I’d be lying if I said I didn’t make a general assumption of James “Jimmy” Morel after our first day of class. I knew he was a New England Patriots fan so I assumed he must be a New England Boston sports fan. I also knew he was a sports journalism major, meaning he was either going to give off “sports bro” vibes or he wasn’t.
When reading Jimmy’s autobiographical column I was able to gather some more information about him. I now knew he was from Illinois, liked the Patriots, and like almost every other sports journalist played sports at one point.
Before my interview with Jimmy, I tried to do extra research to prepare myself better, however, Jimmy is barely on social media. I eventually found his X, formally known as Twitter, account where my assumption of Jimmy being a Boston sports fan was proven wrong.
I learned he is a Chicago sports fan who likes the Patriots. This combo didn’t make much sense but I’m not one to judge.
“Practically every other sport other than the White Sox, I’m a Cubs fan, and the Bears.” Morel said.
Jimmy shares that he became a fan of New England because his dad is a fan of Tom Brady. Once Tom Brady left the Pats his dad stopped cheering for the team, while Jimmy stayed loyal “So when Tom Brady left he jumped ship. But I just decided to stick with the Patriots, ‘cause I’ve been rooting for them for so long,” he explained, “and then I just can’t stand the Bears.”
I went into this interview with an open mind not expecting to have much in common with Jimmy. I quickly learned we had more in common than I realized. We are both the babies of our family. An older sister and an older brother, with his sister being the oldest. Both his siblings were cheerleaders, however, Jimmy didn’t want to cheer. Although he did join his high school’s choir program because of his brother.
Two major beliefs we have in common are being an ally of the LGBTQ+ community and the importance of mental health. Both of Jimmy’s siblings are part of the community while my niece also came out of the closet to my family a couple of years ago.
“Just like seeing him going from like reserved about it to being the most outgoing person is the one of the coolest like, I'm so proud to be his brother just because of that.” Morel described.
During our interview, Jimmy shared he is introverted. Discussing a low point in high school when he was struggling. He mentioned the musical “Dear Evan Hansen,” which helped him get through those tough times. The musical helped him open up to his family about his struggles and realize that it’s okay to not be okay.
Jimmy’s journey to Cronkite isn’t like most sports journalists, but the reason he wanted to attend is like most journalists; the love of writing and sports.
“…I’ll just do sports journalism. I love sports. I love writing. So I just decided to do that. and I don’t regret it for a second.” Jimmy said.
Jimmy’s time in Cronkite has been hands-on, from working with the PAC-12 Stream Team to reporting for Cronkite Sports as one of the Arizona Cardinals beat reporters.
