications with a concentration in journalism. Still， its hard to keep him from working.

上學(xué)期間他的工作要求比較少。盡管拿的是全職薪水，但沃齊納斯基表示，學(xué)習(xí)比工作更重要。查拉尼亞的專業(yè)是傳播學(xué)中的新聞。盡管如此，想讓他不工作太難了。

“Woj is a great judge of talent and hes a great mentor，” says Jenkins.“Even though I dont work there， I think of him as a mentor also. I think early on， he saw in Shams he did it the right way. I think it reminded Woj of the way he did it.”

“Woj很會(huì)識(shí)別人才，他是個(gè)非常優(yōu)秀的導(dǎo)師?！闭步鹚拐f(shuō)，“即便我不在那里工作，我也把他看作導(dǎo)師。我想他很早就發(fā)現(xiàn)沙姆斯在用正確的方法工作，我覺(jué)得那讓W(xué)oj想起了過(guò)去的自己。”

“If were doing our job， its to develop him in a full way，” says Wojnarowski. “He will be the news breaker in the NBA—whether its tomorrow or next year or five years from now. Hes going to be that. But he could be a lot more， and thats my job， to help him in all those facets.”

“如果我們做好自己工作的話，那就是讓他全面發(fā)展。”沃齊納斯基說(shuō)，“他當(dāng)然會(huì)成為NBA的爆料人——無(wú)論是明天、明年還是五年之后。他會(huì)成為那樣的記者。但他還可以做得更多，而那就是我的工作，在各個(gè)方面幫助他。”

Charania frequently mentions how “honored” and “grateful” he is to work with The Vertical staff. “I love our team，” he says. He doesnt like drawing attention to himself. He wonders why anyone would want to write about him.

查拉尼亞總是提到，和The Vertical團(tuán)隊(duì)合作，他感到“很榮幸”、“很感激”。“我愛(ài)我們的團(tuán)隊(duì)?！彼f(shuō)。他不喜歡為自己吸引關(guān)注，他不知道為什么有人想寫(xiě)和他有關(guān)的文章。

As a journalist， mastering and balancing the human element of sport is a rare gift. As Charania has proven， a reporter who grasps this reality can achieve remarkable things—regardless of age.

作為記者，掌握并平衡行業(yè)中的人性因素是一種罕見(jiàn)的天賦。而查拉尼亞已經(jīng)證明，把握了這種現(xiàn)實(shí)的記者可以取得了不起的成就——無(wú)論他的年紀(jì)有多大。

“This business is always about building trust with someone，” Charania said. “I would never want to shortcut anything. Ive never considered anything to be just about the scoop…the whole name of this game and life in general is about relationships， period. And thats what Ive always tried to value first and foremost.”

“這個(gè)行業(yè)的重點(diǎn)總是建立他人的信任。”查拉尼亞說(shuō)，“我永遠(yuǎn)不想走捷徑。我從來(lái)不認(rèn)為任何事僅僅是爆料……這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)的本質(zhì)、包括人生，其實(shí)都是人際關(guān)系。而這就是我一直以來(lái)最重視的一點(diǎn)。”

①Doogie Howser是美劇《天才小醫(yī)生》里的主人公，這部劇曾火爆一時(shí)，其中Doogie Howser的扮演者是尼爾·帕特里克·哈里斯。

②Woj Bombs源自Wojnarowski的姓，由于經(jīng)常在推特上甩出爆炸性新聞，沃齊納斯基的推文被人冠上了Woj Bombs的外號(hào)。