Sports editor says ‘farewell’ to comfy chair

The Hot Corner

Today I feel like former NBA superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, except I’m not seven feet tall and I have yet to master the intricacies of "The Sky Hook."

In the movie Forget Paris, comedic actor Billy Crystal plays an NBA referee who throws Abdul-Jabbar out of a game on the legend’s farewell tour. As Crystal eloquently puts it, "Let me be the first to say, farewell!"

My yearlong stint atop The Breeze sports totem pole comes to an end today, much to the dismay of those who enjoy my layout designs and columns. Indeed, dozens of avid readers across campus are in mourning on account of my departure.

This experience on the editorial staff has been both educational and beneficial. I learned how to run a newspaper and manage my own staff of writers — at least those who actually wrote. I became fluent in AP style. I even learned how to change font types four times in the middle of production.

Although sarcastic, I am grateful for this worthwhile experience. I greatly benefited from being in the right place at the right time. How many 20-year-olds can lay claim to covering a national championship game? How many sports editors can say they wrote a story on a National Player of the Year candidate? Thanks to the 2004 JMU football team and former lacrosse standout Gail Decker, I was able to do both in a span of nine months. And I owe those opportunities to The Breeze.

I also benefited from working with a talented assistant sports editor named Matt Stoss, the only other man on campus who knows what it’s like to sit at the office on a Saturday night, waiting to edit a soccer story that never comes in.

Stoss will take over the reigns as sports editor after this issue. I’ll miss the road trips we took as we chronicled JMU football’s national championship run, the best of which was a stormy four-hour drive we made to Villanova, along with former photo editor Nathan Chiantella.

Nathan recently was appointed editor in chief of The Breeze. Everything you need to know about his work ethic lies in that he shot two rolls of film in a hurricane during that JMU-Villanova game. Everything you need to know about Nathan’s preparation skills lies in that he did it without a raincoat.

It would be wrong of me to write my farewell column without thanking Nathan’s former partner in crime, Amy Paterson, whose dedicated work makes this paper look good. And a big shout out to our bookkeeper Susan Shifflet — with my departure, you’re the only Yankee fan (and thus the most intelligent sports mind) left in the office (sorry Matt, you lose).

I digress.

When I came to JMU, my goal was to be involved. In the past year, I’ve written nearly 50 stories, worked 30-hour weeks, ate countless meals on the run and logged over 3,700 travel miles to bring you punctual information.

I poured everything I had into this section and as I depart from the editor’s chair, (a really comfortable chair I might add) I’d like to think the product shows that. This school year, 185 of the 186 stories in The Breeze sports were written by JMU students. We stayed away from professional sports and the Associated Press and gave you something you can’t get anywhere else, all-JMU, all the time.

I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Most of the time, I have.

James Irwin is a sophomore SMAD major.