I heard them coming. Two males, brandishing yellow flyers, raced down my freshman hallway. Before they reached my door, I opened it for them.
"The Daily Pennsylvanian..." read the promo that they handed to me. They introduced themselves: Jason Bodnar and Dave Zeitlin. Boss and Airhead (as I would come to know them).
I signed on then and there.
A year later, I decided to run for sports editor. It was an honor to be selected as a member of the 118th Board of Editors.
The rest, as they say (whoever 'they' is; 'they' must do a lot of talking) is history.
Nearly 60 hours a week our team of editors -- Amy Potter, Dan McQuade and myself -- joined forces to produce the DP's sports section.
It took time, commitment and about 6,000 Diet Cokes to get the paper from the Pink Palace to the printer each night.
Sports was (and remains) our singular and collective passion.
My love affair began in 1986 when my beloved New York Mets captured their second World Series crown. I don't remember if I watched the Mets' postseason run live, but I definitely relive the memories.
Lenny Dykstra's bottom-of-the ninth two-run homer to win Game 3 of the NLCS. Bill Buckner's through-the-five-hole Game 6 error.
Jesse Orosco's triumphant moonshot glove launch, which I am convinced has never landed.
The 'moment' in sports is a beautiful thing. CBS reminds us of that every NCAA Tournament with the song One Shining Moment. Sportswriters remind us of it every day.
To capture a scene of triumph, of defeat, of the little moments in the game that combined tell a story, is the sportswriter's task.
That a great majority of your readers have already seen the game raises the bar.
How can you provide the value-added? What other insights can you bring? What stories can you tell?
It's the sportswriter's greatest challenge.
After I broke the 1986 "Let's Go Mets" video, I needed a new hobby. My friends at Lakeside Elementary School were only too happy to oblige.
Circa 1990, we created a game at lunch where we would read one another the stats on the back of a baseball card and we'd have to discern, in the fewest number of stats, who the player was.
I had to win.
I bought the 1990 Bowman set (this was pre-Internet, pre- Google [gasp!] days) and proceeded to study the cards. Video games, a la "RBI Baseball", also helped.
The lunchtime victory -- and the victory pizza that came along with it -- was sweet.
A love of sports moments and an obsession with seemingly useless sports facts gave me the tools to be a DP sportswriter.
I credit Dave Zeitlin, Kyle Bahr and Jessica Tuchinsky -- my first editors -- for molding me into a halfway decent writer. I'll never forget Dave urging me to "not be so negative and see the bigger picture" when I bashed the Penn women's tennis team after it lost two straight early season matches.
In a February 27, 2001 article, I wrote: "A 5-2 defeat by No. 72 Penn State and a 4-3 loss to Eastern Michigan this weekend have the quixotic Quakers engaging in a precipitous free-fall from Fantasy World."
After that literary invective, it's a good thing I listened.
That Penn women's tennis team went on to run the table in the Ivy League, capturing the program's first-ever Ancient Eight crown.
Oops.
The memories piled up over my three years at this fine paper. I value the relationships with my predecessors, my fellow editors on the 118th and the DPOSTM writers with whom we worked on a daily basis.
We've had quite a class of characters. The old guard, Spector (Future Expos owner and Smoke's train conductor), Sub (the most talented writer and best storyteller I've ever met), Bender and Dubes.
The new class brought us Jon Tannenwald. Enough said.
Burrick, Ryan (Harry) and Jeff, you represent the future of this paper. Quite a lot of history precedes you.
In a final dash of wisdom, I implore you to continue to value the people -- those that wear cleats and shin guards and those who fashion a notepad and tape recorder. It's the people who make this engine called DPOSTM go (and help guide it to Kamin Cup after Kamin Cup victory).
Down the road -- the memories you've made and the stories you've helped tell -- will not only be your keys to success, but also your most rewarding DP takeaway.
