SUBSCRIBER: Memorable chats with Botham, Baldwin and Hughes
The dinosaurs never saw it coming.
They were leaving footprints one minute and were ash the next.
At least the moa had the opportunity to swivel around and wonder where the rest were.
Sports reporters are the moa in that dark analogy.
The country’s sports departments have been decimated in the last decade.
Some of my talented colleagues have found themselves suddenly expendable as the industry struggles to respond to the enormous challenges of the modern media landscape.
News is costly to gather, and the funding model that used to support it is broken.
Advertising used to prop up the mainstream media, but has migrated online. People have become conditioned to reading the news on the internet and are reluctant to pay for something previously free online.
A doomsayer might say the paper we print the news on is more or less redundant.
Artificial intelligence can churn out a basic news story in nanoseconds and even get some of that information right.
And today marks my 20-year anniversary in sports journalism.
I don’t think I’ll get another 20 years, but I would not mind if I did.
Despite all the challenges, it remains a really wonderful job. And you get to meet some really good people.
I have tried to celebrate those unsung heroes as much as the sporting stars we see on our screen.
For every Suzie Bates and Katey Martin, there is a Neil Rosenberg or a Helen Simpson plugging away in the background.
Without their encouragement, without their enthusiasm and without their dedication and hard work, there is no base for the pyramid.
Theirs have been some of the most rewarding stories to write.
They do not always rate well, go viral or generate a dramatic upsurge in advertising.
But they are our stories, about our community and our people, and we will continue to keep telling them as long as we can.
Sitting courtside at an Otago Nuggets game or jostling for a prime spot on the sideline at a club rugby game never gets boring, either.
They threatened to drag Basketball Otago into the financial abyss in 2008 and again in 2014. They were very nearly successful at the second attempt.
The franchise was rescued by a small band of people led by Angela Ruske. Had they not intervened and kept the Nuggets’ flame burning, we would have missed out on the elation that followed their NBL Showdown title in 2020 and being crowned NBL champions proper in 2022.
My former colleague, Jeff Cheshire, covered both those seasons. My only claim to fame was presiding over their famous 33-game losing streak.
But honestly, the jig Nuggets coach Alf Arlidge busted out that night when they finally broke the drought has to rate as one my favourite sporting moments. Well, it was, right up until a seven-foot American gave me a big sweaty hug a few minutes later.
Lance Allred cried during an interview shortly after that. I had to choke back the emotion as well.
Definitely crossed the line from reporter to supporter that night.
• Seconi clocked his 20th season covering cricket last summer and wrote a separate piece.
