If you’ve never been in a mosh pit at a Mastodon concert four days after getting laid off from your job, I highly recommend it.
There’s nothing like throwing your body around complete strangers to “Blood and Thunder,” even completely sober. That’s where I found myself in Greenville, S.C. in June, after I was told the News of Orange could no longer afford my salary, reducing the total number of full-time writers on staff to a grand total of one. And that person is also the editor.
A week later, I went to Curran Campbell’s graduation party in Hillsborough. Curran, who was headed to Syracuse after leaving Cedar Ridge, greeted me with these encouraging words: “I mean, you could be dead.”
Curran, a word of advice. When you graduate from Syracuse, don’t bother applying for a gig at Hallmark.
Maybe heavy metal/hard rock is my midlife crisis and that’s the reason I’ve gone to so many concerts over the past nine years, but as we’ve all seen on a daily basis, I can think of worse ways to unleash stress.
After leaving a job where I produced the best work of my 20-year career in May, I certainly had a lot to mull over. I also learned that what Rage Against the Machine recorded in 1992 was true.
Anger is a gift.
This year, the Herald-Sun stopped publishing a print edition of its Saturday paper. For anyone who loved high school football during the course of their lives, the Saturday edition was a weekly highlight every fall. I know because I was a part of it for four years.
There would be 6-10 stringers dispatched to schools from Chapel Hill to Henderson who would all flock back to the home office on Pickett Road. Of course, the Northern Knights took center stage because they won the most, and they were the New England Patriots of central North Carolina.
Those offices on Pickett Road now houses self-storage units. In short, those days I grew up with are gone forever.
At least in print.
That’s why you may have noticed more posts this fall on Hillsboroughsports.com. Coverage of high school sports is at an all-time low on newspapers, but not online.
Visionaries like Nick Stevens with highschoolot.com, Kelly Snow with Person County Sports Now and Chris Hughes of Carolina Preps.com are keeping high school sports news alive.
We’re taking the coverage back.
In October, Hillsboroughsports.com had over 16,800 hits. That’s 600 a day, an all-time high. We plan on growing more with middle school coverage, and hopefully video coverage in the future of various games.
On this Thanksgiving, it’s only fair we thank maybe people around the community who leave an impression on this website and on Hillsborough. A town is only as strong as its personalities.
First, I want to thank Kim Berini, Dick Forrest, Greg Carden, Andy Gates, Franklin and Chandler Zirkle and Jimmy Riley for their patronage to the website. I love doing it and your contributions have helped in a huge way.
This list in endless, and I apologize if I left anyone out.
Greg Motley: Thank you for providing the ultimate example of turning the other cheek. You made Orange men’s basketball a winner more than anyone who sat in that coach’s chair for 20 years. You’ll do the same at Southern Durham.
Tim Hackett: A blue chip prospect if there ever was one. Tim is the Cedar Ridge play-by-play man. Chris Edwards, the play-by-play man for Duke women’s basketball and baseball, led me to Tim in August. I can’t imagine someone who works better and harder so quickly out of Northwestern. He’ll be calling game on a much grander scale before too much longer. Thank you for your professionalism.
Andy Simmons: As the athletic director at Cedar Ridge, thank you for being patient with me as the site expanded its coverage. At first, Cedar Ridge was overlooked because I simply didn’t have enough manpower. Now, the Red Wolves are getting the attention they deserve.
Mike McCauley: Thank you for keeping the press box at Auman Stadium open late while I total up stats. I can make a 16-hour day to into a 17-hour day, but you don’t complain.
Shayne Thompson: A brother in arms because we’re constantly working on the weekends. Thanks for being so generous with your time and your video.
Jacques Morin: A professional photographer to the end who does an awful lot for very little. You are a blessing I can’t begin to repay.
Jason Knapp (the Cedar Ridge student): Thank you for your time with football this year. I hope you grow into a great broadcaster.
Jason Knapp (The Orange Baseball coach): Thank you for taking over a very big situation last year. And congratulations on your marriage.
Van Smith: Thanks for always being willing to talk football. There’s nothing better.
Torrean Hinton: Thank you for your patience. I hope the win over Chapel Hill is only the beginning.
Pam Scism: Thanks for being understanding when I misspelled your name early on. And thanks for being so kind wherever I see you.
Anna Seethaler: Thank you for a wonderful year of volleyball and for what’s ahead.
Kelly Young: Thank you for the greatest recreation volleyball team name ever: Spike Tyson.
Derryl Britt: Thank you for always listening to the broadcasts and greeting me with a smile as you gush about the Lakers. Orange men’s basketball is in very good hands.
B.J. Condron: Whether we’re talking about the Orange women’s basketball team or our mutual love of Primus, you’re a lot of fun to talk with and your teams are fun to cover.
Spenser Poteat: Thank you for being an inspiration to so many.
Scott Metcalf: Thank you for introducing a new array of women’s wrestlers to the sport. It’s a pathway to the future.
Curran Campbell: Through countless text conversations at 2 AM, it’s been a fun year as we’ve become friends. Just don’t work at radio stations for very long once you leave Syracuse. And keep listening to Kiss.
Chris Walker: Thank you for getting scores to me and being the biggest Sunderland fan in Hillsborough.
Palmer Bowman: Thanks for calling me “Mr. Hamlin.” But feel free to call me Jeff. Or even “Rod.” I’ll explain later.
Elizabeth Hamlin: Thanks for always being willing to talk after I get finished with whatever game I’m doing on Friday night. My day isn’t complete without it. And thank you, as always for listening.
Thank you to all the athletes. You make it fun, especially being so open to a weirdo carrying an iPad.