The assignment was simple: write a farewell column for The 95秀视频 Gazette, this wonderful newspaper I鈥檝e dedicated more than 27 years of professional life to 鈥 something I am and will always be proud of.
I plugged my name into the archives and it told me I鈥檝e written 8,658 articles, not including countless online stories, social media posts and videos, most of it related to Komets hockey.
As I leave to become the director of communications of 鈥 and we have big things in store for soccer fans 鈥 I鈥檓 finding it impossible to sum up my time at the JG. I just can鈥檛, not in 1,100 words or so. But I can tell you the first things that come to mind:
There鈥檚 Colts coach Tony Dungy deadpanning after the Colts won the 2006 AFC championship 鈥 one of the greatest games I covered 鈥 that they should just play the Super Bowl against the Chicago Bears in Fort Wayne instead of Miami. A few days later, when I was preparing to cover my second of four Super Bowls, I privately told Dungy, 鈥淵ou realize they would elect you mayor of Fort Wayne today if you wanted.鈥 We had a good laugh.
There鈥檚 Jerramy Stevens鈥 so-called Super Bowl guarantee, which came from a one-on-one interview with me caught by ESPN cameras in Detroit. I鈥檇 asked the Seattle Seahawks鈥 tight end about Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis and, while comparing him to his own running back, Shaun Alexander, Stevens said: 鈥淛erome coming back home (to Detroit), it鈥檚 a heart-warmer and all. But it鈥檚 going to be sad on Sunday when they leave without the trophy.鈥 Stevens鈥 words were totally taken out of context by national media who weren鈥檛 there and made it a monumental story. I always felt badly about it, especially after the Steelers won the Lombardi Trophy.
There鈥檚 Steve Vernasco defeating Ben Fox in the 1999 City Championship and a multitude of other memories covering golf. The time I called a penalty on an opponent on the 18th hole at Coyote Creek, while writing a column about trying to qualify for the City myself. Walking the course many afternoons with Amanda Blumenherst when she was a teenage phenom. Interviewing Jack Nicklaus. Reviewing every single golf course in northeast Indiana. My feature on the late Chip Novak, whose mental health issues prevented him from playing professionally, unquestionably the best thing I鈥檝e ever written.
I covered professional miniature golf, indoor football and world-class roller skating. I had to master gymnastics, swimming and bowling, sports I knew nothing about. When it came to high schools, the ACAC became my baby. Give me those old-school, grind-it-out football games over the 90-point, three-hour SAC games any day of the week. And I firmly believe that my karma covering so many championships in hockey and football impacted the Mad Ants basketball team; once I got on the beat in 2013, the Mad Ants suddenly became good, winning a title and going to back-to-back G League finals. It saddens me still that the Indiana Pacers mismanaged that 95秀视频 so badly and moved it to Indianapolis.
I covered Indy 500s and Brickyards, LeBron James鈥 first pro game, Tiger Woods at the height of Tiger mania, and I lost my car keys at Wrigley Field while writing about Steve Bartman. I was locked in an arena in Dayton, smacked by a bat鈥檚 wings while typing in Flint, feared I鈥檇 deflated the RCA Dome by opening the wrong door, and former Purdue basketball coach Gene Keady once called the office to yell at me for besmirching Drew Brees in a column.
There are certainly things I never got to do: I always wanted to caddy for an elite player in the City Championship and write about it; I thought learning to curl would have been a great column; and I always wanted to go to Alaska for the Iditarod.
Of course, there was hockey, so much hockey. When I arrived in 1997, fresh out of school, I wanted to cover the Komets like they were an NHL team. This was a two-newspaper town then and for the next 21 years, until the News-Sentinel鈥檚 demise, I was consumed with one-upping their hockey writer, Blake Sebring. Out of force of habit, I still check the dead link to his blog to make sure he hasn鈥檛 scooped me. Sebring became a friend and a mentor, but our styles of writing and reporting couldn鈥檛 have been more different.
I鈥檓 indebted to the JG editors for giving me the leeway to cover the Komets doggedly. They sent me to 33 cities, gave me the tools to generate multiplatform content when not many others were doing it, and embraced it if I posted breaking news at 3 a.m. I tried to be edgy, and personalize things in how I covered the Komets, and I hope it resonated.
I covered 1,636 Komets games, likely more than anyone else in their 73 seasons, and that included six playoff championships. I drank out of the Colonial, President鈥檚 and Turner cups, but seriously, the players made me do it. I might be the only reporter in hockey history to call a players-only meeting 鈥 I needed to clear the air after I wrote about one of them getting arrested 鈥 and I made it out alive. I refereed a game between Komets and Detroit Red Wings alumni. .
My favorite players to cover were Colin Chaulk, Nick Boucher and Shawn Szydlowski. Rob Guinn鈥檚 death still upsets me 鈥 he was my age, our kids were the same age 鈥 and I鈥檒l never forget spotting famed NHL coach Scotty Bowman randomly in the Memorial Coliseum stands, rushing down to interview him and ruining his night because then the fans caught on and wanted his autograph.
.鈥 I was rarely afraid to be opinionated and in 2012 I predicted the Wichita Thunder would defeat the Komets in six games. The Komets won in five. Even though people bring it up weekly, if not daily, it never bothered me. My predictions were usually on the mark and I was smart enough to know the content was a good thing; I had camera on when I went to the postgame celebration and as the players drank champagne, they chanted 鈥淲ichita in Six鈥 and that video went global.
I鈥檝e heard from some of those players since announcing I was leaving, but more than anyone I鈥檝e heard from readers. You鈥檝e made me feel like I鈥檒l be missed and just typing that makes me emotional. This is a sports rich area, one I鈥檝e grown to love. I met my wife here, my daughter was born here, and I feel as if I鈥檓 leaving a limb behind at 600 W. Main St.
I鈥檝e considered it a privilege to tell so many stories. And I鈥檝e never taken it lightly.
