Sports always involve transitions.
There is a transition from one season to another. In hockey and soccer, the flow of the sport is a constant transition from offense to defense and back. The NBA even has a statistical category that tracks and measures transition offense and defense.
Here at The Arizona Republic, we are embarking on a transition of our own today.
The Sunday newspaper you're reading has a new look and feel, and the sports section is part of this transformation, with visually gripping images and powerful Built on local journalism. In Arizona Sports.
The goal is for this newly conceived product to work hand-in-hand with azcentral.com, our go-to website for breaking news and sports coverage. The Sunday Newspaper experience complements all of that by spending time with stories that showcase our staff's expertise, look to the future, and celebrate our shared past. Packed with opinion, powerful features, and team analysis.
It's a Sunday magazine of sorts, a place to spend time concentrating on a topic or exploring the rich history of Arizona sports.
This transition has been a long time coming, hasn't it? Regular readers of The Republic understand that nightly events and live coverage are no longer the exclusive domain of print newspapers. And really, there's no reason for our vibrant website and social media track record of reporting everything sports fans are looking for in real time. This is also part of the transition, providing print reader tools that allow quick access to digital content via QR codes.
We believe this hint edition of the new Sunday Republic is an indication of what you can expect every weekend.
As we introduce this new experience, there's one more transition we need to share.
This issue is my last Sunday paper as Republic's sports editor. I worked in journalism and he decided to retire after almost 44 years. 21 of those years have been here in Phoenix, where he hopes to contribute to understanding the evolving scene in one of America's premier sports cities.
Even if our pro teams underperform a lot of the time, there's no place like it here. Since arriving in the fall of 2003, I have attended six college football championship or semifinal games, four Super Bowls (including the 2009 Cardinals in Tampa), four NASCAR Cup championship races, four WNBA Finals, I have been involved in covering the NBA Finals. , World Series, Pac-12 Football Championship Game, MLB, NBA, NFL All-Star Game, and more. Add to this the Cactus League, the most attended golf tournament in the world, hosting countless bowl games and professional playoffs, and an active local high school and college sports scene.
Phew!
What brought me here in the first place is this steady lineup of events that regularly draw attention to Phoenix. What I didn't expect, and what turned out to be the best thing about working here, was how great the people were, both professionally and personally, and how great the Western experience was.
It used to hang out in Flagstaff when the Cardinals spent summer camp there. That meant watching Diamondbacks games at three rival stadiums in the National League West (and Denver, next you). He watched the Coyotes play in Los Angeles and Anaheim and visited Camp Tontozona, Arizona State football's annual pilgrimage site.
Being a newspaper (and website) sports editor has been a thrilling job that I could never have imagined when the opportunity first presented itself nearly 35 years ago. I was an NFL beat writer covering the New York Giants for the Bridgeport (Conn.) Post, but that job ended as the company moved in a new direction. The publisher called me into the office and told me they had a new position as sports assignment and layout editor. After thinking about it for a while, I answered something along the lines of, “Isn't that what a sports editor does?'' he smiled. He believes this was a test (that word again) to see how he would handle the transition. Within a month, he went out of his way to make me sports editor.
All these years have passed, but we've never lost sight of the fact that our job is to connect our readers with the teams and sports they love. We have insider access they can only dream of, and even in his 24/7 era of content generation where teams are more virtually visible to the public than ever, our activities are Still important. How we report and analyze the news and how we interact with our readers remains important in the field of sports. We are still independent. We don't support anything other than good stories to tell and great people to feature. Sure, it's great for a local team to win. Because more readers and fans will flock to us. So if the Suns are going to make the playoffs, we might expect them to go all the way.
I hear retired athletes say that what they miss most is being with their teammates, and that's the same for me. The people we meet and work with make a huge difference in our lives. For me, the list of people who made this trip special is very long. He was amazed and challenged by the amazing journalists at the three newspapers I worked for. Get to know athletes, coaches, and administrators along the way. And what's more, what Stephen King calls “regular readers” — people who understand what we're doing, not just complain when we get something wrong or don't cover a story. and may even force relationships with people who wish to provide constructive feedback. I'm here to tell you that I wouldn't want it any other way.
From now on, I will be watching from the sidelines with you all. No, that's not correct. Our friends at The Republic and azcentral show us the way, giving us a front row seat and insider access to the good, the bad, and everything in between.
Otherwise, you can find me on hiking trails or in national parks depending on my mood. As Johnny Cash once sang, “Now I'll be free to do what I want.”
See you at the stadium.
