Published December 9, 2025

People talk down to me sometimes as if I don’t know much about sports journalism or journalism overall. It’s frustrating, because I’ve done more and learned more than almost all of them have.

During my time off, it occurred to me that I couldn’t think of an editor where I’ve worked who can match my skill set and versatility. That might sound cocky, but … try this on for size:

To start my newspaper career, I covered high school sports for 10 years. Then I moved up to covering college athletics for five years. Moving to my second paper, I became the lead features writer for the sports section.

When I moved to my third paper, I covered SEC sports, two national championship football teams (and coaches, including Nick Saban), College World Series baseball teams, the Senior Olympics national games, and much more. I covered LSU and the SEC for roughly 10 years.

In Louisiana, I wrote the first online story for one newspaper and became the first blogger in the newsroom of another paper. I designed pages for print editions, including 10-page Sunday sections (with several remakes), putting in 16-hour days that included writing columns and notebooks at home before going to the office. I had to see the big picture. Constantly.

A museum of gadgets

Throughout my career, I adapted to new technology. A LOT. I dictated stories from pay phones in Louisiana towns, filed them electronically from small Radio Shack laptops atop trash cans outside convenience stories, filed them from the Radio Shack store at a mall in Rapid City, S.D., knocked on doors looking for a phone I could use, all before most of you ever used email.

I navigated coaches’ and players’ egos as a beat writer, building relationships that paid off long after the first awkward conflict. As a columnist, I learned tough lessons while gaining a following. I started over, leaving behind everything I knew and building from nothing but what I carried with me from my experiences.

After I moved from Louisiana to Oregon, I got emails from politicians in my former home state who enjoyed something I’d written. I won more than 70 awards, but they aren’t what I take the most pride in.

Perhaps most importantly, I worked for more than seven years as a copy editor handling hard news, politics, the police blotter, courts, breaking news and more. Everything except sports. I’ve saved writers (and the website) from potential lawsuits and embarrassment by catching legally problematic language before any reader ever saw it. That’s the job.

Those seven-plus years polished skills that are far more rare than they should be in sports reporting.

I’ve worked at two destination websites, one owned by CBS and the other owned by The New York Times.

All along the way, I said I covered “sports and human interest,” because I wrote about culture and worked hard to make stories fun even for non-sports fans.

I’ve been there, done that

Unlike copy editors who’ve never covered a beat or written a column, never been dog-cussed by a millionaire coach, never stared at a blank computer screen 15 minutes before deadline and written a memorable story (or a stinker), I know what the writers are going through.

Unlike managers who don’t know how long something really takes because they’ve never had to do it, or do it well, I don’t  have unrealistic expectations about what one human can do.

Because I’ve done it all, I have little patience for bosses who tell writers to come up with something nobody else has if they don’t allow their writers to break free from constraints that prevent them from doing so.

I remember every conversation I ever had with a reader. Why do you write it that way? What is the reason you do this? Why say this when you could say that? I make a lot of changes to phrasing because I know that the fewer times a reader has to stop and reread something, the better.

I’ve kept up with how language evolves. I’ve been to editing conferences and taken part in online learning for a dozen years, acquiring knowledge and real-world tips from many of the best editors around the world. It’s not 1990 where they work. They edit for today — and for tomorrow. Learning about conscious language is another big plus.

I’ll stop here, but there’s a lot more. That seven-year hard-news component is perhaps what most sets me apart. It’s an important tool in the Swiss Army knife that is my skill set.

I could go on, but I would probably hear the voice of one of my first managing editors saying “you’re gilding the lily” if I continued. I’m confident I’ve made my point despite some detours for the purposes of nostalgia.

Short update

My leave ended Dec. 1. I’m waiting on word of when I’m due back to work. Until then, I have no income. I hope they realize that. Maybe I’ll hear something today.

Sending love. Protect your peace.

♥

Thank you

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