Bidding a fond farewell to a great home field

Posted 10/23/14

It was nine years ago, almost to the day, that I covered City Cup soccer for the Cranston Herald, my first assignment as a sports reporter at Beacon Communications.

My last assignment comes this …

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Bidding a fond farewell to a great home field

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It was nine years ago, almost to the day, that I covered City Cup soccer for the Cranston Herald, my first assignment as a sports reporter at Beacon Communications.

My last assignment comes this week. I’ll be starting a new job Thursday as the sports editor at the South County and North East Independent.

I’m excited for the next step, but I’ll miss this place. And I think nine years in these pages leaves me contractually obligated to write a farewell column, rather than slipping out the back door.

So here goes.

When I pulled into the parking lot at Cranston Stadium that night, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. Sports editor Ed Owens had just hired me, fresh out of college, from halfway across the country in Kentucky. I was going to be a sportswriter, and that was about all I knew.

Things I did not know:

Warwick.

Cranston.

Any place in Rhode Island.

That people in Rhode Island don’t know where Kentucky is.

My way around.

That living by the ocean is fantastic.

That covering Little League all-stars is fun.

How to cover field hockey (still not sure).

That high school hockey is a thing.

That I would meet my wife here.

There are many more. In learning them all – and in writing thousands of stories along the way – I was also writing what is pretty clearly the defining chapter in my life story.

It was a longer chapter than I expected – like most ambitious college graduates, I had one foot out the door for a while, if two feet were ever in. But this place started to feel like home. I met great friends, great people. I enjoyed what I was doing. My parents – both Boston natives – never shied away from a New England visit. Pretty soon, my future wife was sitting at a desk in the same office, three feet from me. We got married this year. We got a cat (Hi, Banjo.)

Basically, life happened.

And the current that brought me here in the first place – the job and the sports and the games – remained a constant. I do the math every once in a while. It’s something like 300 games a year, maybe more. Multiply it by nine, and we’re heading toward 3,000. 

Not every game has been great. Not every story has been great. Not every day has been great. But in the two weeks since I accepted the new job, my reflections just keep coming back positive.

Championship teams. Classic games. Incredible moments. Talented athletes. So many great stories.

And so many people.

It’s the cliché that comes with any farewell column, but that’s because it’s true. I cannot even begin to list the great people I’ve met thanks to this job. My life is better because of it. Thank you for letting me share in those incredible moments and letting me tell those great stories.

Sports are wonderful parts of these communities, and I’ve been grateful to be part of them.

To everyone at Beacon Communications, thank you for everything. Thanks to John Howell for giving me a chance and for his unmatched dedication to community news. Thanks to Ed Owens for seeing something in me, for me letting me into his fantasy leagues and for being a great friend. And thanks to Kevin Pomeroy, with whom I’ve shared the sports scene – and a lot of laughs – the last four years. He’ll take the torch and will do a great job.

And I guess that brings me to the end.

It’s tough to say goodbye. It’s been a fun ride. Someday, these will be my good old days.

But at least I can say hello again pretty soon. My first game on the new job? It might end up being East Greenwich volleyball on Thursday night – at Cranston West.

This time, when I pull into the parking lot, I’ll feel like I know a little more.

I know it’ll feel like home.

William Geoghegan is the sports editor at the Warwick Beacon. He can be reached at 732-3100 and williamg@rhodybeat.com. Find him on Twitter @RhodyWill. 

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