Uncle Rick was Right

I'm going to take a risk here. I'm admitting I may not have had the best intentions when I signed up for this class. I mean, I knew it would probably help me in the long run, but my main motivation was just to get my second advanced media done, and be able to graduate in December.

Well, after listening to Uncle Rick lecture week after week, I'm realizing more and more, that this was a solid class selection and could help put me over the top.

As Rick said last week, I drank the Kool-Aid. I'm realizing how big of a part the web, blogging and multimedia journalism in general is going to play in the future of journalism.

I'm a print guy, through and through. I've tried other areas of journalism, in front of the camera, behind the microphone on radio, but I've always been the most confident behind a computer typing my story on a strict deadline. In fact, my good friend Jimmy Chavez used to say, after a game there wasn't a better thing in the world than sitting in the press room and just listening to everyone type away and get there stories in. The sound of the writers pounding away on their computer was priceless.

Well, it is priceless, but it's not enough. I'm working now for the Topeka Capital Journal, and loving every minute of it. But, combined with the learning experiences from that newsroom combined with Uncle Rick's lessons, I know I need to expand. There's a lot of people out there like me. I like to think I'm special, and my mom has always told me I am, but I know I need something to seperate myself from the rest of the "special" sportswriters.

.The Topeka Capital Journal, my new homebase. Picture from echo-media.com

I think about the newspaper business and realize, especially in sports, If Terrell Ownens, a star player in the NFL, overdoses on pain killers at 7 a.m. in the morning. No newspaper in the country is going to have that story untill it's old news. All day long people will watch about it on television, or go to espn.com, but by the time the newspaper comes out 18-20 hours later, does anyone still care?

This is where I become "extra special." Not, all of those guys I'll be competing against have online producing skills. Not, all of those people have experience with the web. But, guess what, I drank the Kool Aid, and I like it. I'm seperating myself everyday.

A couple weeks ago, I said who knows, maybe I'll be the next Sports Guy. Well, guess what, I am going to be the next Sports Guy. Except, it's a whole new generation of the Sports Guy. I'm going to be the multimedia Sports Guy. That's right, print columns, web producing, behind the mic yelling at sports fans in the morning, in front of the camera for live web updates.

I drank the Kool Aid and I want some more.