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Whenever someone asks me how I got into the world of sports writing I tell them the truth – It was an accident.
Writing had always been a component of my career activities. As a gigging musician and songwriter I was always penning lyrics that were often terrible, frequently decent and, once in a while, even clever (Don’t take my word for it, check out Groovy Julia ). Meanwhile, as a Canadian Immigration Adjudicator, I was required to make and write administrative court decisions that had to hold up to the scrutiny of the Federal Court of Canada. Dry? You bet. But it was excellent training for being exacting and detail-oriented.
Since I was a kid, I always read the sports section and thought, man, I can do that. I loved sports and loved talking about them. You name the sport and I have at least a nodding acquaintance with it, which brings us to how I become a professional sports writer.
It was a moment of serendipity, a case of being in the right place at the right time. In fact, it was a bright mid-winter day, sun pouring through the high windows of the converted furniture factory I was visiting. I’d come to take a buddy of mine to lunch. He was employed doing something or other for an internet company located in the building.
As we walked down the hall to the elevator, a door burst open. Through it bounded a man who, judging by his beet red face and messed-up hair was in some sort of crisis. It wasn’t a scream he let out. Rather it was more of a wail. But his words sounded suspiciously like opportunity knocking.
“Can’t anyone around here write about the F-***-in’ NBA?”
Without thinking, I blurted out, “I can.”
A day (and a hastily thrown together bio and portfolio) later and I was the expert NBA columnist for a website offering fantasy sports games. From there, things took off. I became their NASCAR expert, golf guy and sports historian.
Since that auspicious beginning, I have covered pro sports for a Sacramento based website called Today’s Sports, done features, athlete profiles, moderated chats and traveled to the 2000 Sydney Olympics on behalf of the AOL Canada sports channel and provided content for Canadian golfer Mike Weir’s website.
Recently, the bulk of my work has been for the television industry. I wrote the daily sports report for the worldwide syndicated show, the Naked News, for many years, was a freelance reporter for the Score (a Canadian all sports highlight channel) and still produce the weekend sports news for CTV Toronto, Canada’s number 1 local newscast.
I have also written a biography of Canadian golf legend Moe Norman for Fitzhenry and Whiteside that is slated to be published either Fall 2007 or Spring 2008.