Athletes always say they want to leave everything out on the field. As I write my final column, I have similar sentiments -- not leaving any thoughts unwritten as I recap my time here.
When I first undertook a weekly column, I thought it would be a piece of cake. Little did I know, there's something to having a little mug shot above your article instead of an imageless byline. People recognize you in classes or at bars and your name becomes synonymous with your position or articles. It's amazing how far that tiny picture goes.
More than anything, you have to come up with something to say each week that people want to read, a task at which I know I was not always successful.
With that in mind, I'd like to take this space to recap my favorite stories and moments of the last four years.
Top story: ACC expansion over the whole era -- the No. 1 story without any debate, as it will permanently and drastically alter the nature of the ACC by adding three new schools, including the insufferable Hokies. But that's been covered.
So I'll opt for this year: the firing of Pete Gillen and the criticized search that still yielded the best candidate and the hire of Dave Leitao. Virginia was a basketball school four years ago; Leitao better make it that way again.
As an aside, the athletic department is light years ahead of where it was in 2001. After six ACC titles in 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 combined, Virginia won six last year and already has five this year. We've seen national championships in men's and women's lacrosse. Men's tennis went from mediocrity to a two-time ACC champion and national power, and the baseball team went to its first NCAA appearance in eight years. Virginia football jumped into the nation's elite, though staying there has proved tougher than expected.
I'd rather not mention Pete Gillen's bunch, as I feel that my following of the team has cost me several years off the end of my life. But, as I made clear in this space two weeks ago, I think Dave Leitao is the man to turn it all around. The ACC means basketball at heart, so any new coach, coupled with the state-of-the-art stadium being built, is a huge deal at this school.
Favorite interview, Virginia: Sean Singletary seems like the next great one, but it would have to be Chris Canty, who spoke with the eloquence and poise you would expect out of a coach. Interviews with him were not interviews but more like conversations between friends. Runner-up: former baseball coach Dennis Womack, who always spoke his mind, saying things like "they pretty well beat on us all day" and "the rain didn't have nothing to do with nothing."
Favorite interview, ACC: It may have happened just twice, but nothing can top just listening to Bobby Bowden talk and say "doggone" from across the table. It's easy to see how he recruits as he does. Runners-up: Gary Williams just because you never know when he could yell at the other reporters.
Favorite quote: Talking to Matt Schaub during a photo shoot about the NCAA football series on PS2 and hearing him remark that he wished they had made him a better video game quarterback.
Favorite Story to Write: Though, over all, I would opt for a Sean Singletary profile I wrote for another outlet, it would have to be a profile of Schaub for GRIDIRON, where I interviewed him on several occasions and tried to get a grasp of the man behind the myth.
Favorite venue: This may be biased because I did not cover games at most football stadiums nor did I see a good UNC- Chapel Hill hoops team at home, but Cameron. There's nothing like getting crammed between the court and thousands of jumping, screaming students. Other venues isolate the press from the fans; at Cameron, you better be ready.
Favorite column to write: I may have had some columns that were better written (encouraging Leitao to come), but I will always remember the open letter to Chris Canty after his season-ending injury. It was great being able to put genuine emotion into a column about a great player, student-athlete and person.
Column I'd most like to take back: In January of 2003, I wrote how Keith Jenifer was coming of age as a floor general after a pair of strong back-to-back games. Two months later, I was asking Gillen in a press conference if Jenifer was indeed transferring. It appears I may have jumped the gun.
It's been a great ride -- I've covered an ACC Men's Basketball tournament, been to seven of the nine arenas in the old ACC, plus three football stadiums, and stayed at a Ritz-Carlton Resort where I dined with coaches and won the 2003 ACC Long Drive Contest -- and I've enjoyed every article I've written.
With that bit of self-indulgence taken care of, I'd like to thank you, my readers, for putting up with me. It has not been easy trying to write what I think fellow students want to read, so I hope you have enjoyed reading as much as I have writing. From my friends to the message boards on TheSabre, I have really appreciated any feedback on my stories, whether positive or negative; that is the only way I could improve as a writer and columnist over the years.
As I hang up my figurative pen, I realize how much I will miss my current role. While I still may have my opinions, I will no longer have the opportunity to share them en masse. So, again, thanks for reading. To borrow a line from a former colleague, it has been a real pleasure to serve you.
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