Kyle Jorrey
Sports Editor
Like millions of other Americans, I grew up wanting to be a professional athlete. More specifically, a running back in the NFL.
Every day and every night I would dream about scoring a touchdown to win the Super Bowl, or winning the league’s Most Valuable Player award. Yeah, I know it sounds silly, but let me tell you, I used to own those recess games on the soccer field back in the fifth-grade.
Despite working hard, in the end genetics would get the best of me. I never grew to be six feet, never developed muscles of steel and never figured out how to run fast. In fact, the last time I was timed for the 40-yard dash I think they used a calendar.
By the time I finished my four-year high school football career, in which I was moved to wide receiver, I had amassed all of one touchdown. Not exactly the stat line of your blue-chip athlete. So it came as no surprise when neither Bobby Bowden nor Joe Paterno came banging on my door.
And though my dreams of athletic prowess fell staggeringly short, I never gave up my love for sports and the people that play them. It only seemed right then, that after I developed a passion for journalism, that the road of life would eventually land me as a sports editor and columnist.
At the risk of sounding cheesy, I must say I love my job. Not because I get to see my smiling grill in the paper each week, but because I get to work with people chasing the same dream I had my entire life.
This past week I had the pleasure of talking with Pepperdine men’s basketball player Glen McGowan for a story that appears on C1 of sports. If you don’t know already, Glen is one of the nicest guys, not just on the team but, on campus. Despite our obvious physical differences and uncommon backgrounds, Glen has always been someone I could talk to if I had something to say about Pepperdine basketball, without getting that “what does he know about basketball?” attitude in return. And as a fan, that is an incomparable experience. Growing up, the closest I got to talking with Chris Webber about his game was yelling into my 24-inch TV screen.
But the fact is we both grew up playing and watching basketball, and he knows that just because he plays the game better than I could ever dream of, that he is chasing the same dream I had to give up years ago.
No matter where my life takes me, the dreams I had as a kid will always be with me, and for that reason, sports will be as well. To love sports is not to love a specific team, or a specific player, or to love the lifestyle that professional athletes lead. It’s to appreciate everything that goes into making an athlete great — hard work, desire, love for the game and the love of leaving the floor/field knowing that you did better than the other guy out there.
That’s why I love my job, and that’s why I love speaking with athletes. And so while I will most likely never reach my childhood dreams — barring physical mutation — the best I can do is hope that others, like Glen, can.
October 03, 2002