For four days in October, I forgot about what was going on in the world. For four days, it was the Dodgers, my mom and me.
You see the day my mom and I flew to Dallas to see our beloved Dodgers in the World Series, it was the day after the one-year anniversary of my dad’s sudden passing. Between that, the Covid-19 pandemic, losing jobs and quarantine, 2020 has sucked.
When Julio Urías struck out Willy Adames, the emotions poured out of us. It was a sigh of relief, a weight lifted, a fresh start to a new year and now, a new job.
As I take on this new role at Broadway Sports Media, it will be my first time covering hockey without my dad. I will write stories that create conversations just like the ones we used to have.
My mom passed down her love of the Dodgers to me when I was in the womb. My dad on the other hand, hated baseball. He was born in Toronto, raised in Nashville and grew up playing hockey.
He taught my mom about the game when they were dating in Los Angeles and when I was born, we would go to Kings games. I can say that I saw Wayne Gretzky play, I just don’t remember it.
The first game I actually remember was when we were on a family trip in Chicago and the Red Wings were in town to play the Blackhawks on a Monday night. We went last minute, sat in the very last row of the United Center and my favorite color was red. I immediately became obsessed with the Red Wings.
The Predators came to Nashville in 1998 and we would go to games occasionally. I had a Drake Berehowsky growth chart in my room but still loved the Red Wings. Eventually, that love changed and the Predators became the one team our entire family shared a love for.
Our hockey roots run deep in Nashville. My dad played in the Nashville Youth Hockey League when it was played at Municipal Auditorium and the Dixie Flyers were the coaches. My brother played inline in Hendersonville, NYHL and Jr. Preds.
And me? I started interviewing hockey players when I was in middle school. I was an excited nervous when I decided to gather the guts to interview my first professional athlete. It was 2004, I was in eighth grade with braces and proudly wore an inline hockey jersey with my brother’s number on the back.
Jordin Tootoo was at the inline rink in Hendersonville for a Predators event. I had a notebook and pen and was determined to ask him what his favorite food was and what kind of cologne he wore.
I asked a couple of questions and then a crowd of hockey moms gathered around us as we talked about raw caribou and Calvin Klein. Twenty minutes later, I was done and couldn’t stop smiling. I knew in that moment, I had just started the beginning of my career.
During my junior year of high school, I covered the Predators for Center Ice Magazine. My first big story was about goalie coach Mitch Korn, Pekka Rinne and Dan Ellis. From there it was like a dream.
The Predators played the Red Wings in the playoffs that year. I had just given a presentation about ice hockey and Chris Chelios in my science class. The next day, I was interviewing him. Unreal.
Since then, I have written for NHL.com, MLB.com, Baseball America, USA Hockey, The Tennessean and ESPN.com.
While we don’t know when the next season will start exactly. I am looking forward to this adventure and using my voice to bring Nashville more coverage of the Predators.
In the mean time, you can find me on all of the social medias (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook), still celebrating the World Series, listening to country music and watching football at Jonathan’s Grille on the weekends.
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