You know you’re in a good sports town when, as a journalist, you don’t mind odd hours and late nights on the job.
I knew I had a good thing going when I still had no problem commuting back and forth from south Lakeland — even if it meant I’d be up as late as 1 a.m. working on things. I was on the field or at courtside for plenty of great games, moments and tournaments in 2014 that made it all worthwhile.
I’m still keeping unconventional hours every now and then, even though I moved to Plant City eight months ago. In fact, I wrote this column at around 12:30 a.m. on a Thursday. But that’s largely because I had one heck of a time cobbling these two lists together and then finding a ranking order that I wouldn’t lose sleep over.
No coffee, either.
Where should I begin?
There’s always football, the most beloved sport in the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World. There’s been at least one kid on nearly every team I’ve covered who’s done great things all season or found his or her rhythm at some point and went on a remarkable tear through the end of the year. And, I can think of several young guns off the top of my head who will probably make your heads turn when they take the field in high school.
How about some girl power? We’ve got golf, soccer, softball and basketball teams out here that made waves this year, as they have for the last several. In particular, I had a lot of fun covering the softball district tournament action at Brandon High School this year. From my neutral standpoint, there wasn’t a single disappointing game among our area’s teams.
Also worth giving a shout-out to are our Special Olympics athletes, who worked their tails off in numerous sports to make trips to area, state and even national tournaments. Getting there is good, but the fact that our athletes brought home a lot of gold medals is even better. You won’t find a single unpleasant person in that group, which is especially awesome when you’re frequently interviewing them.
Since my only regret is that there wasn’t another Gentleman’s Quest wrestling show fundraiser for me to go cover, I’d say that 2014 was a great first full year on the job for me. I’m sure it was great for many of you, as well, and I’m excited to see what 2015 will bring.