Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: I'm Back!
July 17, 2009 | Football, General, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - Hey, it's me again.
Same worn mug, similar job description, different venue . . . much different venue, in fact.
If this were politics, I would be branded as going to the other side of the aisle, changing parties.
I was in the newspaper business for the better part of 40 years, 31 of those at the late Rocky Mountain News, which ceased to exist on Feb. 27, 2009 - a couple months shy of its 150th birthday.
Can't avoid this: RIP, Rocky.
My time in the news industry encompassed its salad days, which now appear on the verge of being scraped off the plate and into the disposal. Many good memories of nearly unlimited travel, big-event coverage, major stories and doing what inexorably lured me into the business in the late '60s.
On the flip side, there were the occupational low points: loitering, lurking and languishing in hallways and hotel lobbies, waiting for interviews to begin or meetings to end.
By my somewhat fuzzy count, I've worked for almost four dozen editors, managing editors, news editors and various department heads at four newspapers in three states.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss?
Not quite.
I've never worked for an athletic director and chancellor, but I'm going to venture onto a short limb here and say at day's end Mike Bohn and Phil DiStefano will have measured up well against the very best on the other side of the aisle.
Meet the new duties, same as the old duties?
Not quite right on that count either - but very, very similar.
"CU beat writer," a tag worn from 1987 until the Rocky's closure, gives way to "contributing editor" for CUBuffs.com - a title agreed upon during a lunch discussion last month that included this (tongue-in-cheek, of course) from longtime friend and sports information director Dave Plati: "I'm sure you don't care what we call you as long as our check doesn't bounce."
What to expect from a contributing editor?
In-depth stories on student-athletes; coverage of issues and events (pre-game and game-day analysis); some commentary and most anything else funneled in my direction.
Will there be a "CU slant" in any of this?
Unavoidable, to an extent, but "compromise" was never mandated or even suggested in preliminary discussions about this job, while "objectivity" was mentioned on multiple occasions.
Now, before you hit "send" on that e-mail deriding me as delusional, know that I've asked myself how much objectivity this job and my new bosses will allow. I'm told my wardrobe, such as it is, will feature a shirt or two with the likeness of "Ralphie" on the pocket.
Bottom line: You wear the logo, you walk the line.
An aside here, but one that seems relevant: Several years ago in a hotel elevator in Des Moines, Iowa - road headquarters then when the football team played at Iowa State - former quarterback Mike Moschetti, cheek distorted with a chaw, asked this question:
"Tell me, `Beeg,' can you spend as much time as you do around this team and not pull for us on Saturdays?"
I offered Moschetti the standard "my job is to take a detached, objective view and report in that manner" answer, and I meant it. That said, wishing success for Moschetti . . . or Matt Russell . . . or Darian Hagan . . . or Chauncey Billups . . . or Shelley Sheetz . . . was never difficult.
It'll be easier, no doubt expected, on this side of the aisle.
As I've heard coaches and others say for decades, when one door closes, another opens. Don't know what might have been behind Doors No. 2-3, but Door No. 1 opened.
I'm humbled and eager to step through.
