Drew Watson

Welcome to Keeping it Klear! I’m stoked to be launching this column. After two and a half years of writing feature stories, opinion pieces and a hell of a lot of sports game recaps, I think I’ve finally found my niche in this crazy world of journalism. 

And that place is right here. With some help from my peers on The Evanstonian, my parents and my friends, I think that, journalistically, I have found that my best fit is writing pieces where I can let my voice come through and be myself, rather than adhering to the orthodox rules of storytelling journalism.

These columns will mostly consist of me talking about various things going on in the sports world. If you know me -or know of me- you know that I love sports and love sharing my opinions on the sports world. But, having said that, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea of what my columns are going to be about. I’m not some kid who is going to come on here and discuss cliched topics like the GOAT debate, share my opinion on the best NFL stadium, or rant about why my Northwestern Wildcats will make the final four this year. Actually, I can’t promise not to write about the last one but you get the point. I am not interested in squabbling over stupid sports debates; I am here to talk about the cool things happening in the sports world, particularly in sports journalism.

I’ll start my first-ever column by sharing one of my favorite moments from one of my favorite segments in all of sports. Here it is:

“We got engineers, we got doctors, we got economists. We have real tests that have real, real implications happening, and all of these sons of b*tches said give me College Gameday.”

This was Pat McAfee, addressing students of the University of California-Berkeley at 6 AM local time, and to put the cherry on top, it was during midterms week.

When McAfee said this, I knew I wanted to start this column series.

I mean, when do you think the last time students of UC-Berkeley have chanted USA USA USA USA? Only Pat McAfee could make that happen.

This moment right here encapsulates what this community is all about for me. It’s bigger than sports, it really is. Sports journalism, in my mind, has never been entirely about the sport itself, but rather the community that emerges around sports. That might sound strange but there’s a difference there, a subtle one, but a difference nonetheless.

Let me try to illustrate that difference by taking you to my brother’s college for a moment.

He is actually a senior at Berkeley, and yes, he was out there at the crack of dawn.

I have been out to Berkeley several times over the course of the past three and a half years. It’s a vibrant city, an intellectual hub for sure, but the last thing I would describe it as is a sports town. In fact, I would go so far as to say the community doesn’t really give a d*mn about sports.

When I went out there a couple of years ago I watched Cam Ward, one of the best quarterbacks in college football, lead his Washington State Cougars against Cal. It should have been packed; it was an important Pac-12 battle that had real implications. But it wasn’t, half the stands were empty… it was Berkeley, California after all.

So how does a college town go from this to the rowdy scene with thousands of fans packed together at six in the morning? 

Good journalism, no- great journalism. 

That’s what journalism does when it’s at its best- it brings folks together. 

And no one is doing a better job of bringing people together right now than College Gameday at the moment. Week after week, they deliver. Every Saturday, in a new location across the country, they attract thousands of people in various communities to come together bright (unless it’s on the West Coast where the sun isn’t up at the beginning of the show) and early in the morning. Over the last few years, their show has only gotten better and is attracting more and more people every week. Even Berkeley could pretend to be a sports town for a day because of College Gameday. And that says something.

If you have not seen College Gameday, I encourage you to tune into the next broadcast. I understand you may not be as pepped up to watch it as I am, but I think you should give it a shot. It really is the pinnacle of sports journalism at the moment.