Before you were a journalist ...

Yeah, but aren't guards supposed to be good free throw shooters?

 

I was never in the paper before I was a journalist, as far as I know. And my first journalistic work appeared under my dad's name, who was a stringer at the time.

 

What, you wrote stories for your dad? I did that for a buddy at a horse race once. He got plowed and I filed for him under his byline.

 

No...nothing like that.

It was post-game of the big inter-district rivalry and he went down to interview the coaches. I wrote the lede and the first couple of graphs and did so well enough that it all appeared verbatim the next morning.

I was on cloud-freaking-nine.

 

God, I'm so glad we're friends.

 

I know, right?

 

I won an art competition when I was eight.

I still remember going downtown to get my photo taken at the Pioneer Press, I was in complete awe of the place.

The clipping is tucked away, but I still have it.

 

The local daily dubbed my doubles partner and I, along with our No. 4 singles player, 'sophomore sensations" because we all were undefeated halfway through the regular season. Later in the same season, I got my mug on the front of the sports section.
No mention when we finished the season undefeated or when we lost in the playoffs.