The pen is mightier than the microphone

Tales of two topics.

One at the keyboard and one on the air.

*****

I'm not worthy. 

No, seriously, I'm not. My god, I'm a hack.

I read something so good, so raw, so perfect that encapsulated the feelings of an important topic that I was absolutely gobsmacked and embarrassed by the time I was done reading it.

It was overwhelmingly good.

It was also, essentially, on the same topic I had just pressed "Publish" on.

The tone was spot on. It wasn't self-absorbed. Mine, of course, was.

The grammar was perfect. The punctuation was punctual.

Mine is a daily "Where's Waldo" of spotting all of the errors.

Seriously, I can read something of mine years later and still find something wrong.

Honestly, it was so good that I thought I'd just hang up a "CLOSED" sign and call it a day. Eight-hundred-whatever posts in a row are enough and my quality of writing is in the toilet anyway.

My guess is they'd prefer that I don't link to it thus I'm not sharing the post or the poster.

But, damn, I suck.

I should stick to broadcasting. I'm not as bad at that.

(To be clear, it was Susan's post on a year of COVID. You can read it here.)

*****

The three games Brunswick played against "Boars Club" were such a joy. It was the only three games that Boars will play this season.

(Self-absorbed alert! Wait, isn't this where I'm supposed to use the police light emoji?)

I was approached by a member of the Boars family before Tuesday's game. As always, my guard went up, but he was stopping by to say his phone was blowing up about the broadcasts.

Still, I waited for the "but..."

"But you mispronounced..."

"But that's not Hall of Famer Paul Coffey. That's Paul Coffey, who works as a barista at Coffey's Coffee in Wallingford, CT."

There was no "but."

They liked me. They really, really liked me.

The messages to me began to ramp up via LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. They only missed Instagram and my unused Snapchat and TikTok accounts!

I bring this up to say how humbled I am and truly hope I can work with all of them again.

But, more to the point (as I truly bury the lead -- see how much I suck?), the Boars played every shift as if it was their last, so when they scored with under a minute left in 3-on-3 overtime yesterday, they charged off the bench as if they'd won a playoff game. In their minds, they might have.

For their part, the Bruins stood hunched over before saluting their foes. The Bruins won two of three from the Boars.

The mother of the winning goal scorer shot video of it all off her TV and posted it on her Facebook page. I stumbled upon it last night.

These are the moments that make it all worth it. I just want to bring some joy to viewers and listeners. More so, I want to report it all with the integrity and passion I pride myself on.

Sure, I'm Brunswick's broadcaster, just as I've been Greenwich's, Fairfield Prep's, Mahopac's, and the Renegades. But I really believe in objectivity and I enjoy reporting scoring plays, so when Andrew Carmody put the winning goal in the net, I exclaimed with the same intensity that I would if Brunswick had scored.

"Homer" isn't a term that applies to me. Sorry.

That has brought me scorn over the years, with one parent once asking me, "Can you not get so excited when the other team scores?"

No. I really can't.

It's what I do and what I love.

More self-absorbed nonsense tomorrow.