The Interview

2-19-08 (pretty sure it was a Tuesday)

Today I went to an interview at the Wxxxxxx. The whole office could fit in my parents dining room. There were stacks of paper older than me all over the place. The woman who runs the show seemed to be over 80 at least and acted like it. She showed me all their awards- I thought the Hooper Awards were unknown but whatever award they earned I had really never heard of. In the middle of conversation, she would just stop and run away to get something else. The other employee had to be close to 60. He is Jewish with the long beard and cap. He stuttered and had food in his beard. Over and over he would fart but not acknowledge it. It was surreal.

Without calling any reference they handed me the keys to their entire paper. Apparently my mom prays right. I went from not being able to get an interview to being handed my dream job. Complete control and direct competition with the paper who fired me.

She said the paper had trouble getting content. I said that would not be a problem that I had contacts all over the area in government and the schools. The other full time employee wrote two pages worth of Scholastic Sports features. I was aware of them and it was exactly what I was against as a sportswriter. He would pick schools out in advance and write only about football, basketball and baseball and softball. He would write about one Lorain County School and Cuyahoga County school. As far as the paper was concerned other sports did not exist.

The woman talked about finding people to work for free. I was stunned and she really lowballed me. I went $150 below what I was paid before and she insisted I go $50 lower than that. I was taking on a lot more work at a price that was insanely low. But she promised that in three months if this worked I could name my own price.

I had no choice I had to take a chance. It felt like a dream.

After calling my family, I stopped in to see the mayor of Rocky River. She squealed when she saw me. And that was before I told her why I was there. She was very excited for me. And it felt good be remembered.

I called a coach and he said he just went in yesterday to a meeting with AD about how his team got no coverage from my old paper and what they could do to get it back to how it was. He said forget that now that I was back.

I was pumped.