Twenty years ago, I left the University of Texas for my first post-college job, as a sports writer for The McAllen Monitor. My responsibilities included daily coverage of high school and college sports in South Texas, as well as a very curious assignment -- a weekly column exploring local, regional and national sports media, most notably radio and television. Back then, it was easy to cover sports media. The McAllen paper, a trip to the corner convenience store for a USA Today and coffee with one of the rotating morning ESPN SportsCenter productions had me up to speed with all I needed.
Eventually, I found my way to Prime Sports, Fox Sports and Fox Cable and worked in a variety of fields, from programming to sales. The business of television and primarily sports television became my career and my passion. Along the way, the methods I used to consume media changed drastically. Newspapers gave way to websites and iPad apps, and televisions and VCR's gave way to computers and DVR's.
I can say now that my morning briefing is a combination of newspaper iPad apps, and highlights, headlines and news clips from a variety of websites. But that's only after reaching for my smart phone, which stays in bed with me by the way, before even putting on my glasses or getting out of bed. A quick glance at overnight texts, emails and tweets is essential before even considering taking on the day.
I'm no longer a member of the "sports media", but have not lost my passion for sports, journalism and the joy of writing. I intend to use this space from time to time to comment on specifics of sports media, as well as comment on the always-changing nature of electronic coverage and sports journalism.
This endeavor is largely a creative release for me, but I invite you to join me. I welcome comments and responses, and would love to interact with like-minded individuals.
