August is right around the corner and for most of my last 30 years or so, that usually means getting ready for the fall sports season on the high school and college levels.
And of course, it is NFL training camp time, but that is another story.
This year, though, it is going to be a little different for yours truly, as with my position as a news copy editor for the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, I won't be getting ready for high school and college football and everything else that goes with it.
Just as it was strange this summer not covering youth baseball at some level for the first time since 1983, that will be the case only multiplied many times over with everything else that I have covered in my years as a sportswriter.
Let's see ... I began my first full-time newspaper job in 1982 in Worland. I actually did some high school sports coverage in college (Black Hills State University) in Spearfish for the neighboring Belle Fourche Bee (it's been so long I think that was what the weekly paper there was called). I also some part-time work for the Hot Springs (S.D.) Star before I landed in Worland.
Technically, you can say this will be the first time in 30 years that I haven't been a sportswriter.
I might need a therapist soon. I know, maybe I could start a new VH1 reality show, something like, "Sportswriting Withdrawl with Dr. Drew." We could even include sportscasters on the show. We could invite Jim Gray. After that LeBron James/ESPN fiasco, he probably shouldn't be on the air anytime soon.
It won't be long before the football pads are popping and the 128-pound freshman running back with no speed gets ready for the first Plainsmen practice. Of course, three days later, 11 of those players will realize why they hadn't gone out for football previously.
It won't be long until the fall media day at UW when football coach Dave Christensen, volleyball coach Carrie Yerty and cross country coach Randy Cole will be their optimistic selves in dreaming of better things to come this season. And why not? They're all undefeated at this time.
Of course, there will be hordes of reporters asking the same questions to the athletes, who will give the same answers as last year.
Maybe I'll try to blend in with the crowd. After all, UW officials are used to seeing me there. They might forget that I'm not actually working this time.
I won't tell if you don't tell.
I guess there are some positives about not being a member of the working press. I can wear a UW t-shirt to a Cowboy game or a Plainsmen hat to a LHS contest. I can voice my displeasure about the officiating (clean, of course). I can leave the game early if I want to.
Crap, that also means I will have to pay to get into the game.
I think I would rather be working.
