Move to Georgia Paid Dividends

Posted by Jerry M. Gutlon Jan 23, 2008

When I moved my family to Georgia in 2001 to take a position at The Griffin Daily News as assistant sports editor the Boston Red Sox hadn’t won a World Series in 83 years and the New England Patriots had never won a Super Bowl.

Since the move, the Pats have won three Super Bowls and the Red Sox have emerged victorious in two World Series. So, where’s my residual check? Personally, I think they ought to send me a couple or three to stay put. Perhaps I ought to appeal to each franchise, as my wife is lobbying to move to … New Jersey, where her immediate family resides.

I had the pleasure of serving as assistant sports editor when the Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. Then, thrillingly, I was sports editor when the Sox engineered their historic comeback against the hated Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series.

And several months later I was still serving the same capacity when New England rolled over my wife’s beloved Philadelphia Eagles. (She’s from Atlantic City, which is closer to Philly then it is to New York City.) So…I slept on the couch for a couple of weeks.

In between, New England won their second Super Bowl while I was serving as county bureau chief. The worst part about that was that I couldn’t write about it because I was working news. But it was a nice touch anyway, even though the sports editor was a native New Yorker. (I forgive him. He didn’t choose where to be born and raised.)

But at least I got the opportunity to write columns about the Sox during their 2004 run. And I still think I should get a couple of checks…

Meanwhile, go Patriots!