Inside the Press Box: Tarik El-Bashir

To help readers get their hockey fix over the summer, STC is publishing a series of interviews with people who interact with (or work for) the Caps. Today's seventh installment: Washington Post Beat Writer Tarik El-Bashir.

1. Describe the rigors of traveling with the team and the hectic in-season schedule. How does it affect your mental health and family time?

A lot of people think this is greatest job around, and they're right. But like any job in the journalism or entertainment business -- and this is a newspaper covering the entertainment business -- there are sacrifices to make. During the season, there's not that much time for family or yourself. This is especially tough during training camp, when you're writing every day and it's very repetitive. During the season, I really enjoy watching the games. I got into this business because I enjoy the regular season, much like the players -- who don't enjoy all the position battles during training camp either.

It is hectic, and one thing that people don't realize is that I don't travel with the team. Twenty years ago, reporters traveled with team and that does help a ton because there are no delays. For example, if you play in Miami on a Saturday night, you're back in your own bed by 1:00 a.m. But when you're flying commercial, you have to wait until 6:00 the next morning and go right to practice. So the team is always one city ahead of you for most of the year. It's almost like chasing them around North America.

For a lot of major newspaper beat writers, all you do is cover your team. So it's a long season. But this year, I'm going to get some help. For the last couple of years, you pretty much knew you'd be done by April 4 or April 7 or whenever the Caps regular season ended. But, this year, who knows? This is a Caps team good enough to make a run into late May or even June, if everything goes right. I'm going to get some help this season, so I won't be burnt out by mid-March. I'll probably get one day off per week.

The past couple of years, my schedule has gotten more hectic with at least three blog posts per day, online chats, TV segments and very few breaks. I don't want people think I'm complaining because it is a very fun job and it beats sitting behind a desk. A lot of people on the blog ask why I'm not posting regularly in August. Well, for a fan that blogs, they go to a handful of practices and 10-15 games during the season. But since I'm doing so much, you have to take a break when you can. But I'll be back to writing three posts per day before too long.

2. How does covering the Caps for the Washington Post compare to covering the Islanders for the New York Times?

When I covered the Islanders in the late 1990s, it was before advent of blogging. So there was no immediacy to everything. Your work day on game days started at 2:00 or 3:00 and there were no online chats or taping of TV segments. But now, you're covering the team all day every day. As far as the operations, the New York Times and Washington Post are very similar in terms of writing and editing.

Earlier in my Caps tenure, there were some similarities to those Islanders days late in the 1990s. The Islanders were a shipwreck, pardon the pun, there were ownership issues and I spent a lot of time in courtrooms. And with the Caps, although there's ownership stability, the team went through a time where, like the Isles, the losses far outnumbered the wins. So I'm licking my chops to cover a team this season that's expected to challenge for the conference championship if not more.

3. What would you say is the most memorable game you've covered?

The most memorable game was Wayne Gretzky's last game in Canada, I want to say in Ottawa during the 1998-99 season. I also covered his last game ever at Madison Square Garden. During that game, I sat with Gretzky's dad and interviewed him during the game. Those two games, especially the game in Canada, were amazing. Once that game in Ottawa was over, Gretzky was called out for three stars and nobody had left. He received a standing ovation that seemingly lasted forever.

There are tons of other games. I remember covering the Stanley Cup finals for the 2003-2004 season. It was Lightning-Flames game seven, which was an amazing experience.

Last year with the Caps, watching them make that remarkable comeback. The one game that stood out was game seven against the Flyers. It was all you could ask for as a fan or an unbiased observer of the game. It was win or go home. It was an amazing atmosphere at Verizon Center.

4. Who are/were your mentors during your career?

Early one at the New York Times, Joe Lapointe was the main Rangers beat writer. He taught me everything you need to know about covering hockey for a major newspaper. He taught me how to develop sources in the locker room, cover games on deadline and come with interesting stories every day. Fans don't realize how difficult it is when a team has five days between games in March and you have to find something interesting that people will want to read about every day. He taught me how to find interesting nuggets. I learned everything I know from him.

My first job in the business was an internship with the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. The sports editor there was Justice Hill. I spent a lot of time in the office and away from the office talking about the business. He challenged me by asking 'is this really want to you want to do? You have to make sure that this is what you really want to do because once you're in, it's hard to get out.' That was the most important thing because, during those conversations, he taught me how to do so much. Those conversations help me discover my love of the business. Without him, I might have gone to law school and become a sports agent.

5. What do you do during your downtime?

I have a young family. My wife's name is Kimberley. We just celebrated our eighth anniversary on Aug. 12. We have a six-year-old daughter, Sarah, and a four-year-old son, Kareem.

I'm also an avid golfer. I play as much as I can during the summer, maybe 15-20 rounds. I also love mountain biking and racing. In fact, I competitively race remote-control cars. My passion is racing. I tried racing real cars, but when you blow up the transmission or wear down your tires, it's a few thousand bucks. But racing remote-control cars is more affordable. I call it my guilty pleasure because I feel like a little kid standing in a parking lot racing a remote-control car at 40-50 miles per hour. I don’t have time to do that during the season and only get one round of golf during the course of the year.