Daddy Day Care
Mood:  not sure
I absolutely love me son. He is the world. He's so smart, funny, handsome (don't know where he gets it), and so easy going. So why is it that when my wife says she's spending the weekend away to do some freelance work, I get cold sweats and horrible thoughts of me failing as a father?

Joe is a great kid. He's 99% of the time an easy-going little squirt that loves to play, shout, and laugh. But there are times when he's an overflowing handful...and that makes me worried. He goes through these spells where he won't eat, won't sleep, won't stop crying until you pick him up. For being a 1-year old, he sure is moody. What's a guy to do?

My wife and I have the luxury of being able to keep him out of daycare. I work, the wife stays home. That's how it's been since day one of Joey being born. But Dana's getting tired of not having a career. She says she tires of caring for Joe...and that worries me. But she does a great job with him, he's always smiling when I come home, and for the most part, we all are happy.

I just wish I could do more. There are days when I wish I didn't have to work, and we could all be one giant Familia Americana. But someone's gotta make the bread...but there are times when I have to handle the reigns of a boy who - at any second - could turn into a spewing, screaming shrimp-sized me.

That makes me fear Daddy Day Care...but it also makes me smile. I smile because I know that he's mine, and my actions will directly impact the decisions he makes down the road. Consciously or subconsciously, he's learning - and I love that!

Eddie Murray, eat your heart out - I've got one helluva kid!

Something Old Tries Something New...
Mood:  cool
Hello friends, it's been at least a year since my last post. Yeah, I'm a slacker. At least I'm not a hacker...okay that sounded cooler in my head.

Alas, here I am. I started this blog as a way to express my frustations with the TV news industry. I got so far as to post once; now I'm trying something different. On every level.

Since we last spoke, I've moonlighted as an overnight news photographer in Minneapolis (a great news market, if you're working during the day). I enjoyed this experience, but really didn't like 95% of what I had to see: from the Red Lake School shootings aftermath; countless dead bodies - either shot, run over, or ejected from vehicles; innumerable fires - homes, commercial buildings, cars, brush (and we're not talking hair brushes); too many visuals that just don't go away when you clock out for the night.
To make matters worse, I was working from 12am until whenever I was done the next day. Sometimes 9, 9:30, but usually I was putting in 11, 12 hour days. Mind you, I loved the overtime, and it meant my wife didn't have to work...which was great, because she was busy carrying - and delivering - my first son...who is just beautiful, and made all this crap worthwhile.

However, my schedule didn't allow me to see my wife or kid much. So, I did what any good father would do...I gave up my dream of being a full-time sports guy in a large market to settle into the cushy, comfy, corporate world. Now, things are slowing down substantially, and I've had to learn to pace myself. When you're used to deadlines, scanner traffic, and producers screaming at you...you'll gladly embrace a quite office with the occassional phone ring. It's so soothing...

Anyway, welcome back to my world. I hope to provide some positive insight and reflection as I carry on this quest of being a good father, a good husband, and a great member of the corporate rat race.

Wish me luck!

Welcome to "Scribings of a Sports Guy"
Mood:  suave
Now Playing: Welcome to "Scribings of a Sports Guy
You've stumbled upon what's sure to become a passing fancy for this "blog-illiterate" sports guy.

Thanks for stopping by, allow me to express the purpose of this page.

All too often, my profession is brushed aside as one that seems easy. I sit in front of a camera, read my highlights, and watch the cash roll in. On the contrary, my job is nothing like what is shown on ESPN's "Dream Job". I put in 60-80 hour weeks, for the pay of 40 - mind you, which isn't much to begin with - and I hardly ever see my lovely wife, and precious little puppy. I eat TV dinners (fittingly) and drink too much soda. I carry heavy, prehistoric broadcast equipment fit for cable-access, and deal with complaining, never-satiated viewers who find it necessary to gripe about not putting his kid on TV enough.

So why do I bother going to work everyday? Simple, to help make this industry more honest. Too often, my colleagues and competitive cohorts - all across the country - find themselves sitting in their office, watching the "feed" (a video service that sends highlights from all over the world), waiting for "their" highlights to arrive. When they do, they rehash them, do their sportscast, and go home, content with the little bit of work they didn't accomplish that day.

How will I make this industry more honest? By calling out everyone of those sports guys, and gals - you know who you are - who are sitting around, waiting, letting good sports in the communities go to waste. I hear it all across the country - "sports isn't important in local newscasts anymore." "No one wants to see sports." "Ratings show that sports aren't what people tune in for."

On the contrary, friends! In small markets, where viewers aren't inundated with large-market professional sports, LOCAL sports are ALL THERE IS!! There's a reason a kid still fights for his school; there's a reason newspapers still write about the Friday Night Lights. Local sports MATTER, but news directors and general managers think differently.

I'm a small market sports guy with large market dreams.

I'm gonna fight for the small markets, I'm gonna FIGHT the large markets. Local leads in my book, and this page will help reinforce that.

Again, welcome. I look forward to educating the world on what a good sportscast should look like.