I’m back, and I’m glad about it!
Back where, you ask? Back in the Augusta area sports scene, of course. Today’s my first official day as sports editor at the Augusta Press.
And what makes me glad about it? Well, that’s a little bit more of a lengthy tale.
Short answer first: The high school and collegiate sports calendar will officially begin in the next three weeks, and that excites me because the passion for sports in this area is rivaled by only a few that I’ve witnessed in my time as a sports writer.
From Nebraska to Metro Atlanta, Kentucky and virtually every other non-Atlanta part of Georgia you can think of — not to mention a touch of South Carolina — I’ve seen a good bit. More than enough of a sample size to qualify me as a connoisseur of good high school sports and passionate sports towns.
Augusta’s scene is as good as there is anywhere.
I know, it’s easy to complain about what the area doesn’t have. It’s easy to point out the shortcomings. But what you’ll find out about me is that, while I definitely don’t ignore the challenges and problematic areas, I’m more of a “glass-half-full” kinda guy. It’s not just how I see sports. It’s how I see life.
In 43 years of living, I’ve discovered that when you start with the good stuff, it actually gives you a solid foundational perspective to begin seeing how the not-so-good stuff can begin to measure up.
And I’m convinced that when you bring out the scales for the local sports scene, the good definitely outweighs the bad.
I came to discover this when, after working for the Louisville Courier Journal during the pandemic, due to family health matters I started to seek work that was closer to Georgia, which has been my home state for the last 17 years.
That’s when I discovered an opening for a sports writer at the Augusta Chronicle — a Gannett sister paper of the Courier Journal.
I spent almost a year soaking up the local sports scene with the best seat in the house. I jumped right in as basketball season was just starting to heat up with region play giving way to region and state tournament action.
Fights broke out during the first three basketball games I covered — one in Columbia County and two in Richmond County. It wasn’t major. No one was hurt. But I was slightly tickled at how passionate people in this area are about their sports — hoops in general.
I loved it. The passion, that is. For a sports journalist, that means people are going to readily consume your work. They’re going to look for it, and they won’t be shy about voicing their opinions of it. I often tell young sports writers that you haven’t really been properly initiated into this business until someone reads your work and calls you an idiot.
But beyond surveying the passion, I was having a blast telling some amazing stories about this sports community. Stories I had no clue even existed. I’d always know that the Augusta sports scene had a lot of grit, blue collar work ethic and character. But being immersed in mining out and writing the stories of this community educated me to another level.
Just as I was getting good and warmed up, an unexpected opportunity came in Metro Atlanta, and, at the time, I felt like it was too good to pass up. Though I didn’t ride off into the sunset and retire from there, I did learn a bunch more about this volatile journalism industry that I believe will prepare me for future endeavors.
But in the meantime, I wanted more opportunities to write. I wanted more opportunities to write sports — to tell stories that do more than just give you scores and stats, but tug at the heartstrings while reminding us that athletes, coaches, etc. are not machines employed to merely entertain us. They’re just as human as we are, albeit on a much bigger stage than most of us will ever see.
This kind of work gets my blood pumping like few other things. So, when I realized I had an opportunity to do it in what has become one of my favorite sports scenes, I jumped at the chance. It’s an understatement to say that I’m elated to join the Augusta Press team.
Now, I’m only part time, so go easy on me. Unfortunately I can’t add more than 24 hours to any given day, and I gotta try to sleep for about eight of ‘em. But what I can tell you is that I won’t be any less passionate or dogged about bringing you the most comprehensive coverage of this sports area possible.
So please, give me your suggestions. Give me your feedback. Give me your opinions, both dissenting and agreeing. Give me your ideas. I’m a big boy. I can take it. In fact, I want it, because I know that if you give me any or all of those things, it means you’re also giving us your readership. And I absolutely appreciate my readers.
So for the three-week run-up to the start of the fall sports season, let’s have some fun pontificating, predicting and analyzing the possibilities that a new year on the sports calendar will bring. As much as humanly possible, I’ll work to bring you a sports product and sports coverage team that will match the passion our community has for what we cover.
And for that reason, I’ll never be too hard to find.
Gabriel Stovall is the sports editor of The Augusta Press. He can be reached at Gabriel@theaugustapress.com. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Threads: @GabrielCStovall.
