There are many things about covering sports that are enticing for a lifelong sports fan. I’d much rather be at a couple prep or college basketball games than sitting at, say, a city council or parks department meeting. I know that, because I spent six years covering meetings like that, and nothing against city council member or parks department commissioners, but there’s a lot of boring stuff they have to attend to that I’d rather not be a part of.
Of course, a daily sports section has its drawbacks, such as having to be in the office and ready to take coaches’ calls by 6 a.m. weekdays, and writing, editing and paginating until after midnight on many Friday and Saturday nights.
And of course there’s the pain of covering a 71-16 prep football blowout, and having to talk to the humiliated coach afterwards.
But perhaps the best part of my job over majority of the last decade has been my weekly duties editing Don Davis’ Outdoors column. Don takes readers on a weekly journey that can be to the Oregon Coast, the Montana wilderness, the Eagle Cap area, or as close to home as a stroll along Mill Creek. A big part of each column is his intrepid canine companion, first Sadie the Dalmation and now, of course, Nora the Schnauzer. I look forward to each week’s column and edit, choose photos and paginate each week for the U-B’s Diversions section. And his pictures are a highlight each week. He often apologizes for having a stack I have to choose from, knowing there’s limited space in the paper. But it’s a labor of love that I enjoy each week.
This week his column is on his Top 10 (or so) trips of 2009. Here’s a selection of photos, some of which ran in this week’s paper, and some that didn’t.
