Some bleak, cold November morning 21 years ago, I walked into my dream job.
That wasn’t the thought at the time. That young man was just figuring that returning to the community where he spent his college days would serve as a valuable step up the media ladder, with bigger titles and more attention to follow.
Well, over the course of weeks, months and eventually a couple of decades, a brief stop turned into a permanent home, and the process of chronicling the area high school sports scene evolved into a true love of sorts, sometimes marvelous, sometimes maddening, but never, ever dull.
Meanwhile, our business underwent a necessary evolution. What was once strictly a print medium got more and more electronic. Now we post our stories first, put them on paper next, and know that we have to in order to survive.
Ah yes, survival. The fact that we at Eagle are still around when so much of our industry has either succumbed to natural causes or was killed by capitalist vultures only out to line their own pockets is something special.
But don’t call it a miracle. The hard work, toil, tears and sweat poured into our company are the reasons why we are still able to offer the comprehensive coverage of our communities that you expect in these pages.
Now, we humbly ask you to make sure that our work continues for a long time to come.
Hopefully you got a chance to read our publisher David Tyler’s piece in last week’s editorial page where he outlined the challenges our company faces and our hope that you, the reader, will put a generous dollar value on your subscription.
Admittedly, we as an industry messed up at the outset of the Internet Age by not asking customers then and there to pay the same subscription rates that they did from physical copies of all types of publications.
Once the initial assumption of a free product was made, it became impossible to dislodge. To this day, users complain whenever they run into various paywalls, even if they are necessary to our business.
And while I understand those concerns, the constant barrage of stories about so many colleagues, some of them friends, laid off or cast aside leaves plenty of open wounds, and whatever issues I might have, they turn instantly trivial.
In so many ways, we need your help, and any amount you give us is greatly appreciated. It’s just as important, too, to support the small, local businesses that advertise with us so that money stays in our communities.
Think of it as neighbors helping each other in times of need. It’s in our human nature, during various crises, to drop what we’re doing and tend to those who need our assistance. Or at least what the best of us hope to do.
This endeavor is no different. To put a price on the work that we publish every single week seems crass and self-serving, and if our industry was thriving, a project like this would deserve every criticism thrown at us.
Yet there’s another side to this – namely, the value of what we do.
Whether it’s keeping a town or village board honest and open in their actions because we cover every single meeting, or it’s bringing attention to the many charitable work done by individuals and groups, the purpose of our work is to enrich our communities as well as tell their stories and keep them informed about what’s going on.
By itself, sports are just fun and games, and in that context not as important as other things. But part of the reason I still do the same job I started in 1998 was seeing how much it means to people, young and old.
Through so many championship runs in so many different sports, to see the growth of young men and women, most of whom will never play at the college or pro level, and to experience their joy and pain, it remains special, and provides a perspective lost at other levels where fame and riches can breed corruption and cynicism.
I want so much to continue to tell these stories to you in these pages. That you are reading them is a gift and gratitude unto itself, but if you help us at Eagle through modest or not-so-modest contributions, it will help us continue to proudly serve you, one neighbor to another.
