Sports editor says goodbye to Sarasota after eight years

The Baltimore Orioles were my first sports love. 

Even though my family lived in a suburb of Washington, D.C., and pulled for the district's sports teams, there was no Washington baseball team when I was born in 1994; the Nationals would not arrive until 2005. By then, it was far too late for me. This baseball kid had long ago allowed the next-closest team, the Orioles, into his heart.

Then I grew up, learned to write, learned to love to write, and eventually went to journalism school at the University of Missouri. All the while, I kept my O's fandom running hot, even though most of those years were filled with misery on the field. After I graduated in 2016, I started looking for sports reporting jobs, and one immediately caught my eye: the Sarasota Observer. 

For the beaches? For the weather? No, for the Orioles, who call the city and Ed Smith Stadium their spring training home. 

The first time I attended a spring training game as a credentialed media member in 2017, I was too nervous to function. During the team's designated open locker room period, I walked in feeling like an imposter, stood around for five minutes pretending to check my phone, then walked out. During the game, I sat in the back row of the press box and didn't talk to anyone. I ended up writing about the team's Youth Baseball Day promotion. But I would go back, a few times each spring, and each time I felt more comfortable. Eventually I got over my imposter syndrome and covered not just the O's, but the Atlanta Braves' opening of CoolToday Park in North Port, too.

Those spring training experiences meant a lot to me, even though I put away my fandom while on the job. They connected me to the team I grew up watching, but they also connected me to my new city. Seeing waves of orange and black in the stands, and hearing a roaring "O" during the national anthem, helped me feel like I was where I was supposed to be. 

Along the way, I learned a lot about journalism, and I tried to tell stories people care about. It was made easy by the great athletes (and personalities) that make Sarasota such a unique place. 

It made for a great eight years, but all great things come to an end. I'm leaving my Gulf Coast hometown to get closer to my real one.

I have accepted a non-journalism job in Richmond, Virginia. The high school football games held Sept. 20 will be the last games I cover. My new job will not be as public-facing, but it will involve a lot of the same tenets that the Observer holds high. Namely, a dedication to its hyperlocal communities, telling the stories of each one in the truest way possible. 

I have learned how to do that only because of the kindness I have received from the Sarasota sports community along the way. There are too many individual athletes and coaches to name, but I thank all of you for taking time out of your days to talk to me for stories. Athletic directors, thank you for connecting me with your programs and for letting me romp up and down the sidelines at your sporting events to get in the best position for action photos. (And for answering my annoying questions whenever I called.) 

To Sarasota parents, thanks for letting me know what you thought of my stories, even when you disagreed with something I said in a column. What are sports without debate? As long as you actually read the story — not everyone did — I thank you for expressing your feelings in a (usually) respectful way. 

Outside of the high school ranks, thank you to all of the communication and PR professionals at area organizations for alerting me whenever you had a good story idea come across your desk. I was a one-person sports department at the Observer, so that type of assistance was always appreciated. 

Lastly, thank you for reading, no matter who you are. To serve the sports community, I tried to write as many types of stories about as many niche sports subjects as I could. Sometimes that ethos resulted in things like the story of Todd Kerkering, the city's emergency manager, who went viral after watching his son Orion Kerkering make his Philadelphia Phillies debut and getting emotional in the stands. At other times, I wrote about legendary Riverview High football coach John Sprague, who was remembered as boisterous and caring by friends and former players after he died in November 2023. 

I even got to cover big-time events. I saw some of Earth's best athletes compete at the World Rowing Championships at Nathan Benderson Park. I interviewed local Olympians like skateboarder Jake Ilardi, rifle shooter Mary Tucker, rower Clark Dean and swimmer Emma Weyant. I covered the Dick Vitale Gala every year at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, and it never stopped being inspiring. 

This is a vibrant sports community, one that is growing, and I'll cherish my time spent in it. Now, when I think of the Orioles, I'll think of Sarasota as well as Baltimore. I have no doubt that great stories will continue to be written on athletic fields here long after I'm gone, and I can't wait to take them in — only this time, as a spectator from afar.