The Olympics... and beyond

  Two years ago right around this time I was embarking on my first Summer Olympic experience. The Tokyo Games, postponed from 2020 to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were a unique experience. We, as media members, were subject to regular COVID testing, there were no fans in the stands and masks were required everywhere we went. After two previous Winter Olympics, the heat of the summer was a new experience for me as well. The next winter, the Beijing Winter Olympics experience was much the same, with even more COVID testing, limited fans in the stands and masks required everywhere.  For those reasons, those Olympic experiences were definitely some of the most memorable things I have done in this job. As this goes to press, we are one year out from the Paris Olympics, opening on July 26, 2024 in the French capital. In preparation for that, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach spoke to the media in a Zoom call last Tuesday afternoon. “My expectations for the ...

  By nature of the job, I spend a lot of time in my car, driving to and from the office or around the state to cover games, meets and events of all kinds. It’s safe to say, I drive a lot. And I always kind of thought I was a pretty good driver. But, after a couple of experiences behind the wheel of a NASCAR stock car, I can say without a doubt that I was in no way meant to be a professional driver. Last year I attended my first Media Racing Challenge, sponsored by the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. It is an annual event where members of the media get the chance to get behind the wheel of a stock car and take some laps on the Magic Mile.  As I wrote at the time , I had been around the track on a couple of different occasions in the pace car, once in an SUV and the other time in a sedan, where I found myself sitting on the passenger seat riding incredibly close to the wall as the professional driver maneuvered the car around the track. I was excited to get the chance last year an...