The people of the sports section
Eric Gallo - May 1st, 2008I have had a great year serving as the editor of this humble section. I have told you about my life and how I got to be the way I am. I could tell you about how embarrassing it is to watch the Phoenix Suns this playoff season, but this column is about other people in my life. Mainly, this column is for nine others who have contributed to this section and have made it possible over the past year. Some of you may not have continued over past the fall, and a couple of you have only been with me for this semester. No matter what, I owe you my sincerest thanks. In the spirit of this section I could rank you guys on how you did this year, but I do not want to because you have all been great. So here is a little message for each of you:
Stephanie Kuhar: I hired her in the fall. Even though she did not continue past the fall semester, I am glad I had her on staff for a little while. While some things may have come up during her time here, I appreciate the time she put into this section. This section has been empty this semester knowing that I did not have a Cubs fan aboard.
Alex Randel: What can I say about Alex except that he was solid. I trusted him with any assignment I gave him to write, knowing he would do a great job. Like everybody else, I enjoyed having Alex on staff for a semester.
Ryan Dimal: To one of my former writers who is graduating this spring. First off, congratulations. While sometimes I had to wait on his articles, they were usually well-written. I appreciated the time that he put into this section.
Steven Smith: Another one of my solid writers. I always will appreciate both Ryan and Steve for coming back when I was named editor. Steve was always a good writer for this section. He graduated this past December and is now a part of Spark Magazine in Tempe.
Chris Etling: Yes, he is my boss, so that must mean I should probably suck up. Chris made this section what it has been by writing his award-winning 5MM in the fall. While his column has been absent from the section this semester, he does get the grueling job of fixing my mistakes, of which there are many. You readers are lucky; you get to read a page without all my mistakes.
Joey Cummins: Another graduating Lumberjack and my previous editor. Joey has done a great job this semester writing a column for this section as well as writing for the Arizona Republic.
Bryce Propheter: Bryce joined this section this semester with about as much experience as I had when I started. He has done a great job as a writer, and I look forward to him coming back in the fall.
Jason Harris: Jason joined this spring as well and has been solid. It has been nice having Jason as a part of this section this semester, and I am also looking forward to his writing in the fall.
Rebecca Johnson: Rebecca was a very talented writer who joined this section last summer. She was the first new person that I hired. I always enjoyed reading her articles. One of the things I liked most about Rebecca’s writing was the fact that it was so hard to edit. It was hard for me to find a mistake in her writing. Due to circumstances throughout the fall semester she did not get to cover as many games as maybe she would have liked. However, Rebecca, did an amazing job with profiles and previews. I am thankful she agreed to write, and be a part of the section.
So there they are, the nine people who have devoted their time to write for this section this year. I appreciate every one of them past and present. Of the 30 issues put out this year, most have gone pretty smoothly. I have one semester left as the editor of this section and I think this section is on the upswing heading into the fall.
Now we are heading into the summer and one thing is for sure: the next three months are for fun. That is what I am going to do, and I hope my writers and the rest of you do the same. The best sporting events of the summer are upon us, including the NBA finals, Stanley Cup finals, the NCAA Lacrosse Championship, NCAA Women’s World Series, the College World Series and the Olympics in China.
Have a great summer everybody and I will be back in the fall with plenty to complain about.