Between playing and watching sports my whole life and developing epilepsy as a junior in college, it was a wild journey that led me to Cronkite.
After years on the field, I left and went into the newsroom and changed my life. Writing and sharing my thoughts with people was a way for me to have my voice heard with as much reach and impact as it could. Once starting, I never wanted to stop. Hearing someone tell me “good job” in my first article ignited something in me and I knew I wanted to keep it going. Living in Houston, the Astros were one of the prides of the city and that was a train I joined right away when I was a kid, cheering for them even through the tough times.
It was thanks to that love that put me in the position that, once starting in the world of journalism, I knew where I wanted to be and gave me a goal. I had always had a good time not just watching, but reading about the game. Learning the little details that I might have missed while watching as a fan. That passion led me out of the great state of Texas and to the not-sogreat state of Missouri, attending Mizzou and getting a degree in journalism and minor in history. It was while at Mizzou that one event changed my path.
After waking up in the hospital one morning my sophomore year from my first two seizures of my life, I learned that I had developed epilepsy and would have to spend the next years of my life trying to find a way to work with it. I finished school and didn’t know what the hell was going to happen next. Maybe surgery, maybe work or maybe more school. Fortunately for me, I was okay to not have the surgery I was slated for, allowing me to enroll at Cronkite just two days later.
That young child watching those games had no idea he would want to follow around the team and watch them play 162 games a year and write about each one, but here we are. Funny enough though, writing was one of my worst subjects in high school. I was always great at mathmand science, but when it came to reading and writing, especially reading, it was bad. I still find it a bit funny even now that I am purposefully working towards doing it everyday. But I still won’t read a book. Sorry.
Growing up, I was like everyone. I wanted to be a professional baseball player, but it didn’t take me long to realize that was out of the cards, especially when all my friends kept growing and growing and I stayed standing at a RESPECTABLE 5 ‘6.
Growing up in the world we are in now, I was always online, not like that has changed much now. And so I spend so much of my time scrolling through ESPN, Twitter and other news outlets. It was there that I found sports journalism and fell in love. Writers like Ken Rosenthal, Jeff Passans, Brian McTaggart and Ian Rapoport inspired me to want to share my voice and learn more about the games. Seeing how these reporters are getting this information first and becoming part of these ball clubs is what inspired me to write, and what led me right here to this class.
I know that this is not an easy business either. When telling people that I wanted to be a journalist, I was almost always met with the same reactions. People asking “are you sure?” or “why?” never discouraged me, it only made me want to work harder. Being able to build relationships with these players that I get to watch play the game that I love always was and always will be my motivations for what I am doing. Having the chance to share my voice and my thoughts with people and have the types of discussions I have had with my classmates throughout the years since starting in journalism reminds me why I joined in the first place.
