Sports Editor in South Texas

freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.

 

Yes and no. Brownsville is a border town. So yes, you are minutes (hell, you are three seconds) from mexico.
The beach is a little farther. Only about a half hour but still.
Fun? Maybe. For a while. Then one day you wake up and realize you are isolated from the rest of the world. There's basically three major roads out of the valley to other parts of Texas. And while minor league sports are growing down there, there's no major league teams anywhere close, with San Antonio Spurs being the closest. Google the distance from Brownsville to SA. And that is as boring a road trip as anything in West Texas.
That's why everything down here is all about local. And by local, I mean HS football. the valley loves it's football, and you will see some of the biggest crowds in the state at these games. Sadly, none of these teams are ever good enough to do much once they get out of the valley, they just don't have the speed burners the rest of the state has.

Yeah, the beach and Mexico is nice, and the valley can be an okay place to live (some of the best Mexican and seafood you will ever have is here, if you know where to go). But it's not for everybody. Just be sure you are ready for that before you commit.

 

State's divided into four regions for playoffs, and the regional champ from this area rarely does well on a state level.

 

There's also the matter of the Valley teams being grouped with San Antonio teams in Region IV and they play each other by the second round, although I do seem to remember one of the Harlingen schools playing in the Class 5A baseball state final this past spring.

 

Yeah, I worked as a university SID down there (Texas-Pan American) and was the original PBP voice of the Rio Grande Valley Whitewings minor league baseball team back in the days before Al Gore invented the internet.

One of the most vivid memories was wearing shorts in 75-degree weather on Christmas Eve one year. So, like the man said, it's unique, challenging, potentially rewarding... but not the right mix for everybody.

The sense of isolation is legit, although communications nowadays make it less so. The Hispanic flavor is noticeable and speaking Spanish (which I do very little) is a big asset. The area is certainly growing.

 

On a unrelated note, KRGV, the ABC affiliate down there, has four on air personalities who have been there over 20 years.

 

Dave Brown still there?

 

Yep. He was always my favorite sportscaster down there.
Tim Smith, Rick Diaz and Letty Garza (which wasn't her last name when I was down there) are the others that are there.


I saw recently that Larry James is finally gone from KGBT.

 

Bryan Read, who has been with The Monitor as sports copy editor for the past four years, was promoted to East Valley Sports Editor a few minutes ago. He'll begin his new job on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Obviously, we moved fast on this. Thanks to everyone that applied, and congrats to Bryan.

It's a well-earned promotion for Bryan.

With that said, we're now looking for a sports copy editor/designer. The job will be based out of The Monitor in McAllen, Texas. It's a 50,000 daily and 55,000 Sunday paper.

 

I don't mean to be too much of a dick, but why bother advertising this gig if you were just going to promote from within?
And in just one week?
So sick of that type of bullshit.

 

He didn't have to say anything, either. Would that have made you happier?

 

Oh, so we should be thankful for a job ad that wasn't really a job ad.
That's a waste of other peoples time.