I’m going to bury the lede. Sorry.
I want to go back to August 2019 for a bit. It was a very frustrating time in my life. I passed my five-year anniversary from graduating college a few months prior and had never been able to make journalism work as a career. I could find work, but almost always freelance and part-time.
A few weeks prior, I had made up my mind that I couldn’t live the freelance life any longer. My two biggest accounts had just slashed available freelance money, the outlet through which I had my Pirates credential (Bucs Dugout) was being micromanaged by SB Nation, and I came to the realization that I was starting to make more money delivering pizzas for my friend’s parents’ pizza shop than from writing. I was going to stick around through the end of the season, but after that, I was going to move on to something else. I really didn’t know what.
Then there was an opening here. I almost didn’t apply. I had made up my mind to move on, but Jason Rollison didn’t want to hear that. He knew I could do the job and convinced me to give journalism one more try. He then banged the table to Dejan Kovacevic to give me a shot. If you’re lucky, you get a friend like Jason once in a lifetime.
I took a shot. I’m forever thankful that I did.
No sense burying the lede any longer. Today is my last day at DK Pittsburgh Sports. I’m currently exploring other opportunities and, knowing their potential start windows, I did not think it would be fair to Dejan, Dali Kovacevic, José Negron or you, the readers, for me to stay on any deeper into the offseason and potentially leave everyone high and dry.
These last 4 1/2 years have been an incredible experience. When Dejan and I first talked in person about the job, he brought up this high school softball gamer I wrote for the Beaver County Times as a sign that I could actually write. I look back at that softball gamer to some of the work I’m most proud of here – my 2013 Wild Card game oral history, the story of how Termarr Johnson’s baseball journey started with his family and Andrew McCutchen taking me behind the scenes for the full story of some of his greatest hits – and I can barely believe how far I’ve come and what I was able to accomplish here. I covered All-Star Games, drafts, the greatest comeback in franchise history and more. This was the job I wanted since high school, and I got to do it in a way that I felt was very true to who I am as a person and journalist. Sometimes I got a little too nerdy for the room. (Sorry. It happens in real life too.) Sometimes I didn't know how to process something so the reaction is to make a joke. I challenge anyone to find anything outside of DK Pittsburgh Sports that is quite like a Pirates live file.
I will forever be thankful to Dejan and Dali for giving me the opportunity to cover the Pirates and for affording me time to grow into the job. I had a hard time navigating the new responsibilities and the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic early on in my tenure. They were patient, and I was able to grow as a journalist and a person.
José will take over as the Pirates beat reporter. I’m really excited for him and I think he’s going to be a great fit here. We worked alongside each other in our early freelance/blogging days, and I lit up when Dejan told me a few months ago that he applied. He’s your guy. He’s a good reporter and a good person. It’s great to see people like that get rewarded with an opportunity like this. I know he’s going to make the most of it.
I’ve been blessed to work on the same staff some very talented journalists. I want to single out three who I worked with the closest in my time here: Chris Halicke, Jarrod Prugar and Eddie Provident. Chris has done more to help me behind the scenes than can be written here, and I am lucky that I got to work with him so closely on both the Pirates and Steelers. Jarrod is the type of guy who, when I got COVID in 2021, traveled two hours from Altoona to cover a night game for me, wrote the gamer and then drove back. Another guy I forever owe too many favors to, which is why he never has to buy Curve burgers when I’m in Altoona. Before last season I needed new podcast co-host. Eddie volunteered, knowing that a baseball and travel schedule would mean he would have to stay up late before working in the morning or give up his Friday night, simply because he’s a good friend and he wanted to talk some ball. I’m lucky to have them as friends.
I also want to thank all of you. I felt immediately welcomed by the Asylum from my first day here, even before I had done anything to justify your faith in me. I don’t think I’ll ever write for another publication that has a community like this. Yinz are truly special.
Again, thank you. This journey almost never happened. I'm glad it did.
