Commentary by Robert Carter

The North Jefferson News



“Hi! I’m the new guy.”

It’s only been five days, but I’ve just about worn out that line already.

I’m Robert Carter, and I am the new sports editor here at The North Jefferson News. And I picked a fine time to move in, with football season winding down and basketball season about to tip off.

I’ve been around the news media carousel a time or two, with a stint at The Birmingham News as a high school sports correspondent under the legendary Ron Ingram. Before that, I was the managing editor of The Hoover Gazette, a now-defunct weekly newspaper that is best known for its publisher firing a reporter live on the Paul Finebaum radio show during the beginnings of the Rush Propst controversies at Hoover High. (Thankfully, I had bailed out by then.)

As a native Kentuckian with strong Alabama family ties, I grew up around the wonderful world of school sports. My first job, at the tender age of twelve, was as an announcer and scorekeeper for my hometown Little League. I jumped into newspapers while still in high school, working as a part-time reporter for a small daily that endeavored to cover ten different schools. That meant I might see my byline as many as eight or nine times in a single edition during basketball season — heady stuff for a kid who could barely drive.

So after detours into radio and computer work, I’ve come full circle – writing sports for a community newspaper. And it feels good.

There’s something comforting about watching youngsters play ball on a Friday night. The stock market may be tanking, the politicians may be bashing each other to pieces, cable news networks may be churning through an endless supply of pundits spouting the same talking points ad nauseum, and a war in a far off land may be raging. But as long as the kids are still playing ball down at the field or the gym, things can’t really be too bad.

There’s also something about school sports still being a pure form of the games. Once they get into college, the games turn into big business — just ask Nick Saban, Tommy Tuberville or the departing Phil Fulmer. But aside from the occasional transfer issue, personal dalliances (there’s Propst again) or parents upset with their child’s playing time, high school sports still emerge pretty much unscathed.

Plus, if it’s Friday night and I’m not at some high school sports event, I’m not quite sure what I would do with myself. Make that doesn’t speak well of my social life (or lack thereof), but I digress.

It’s our job to tell you as much as possible about what those young athletes are doing. We try to do that in person as much as possible, but we can’t be everywhere at once, so we often depend on you to tip us off about a player who has a standout performance or an interesting personal story. We’re always on the lookout for feature story material, and often our readers are the best eyes and ears we have.

You can send e-mail to rcarter@njeffersonnews.com, or give us a call at 631-8716. We can’t guarantee that we’ll use everything that you may send, but we’ll do our best.

So let’s get out there and play ball.