Welcome Back To The Swamp
Monday, September 6, 2010 | Scott Carter
Oddly enough, this isn't the first time I've had an office at The Swamp. That's the thought that keeps popping into my head as I think of how to introduce myself as the new senior writer for GatorZone.com.
Of course, the desk I'm writing at now is much nicer than my workspace then. When the Gators hosted Alabama on a warm September afternoon in 1986, I made my first trip to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
At the time, I was a freshman in high school just trying to earn some extra spending money. So, when a friend asked if I wanted a weekend job, I jumped in my buddy's car for the two-hour drive up from Orlando. The next thing I knew I was working at a concession stand selling hot pretzels and cold lemonade.
I don't remember seeing a Kerwin Bell pass or one catch by Ricky Nattiel that day because I was busy sweating the entire afternoon. However, I clearly recall taking a walk around the stadium and soaking up the atmosphere long after the game had ended, still blinded by that bright green artificial turf that left the building once Steve Spurrier took over the football program four years later.
Looking back, that's my first real memory of feeling a connection to University of Florida sports.
A few years later, that connection grew when I moved to Gainesville to attend UF in pursuit of a journalism degree. During my time as a student here, the Gators started winning SEC football championships. Lon Kruger led the men's basketball team to the Final Four. Swimmer Nicole Haislett dominated in the pool and would later win three Olympic gold medals.
While all this was going on, I decided at some point that I wanted to get serious about becoming a sportswriter. I liked sports. I liked writing. I liked telling stories. To me, it seemed like a match made at the 50-yard line.
Let's just say my journalism career didn't exactly start off in grand fashion at UF.
If the Internet was in full bloom back then as today and someone had a video camera to record my facial expression when I received the grade on my first story for JOU 3101 – a class simply known as Reporting – I probably could have been one of the first YouTube sensations.
The score: 50. The grade: E. The culprit: A guy named Francisco.
The rule in Dr. Weston's Reporting class was one fact error – a typo in my case – automatically translated into a failing grade. It was his “there are no typos allowed in journalism'' grading system.
To this day, I'm still not sure how I left out the “n'' and spelled him Fracisco, but in the years since, every time I have been in San Francisco on assignment or wrote about major league pitcher Francisco Rodriguez, I always remembered that grade.
I eventually climbed out of the hole, passed Reporting, and in a much better memory, the next time I had Dr. Weston for a class – Public Affairs Reporting or JOU 4181 – I made an A, which ranks right up there in my journalism career with not getting punched by surly slugger Barry Bonds during an interview several years ago when I asked a question he didn't like.
Following graduation from UF, I worked at a pair of small Florida newspapers before landing at The Tampa Tribune, where I have spent the majority of the last 12 years.
During my time at the Tribune, I started out covering high school sports, and then moved up to cover the Tampa Bay Rays and Lightning for the first part of this decade. Along the way, I covered Triple Crown horse races, a Stanley Cup and multiple World Series, but for several years I rarely made it back to UF's or any other college campus.
Seeking a change of pace, I accepted an assignment at the Tribune four years ago to move to – gulp! – Tallahassee to cover Florida State and the end of head coach Bobby Bowden's career. I moved back to Tampa last fall and took on an assignment covering USF, which makes for an interesting Saturday at the Swamp in the first meeting between the Bulls and Gators in a few days.
I've got a lot of great memories from my time as a newspaper sportswriter, and I hope to add to them in my new role at GatorZone.com.
For those of you who visit GatorZone regularly, you know you can find about any kind of information you can imagine on volleyball coach Mary Wise, Gators quarterback John Brantley or men's basketball coach Billy Donovan.
What I hope to add to the website are their stories and a voice in tune with what's happening around the athletic department.
We hope that you'll take the time to stop by and visit regularly. We're just getting started.
First task: to check out all the Gator rosters and see if anyone is named Francisco.
