Nothing else I'd rather be doing

Every day when I wake up, I feel lucky to have this job.

Not many people have the opportunity to do what they love on a daily basis and I do.

OVER THE past three months at the Daily Bee, high school sports have garnered my full attention as I spend most of my nights on gym floors taking stats and capturing photos.

And the strangest part is only four years ago I was in high school and unsure of what my future looked like.

I must admit, when I walk through the front doors at Sandpoint High on any given day (particularly after removing all my facial hair) with my tattered backpack strung to my shoulders, I’m sure some of the students think I’m just another kid they’ve never spoken to before.

But I’m not. I’m someone who is learning everything possible about the athletes that don a Sandpoint, Clark Fork or Priest River uniform to be the best journalist I can be.

This dream of someday working at ESPN and covering the biggest sporting events in the world has been in the back of my mind my whole life but it wouldn’t have been possible without making one important life-changing decision — attending Washington State University.

Growing up I never would’ve considered being a Coug because my family grew up rooting for UW. But when I realized that sports journalism was what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing, it was obvious that the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication was the place for me.

At WSU, I had the opportunity to cover the Cougar football team and listen firsthand to a number of Mike Leach’s press conference rants. I even was assigned the hardest story of my life, covering the passing of Tyler Hilinski.

Over the subsequent months after that night in January of 2018, I wrote a handful of stories about how his family was dealing with losing Tyler and talked to his mom, Kym, and dad, Mark.

Covering a story like that not only shaped me into the journalist I’ve become today but changed my outlook on life and made me realize how important mental health is.

College also presented me with a chance to travel to Puerto Rico for a week and write about how the island was recovering from Hurricane Maria.

BEFORE TAKING this position, I spent the summer in France and Belgium covering the Women’s World Cup and Tour de France. It was an experience I will never forget and one that wouldn’t have been possible without choosing crimson and gray over purple and gold.

The funny thing is, the storylines and athletes I have had the privilege to report on here at the Bee are the ones I’ve enjoyed the most.

Maybe that’s because it’s exciting watching kids learn how to play a sport they have loved their whole lives and see them grow game-by-game. Or maybe it is just me trying to live vicariously through the athletes that make my job possible.

Either way, I’m fortunate that I get to write about sports every day. I’m far from perfect but I hope my dedication and passion for this job has shown in my writing.

I can’t wait for New Year’s to come and go so the second half of the winter sports season can get underway and I go back to cranking out four to five on-deadline stories a night because there is nothing else I’d rather be doing.

Dylan Greene is the sports editor for the Bonner County Daily Bee. Follow him on Twitter @DylanDailyBee.