After a little over eight months in Connecticut, it’s time for me to go home.
Last August, I left USA Today, where I had been for more than a dozen years, and embarked on a new adventure. I was offered and accepted a job as copy desk chief at NBCSports.com, in Stamford, Conn. The plan was to sell the house and move the family from Virginia.
Ehh, but we never got around to the selling of the house. And then NBC laid off nine of my co-workers. And I got to thinking perhaps this wasn’t the most secure place I could work.
This is the way journalism is these days, and when I left a job of 12 years behind, that was a risk I was running, no doubt. But if I’m going to be in an insecure situation, I might as well be with my family. So I began to pursue other employment, and will start as sports editor for Verizon’s news portal on May 1, back in Northern Virginia.
But it was a risk I had to take, and I think it’s been a success. But it was a good season in New England. I got to see Springfield play, which wouldn’t have happened otherwise. I saw the Trinity (Conn.) winning streak end. Got a chance to see Albright’s new stadium, as well as the picturesque view on the water at Coast Guard and a great smack-in-the-middle-of-campus setup at RPI. I saw Cortland State’s season end — even though there was a month of the season left.
A couple of years ago, when Keith McMillan and I were still at USA Today, we ticked off which conferences we had seen and which we hadn’t. I got the NEFC and NESCAC off my list this season, while Keith got the IIAC. I also saw Wilkes play for the first time. At any rate, Keith and I started keeping a running tally of teams, and I got up to 83 of the 234 Division III teams. Thank you, New England. 🙂
It was certainly fun, don’t get me wrong. I had a lot of time to work on the sites this season, and I think it showed.
Still, it’s hard to think of my time away as anything but a term of nine months in exile. You should see me in the Mid-Atlantic area again this season. And my wife and kids thank Division III for keeping me sane while we were apart and returning me to them safely.