Judging from the congratulatory hugs and handshakes I’ve received in the last week or so, many of you already know this will be the last column I ever write for the Dispatch.
News spreads fast in Gilroy.
But for those who haven’t heard, your third-favorite Dispatch sports columnist has recently accepted a job offer from ESPN. I’ll be leaving for Bristol late tonight and will start working at the Mothership on Monday.
If Mayor Pinheiro doesn’t throw me a going-away parade this afternoon, though, I suppose I’ll understand. It has, after all, only been seven months.
But when the company you’ve wanted to work at since you were five years old calls, you listen. You have to listen.
So I listened and I accepted. I jumped to one of the handful of places I would jump to after only seven months.
I’m trading away a secure job that I love for a no-guarantees job that I only hope I love. Trading away T-shirts and sunshine for heavy coats and a foot of snow.
Trading away good people and a heck of a good town for people I don’t know and a place I’ve never been.
That’s the toughest part right there.
Knowing we were both Chicago Cub fanatics, the Dispatch had assigned night editor Dave Steffenson to be the one who took me around Gilroy during my interview back in June.
As it turned out, Steffenson actually left for a newspaper in Oregon just days before my first day on the job. Something about Cub loyalists makes us all connect, though, so we kept in contact through e-mail.
The messages were almost always about our beloved team, but one day he sent me some advice about my new job. The following paragraph always stuck with me:
“It’s not until you leave that you realize it doesn’t matter so much WHERE you’re at, but WHO you’re around … and you’re around some really good people there.”
You better believe I am. When I called my parents after my first night of interviewing here, I told them this was the place for me. As a lifelong Southerner, I was thoroughly impressed – and admittedly somewhat surprised – by the city’s hospitality.
I am a people person. In general, I’m a big fan of my fellow humans.
And I knew from the start I was around some extremely good people here in Gilroy.
See, that’s why this departing thing is so tough.
It’s tough because of people like Mark Derry, who flew me all the way out from Tennessee and then gave me a shot at a job right out of college.
Tough because of people like Scott Forstner, my first sports editor, and Damon Poeter, my next sports editor. Honestly, I don’t know if anyone could’ve been blessed with two more likable, easy-to-work-with bosses.
It’s tough because of people like Mohs and Riley, who often made my mediocre stories seem a little more bearable when accompanied by some excellent photos.
Tough because of people like Lori and Matt and Andi and every one of you guys who made the newsroom an enjoyable and fun-loving place to be during those 11-hour days.
And perhaps toughest because of people like Doug and Jackie Stevens, along with their son Michael, my good friend and the best football stat man in all of South Valley. For embracing me as one of their own and making 2,000 miles away feel just like home, I’ll never be able to thank them enough. Truly an amazing family.
To all the coaches and all the players, I appreciated the cooperation and kindness. To all the readers that sent me e-mails and Green Phone calls, I appreciated the feedback, good and bad.
And to all the other great people I’ve had the privilege to meet and befriend, please know that you were part of a short, but wonderful time in my life.
Looking back, there’s really just one thing that gives me regret about the whole experience.
Simply that I don’t get to spend more time with the people and the town I’ve grown to know, respect and love.
Starting today, Brett Edgerton can be reached at ca*******@ya***.com.
