Posted: 8/21/02

Summerís over: the sports intern reflects

Branden Peterson
Sports Intern

Wide-eyed and bundled in thick colored scarfs and an overstuffed winter coat, my love for sports, at least as far as I can remember, began when I was 5-years-old.

Blinding amounts of confetti fell from the sky as more than a million baseball fanatics celebrated watching the 1987 Minnesota Twins parade through Minneapolis.

Kirby Puckett, Al Newman, Kent Hrbek and company had won Minnesota their first World Series title.

It was a different time in the sporting world, at least in professional baseball. No talks of contraction, no $100 million-dollar contracts, and players didnít face a bigger war off the field than on it.

Now over a decade later, my perception of the games has changed. The reasons I am captivated by them has done the same.

But I still love my baseball cards, even if there is another strike. I love my ESPN. And as much as my friends tease, I love the AM radio dial--most specifically divulging my attention to sports talk.

Iíve become your average sports rube, turned rube reporter--and if youíre a regular reader of the Forest Lake Timesí sports section youíre likely to have read my stories by now.

No worries, Sports Editor Berk Brown returns this week. Meanwhile, Iím packing to move back to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

Already 20-years-old, Iíve determined Iíll bleed maroon-and-gold the rest of my life.

I graduated from Forest Lake High School with the class of 2001. But the journalism bug bit me years ago.

As rowdy high school students supported the Forest Lake Ranger football squad each fall, I was stuck in the middle -- jotting notes -- I had an article to write.

Stories turned out well, I kept writing, and if I wasnít driving golf balls or running killers at soccer practice, I was working on stories for the high school newspaper, The Breeze.

A freshman in college rarely gets the opportunity to get an internship, especially a journalism student at a newspaper. I was lucky. But in the 10 weeks Iíve been working for the newspaper I once delivered to the doorsteps of Forest Lakeís residents, Iíve learned something new everyday.

For one, procrastination can kill (a tough lesson for a college student).

Two, never expect people to return your phone calls, especially with controversial stories.
Three, the egos of certain athletes and coaches is frustrating enough to drive your fist through a wall.

Four, Iím still just a kid, right?

Challenges come to reporter interns such as myself. To some, weíre nothing but punk kids.
I understand my 5í8î frame would cause police officers to questions my credentials. I agree a reporter must earn respect, but first be respectful. I feel Iíve handled that well, despite the opinions of a couple state patrol officers.

Some believe weíre nothing but ambulance chasers, but if itís news--Iím sorry, we need to be there.

But if the topics of many of my stories have said anything, thereís young people accomplishing impressive feats everywhere.

As this internship winds down, so does my summer vacation. I have no regrets, for those of you Iíve met -- I thoroughly enjoyed it -- and for those who know me as nothing more than the ink of your sports page, I hope you enjoyed my many words.

In my last days at the Forest Lake Times, I have no regrets. Iíll always look to Forest Lake as home.

Itís back to the books for me, but at least I still have my sports talk.

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